Monteverde
Days Three & Four - Costa Rica - 2025
It’s all about the wildlife in this central Costa Rican town, with a night walk, birdwatching, and more hanging bridges.
1. Hotel Eco Arenal #1
A male scarlet-rumped tanager preens on a tree.
The weather the following morning was fairly crisp and clear, which gave me the opportunity to do some birdwatching while I drank my war crime coffee. Due to the rain, I was unable to appreciate the birdlife at our wilderness lodge, but they were now out in full force.
2. Hotel Eco Arenal #2
It was nice to be able to take advantage of this location for some bonus birdwatching, but before long it was time for breakfast and our departure to the central Costa Rican village of Monteverde, high up on the Continental Divide.
3. Lake Arenal #1
Originally a natural lake, Lake Arenal was tripled in size following the construction of Presa Sangregado Dam which currently generates about 1/6th of Costa Rica’s total energy.
Our program for the day was interesting. We’d take our tour van west to the lakeside town of El Castillo, take a boat across the southern portion of Lake Arenal, then join up with another tour van in Río Chiquito before proceeding to Monteverde.
The ride across the lake was pleasant, but the weather had turned incredibly overcast, limiting what would probably be really great bird viewing.
4. Lake Arenal #2
For better or worse, road construction halted us en route and we were delayed for about an hour. Naturally, I did what I normally do under such circumstances: torture my travel companions with my never-ending word vomit. It’s my thing, okay….
A bit behind schedule, we were back on the move, grabbing a quick lunch before arriving at our lodge in the upper part of town.
5. Monteverde Flower
This jade vine is native to the Philippines, but seemed happy enough growing in the cloud forest of central Costa Rica.
Much like La Fortuna, many of the offerings from G Adventures were on the more active side of life (think zip-lining or horseback riding); when booking, none of these options stood out as super appealing to me, so I -again- planned to do my own thing while in town.
There was one group activity planned for our first night in Monteverde - a night walk in a nearby cloud forest. Two night walks in one trip? What luck!
6. Monteverde Night Walk #1
80% of the wildlife which live in Monteverde are nocturnal, such as this rhinoceros katydid.
We began our wildlife walk shortly after sunset, right when the forest started to come alive. Which forest? I don’t know - I’m overly-reliant on geolocation on my cellphone, but I didn’t think to take a picture here. Oh, well.
This forest -whatever it is- had significantly fewer frogs than La Fortuna, so I am very glad I did both.
Eight more photographs from our Monteverde night walk follow.
7. Monteverde Night Walk #2
Leaf-mimic katydids are masters of disguise.
8. Monteverde Night Walk #3
I’m not a herpetologist, but -if I had to guess- this little frog is another common tink.
9. Monteverde Night Walk #4
10. Monteverde Night Walk #5
A spider -possibly a golden orb weaver- makes a web.
11. Monteverde Night Walk #6
A snake -possibly a side-striped palm-pit viper- rests in a tree.
12. Monteverde Night Walk #7
An orange-kneed tarantula sits in a den.
13. Monteverde Night Walk #8
Scorpions glow blue under ultraviolet light, and -honestly- nobody is really certain why they do that.
14. Monteverde Night Walk #9
New Granada cross-banded tree frogs feature stunning green-and-black eye surrounds, hence their other name: masked tree frogs.
(This little one is flipping me the bird!)
After a lovely group dinner where it was definitely not somebody’s birthday, we retired to the paper-thin walls of our lodge.
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15. Monteverde Birdwatching #1
Hummingbirds are common in Monteverde, but -be quick!- as they are very difficult to photograph.
My two major goals during my visit to Costa Rica were to 1) photograph a poisonous frog, or -at least- a red-eyed from (mission accomplished), and 2) photograph a quetzal. So while my travel companions were off doing crazy bullshit like tarzan swings, I opted to book a morning birdwatching tour. Again, I went off-script for this one (I’m glad I did, because it sounds like the “birdwatching” tour offered through G Adventures in-town did very little birdwatching…) A member of the tour group even came along, which was nice!
There are two main birdwatching areas in Monteverde: Curi Cancha and Monteverde Cloud Forest, both of which open at 0700. Dennis, our birdwatching guide extraordinaire, recommended we visit Curi Cancha, but beforehand we’d do some quick checks of some areas in the foothills beneath. I really welcomed this as it gave me a second to re-familiarize myself with Lenszooka.
16. Monteverde Birdwatching #2
… Two chachalacas sitting in a tree ….
17. Monteverde Birdwatching #3
Alas, it appears the yellow-faced grassquit cannot quit grass.
We started in Curi Cancha Reserve, moving first through the park’s wonderful flower gardens.
18. Monteverde Birdwatching #4
Coppery-headed emerald hummingbirds are endemic to Costa Rica.
The gardens are a paradise for hummingbirds, and -if you are patient- you may even be able to see one at rest.
19. Monteverde Birdwatching #5
A mainstay of the diet of the rufous-bellied euphonia is mistletoe berries.
20. Monteverde Birdwatching #6
The rest of the morning was dedicated to finding the quetzal. First we went to a “with guide only” part of the park, known for having multiple recent sightings. Calls of “tranquillo” from birdwatching guides traveling in the opposite direction did not give me a warm feeling about our prospects. We waited around for about 30 minutes with absolutely zero activity.
The guide offered us the opportunity to head over to the nearby Monteverde Cloud Forest to continue the pursuit at a viewpoint with common sightings. I happily agreed, and we jetted over there. After about twenty minutes without any viewings, our guide (and my travel companion) departed, and I remained dutifully at the viewpoint for about another hour. Regrettably, the quetzal never showed up (just another reason to come back to Costa Rica!)
Backtracking a little bit: knowing my birdwatching tour would end around 1100, I pre-booked a hanging bridges tour through G Adventures at the Aventura Hanging Bridges, which was scheduled to pick me up at the hotel at around 1320. It was now just after Noon, and I called off my quetzal quest (questzal?) to get a taxi back to the hotel in time for the pick-up. The kindly folks at the reception gladly called me a taxi, which I was advised would take about 30 minutes to arrive! Oh, boy, I really stepped in it this time - that’s target fixation for ya….
I decided to change this booking to a slightly later hanging bridge tour at Selvatura Adventure Park in an attempt to salvage the afternoon.
21. Selvatura Adventure Park #1
Some sort of caterpillar - bro, I don’t know caterpillars….
Some folks from the tour group had also booked this tour (sorry for crashing your party!), and we set out across Selvatura’s eight hanging bridges. I think we all intended this to be a fun cathartic trek following what was a very eventful morning for us all (the others having done all that adventury-stuff I avoided).
While having a spirited conversation about Twilight and my kick-ass Twilight back-tat, we came across an elderly gentleman rocking not one but two telephoto lens-mounted cameras around his neck (damn, his back must be fucked up!). He was kitted out with a camera company-branded jacket suggesting that he has spent unfathomable amounts of money on glass and wants you to know it.
“Do you want to see animals?”, he queried.
“Then you have to keep your voices down.”
Old Man Can’t-Take-It-With-You certainly had a point I could sympathize with: we were probably being a bit boisterous given that we were in a cloud forest, and he really did make his peace in a rather polite way.
But let’s level-set here: there were folks screaming above us on the park’s zip-line which didn’t really do much to create the illusion that we were Jane Goodall.
Here’s my point, which I will make both as a wildlife photographer and as a generally terrible human being: if you want to do nature photography, go to a nature reserve; if you want to have a fun day out, go to an adventure park.
Proceeding forward as silently as the grave so as to not further aggravate nearby photographers and screaming zipliners alike, we came across one of the longest bridges in the park. Given my experience in La Fortuna -where I was able to take a really neat video of me walking across an empty hanging bridge like I just drank a fifth of tequila- I encouraged everyone to wait a few moments for the last stragglers from the group in front of us to finish crossing.
As we did so -and, seemingly, out of nowhere- a howler monkey descended from the trees and decided to join us on the bridge.
22. Selvatura Adventure Park #2
At first the monkey just sat there, resting in the sunlight.
23. Selvatura Adventure Park #3
24. Selvatura Adventure Park #4
Before long, the groups behind us caught up and there was a frantic rush to try and get a photograph with the monkey, which I think stressed it out a bit.
25. Selvatura Adventure Park #5
(You have to admit, that side-eye is epic!)
Before long, the groups behind (probably pressed for time) began to cross the bridge. The howler monkey followed along the support of the bridge before crossing over to the other side. My companions and I then also made our way across, gingerly passing by the monkey but politely and non-alarmingly taking some photos of it along the way. The monkey returned back in the direction it came, stopping at a gentleman and pawing for his arm (in response to which the gentleman stuck his hand out, as if it were going to shake a dog’s paw - please, please, please don’t do that!)
After our howler encounter (a definite highlight of the trip), we returned to the pick-up point, were placed into a van with a prototype Mecha-Karen, and were soon back in Monteverde proper.
That evening was game one of the Costa Rican Apertura 2025 football / soccer finals, and the group made its way to a sports bar in downtown Monteverde (something our CEO, a fan of one of the finalist teams, was certainly happy about!)
After making my way back to the hotel (that gigantic hill rendered useless by the power of a pitcher of beer), I called it a night.
