Costa Rica: Reflections

In the primary rain forest

We had a holiday in Costa Rica in January and I described some of the things we did in posts about La Paz Waterfall Garden, Selva Verde, Arenal Volcano and Selvatura. Here I want to reflect on what we learned from the experience and what impact it had on us.

Costa Rica is a small country. Its population is 4.5 million and it covers an area of 20,000 square miles - compare England with its 53 million population (the population of the whole UK is 63 million, both figures from the 2011 Census) and 50,000 square mile area.

We were intrigued to learn that the country is officially neutral and abolished its armed forces in 1948, using the money to provide comprehensive education and health systems. (Certain armed forces functions reside in the Police however.)  This is evidence of the visionary leadership which seems to be something of a national characteristic.

Tourism is the number one industry and Costa Rica is well known as a destination for eco tourism. After a long period of deforestation, the first national park was set up in 1963 and there are now over 190 national parks, biological reserves, wildlife refuges and similar entities. This means that an incredible 30% of the land is now protected.

 Scarlet macaws

We learned that the next big step in nature conservation is now being taken: the creation of biological corridors on a national scale linking together the numerous separate parks and reserves. This is very impressive. The Making Space for Nature report for DEFRA (the Lawton report) concluded in 2010 that "the essence of what needs to be done to enhance the resilience and coherence of England’s ecological network can be summarised in four words: more, bigger, better and joined." But unlike in Costa Rica, nothing much has yet happened.

Costa Rica can claim to be home to almost 5% of the identified living species on the plant. Our tour guides were all very proud of the number of species of butterflies, birds etc - even if the numbers quoted were a bit variable. (They were also notably well-informed and passionate about their subject, and proud of their country.) To take a single example, there are generally accepted to be about 18, 000 species of butterfly in the world and Costa Rica has 1600-2000 of them. This is more species than are found in the USA or the whole of Africa.

 A white-faced monkey

There seem to be two main reasons for this incredible richness of wildlife. Firstly, there is its geological history. About 3 million years ago the evolution of the earth's land mass had reached a point where north and south America were separate land masses with a gap between them. At that point, a movement of tectonic plates pushed up the land bridge that now exists as Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. Plants and wildlife have been dispersing across that bridge from north and south ever since. And bird migrations continue in both directions.

Secondly, the country contains a wide range of different habitats: lowland rainforest and montane cloud forest on both sides of the central chain of mountain, montane and sub-alpine zones at higher altitudes, tropical dry forest in the north, wetlands and coastal zones.

 Roseate Spoonbills and other wetland birds

We found however that it was surprisingly difficult to see butterflies in the wild and we spent some time wondering why this was. It became fairly clear that there are not a lot of wild flowers in most of the habitats we visited and we read that gardens, rather than the wild, were often good places to see butterflies. Secondly, we learned that the very best time for butterflies was in the rainy season when many of them breed. We went in the more popular (with tourists anyway) dry season. This is in fact only truly dry in the north, the Guanacaste region; elsewhere it rains all year round and is simply a bit less wet at this time of year.

But probably the main reason was that the diversity of wildlife already noted means that there are a great variety of predators for butterflies at each stage of their life cycle. So there are plenty of species, but not many of each of one. And finally, many are only found in specialised habitats or times of year, so you would never be able to see all species in a short period of time spent in a few places. Now we understood something that had puzzled us when we were planning our trip: why were there so many butterfly houses? I had in a rather purist way insisted that I didn't want to visit any of them, but it didn't take too long to realised that this would be self-defeating and I succumbed. I am glad I did! At least, unlike butterfly houses in other countries, there were only native species.

A Blue Morpho in the Monteverde butterfly house

Predation of butterflies leads me to a rather banal, but important, overall conclusion. With so many species there is a much more complex hierarchy of predation or food chain. At the top level for example, there are the big cats, jaguars, cougars and pumas.  Nature has a much more raw, tooth and claw, fight for survival quality than we are used to in England.

Green poison-dart frog

This in turn leads to a truly incredible array of symbiotic and parasitical relationships, elaborate defence systems based on toxins of various kinds on the one hand and disguise and mimicry on the other.

Here are just a few examples:

Some trees have a symbiotic relationship with species of ant: the tree provides food for the ant, while the ants fight off any other species which tries to attack the tree.

There are a number of brightly coloured poison-dart frogs, including the tiny Blue-jeans frog (bright red with blue legs). This is an example of the aposematism in which markings are indicative of unpalatability. (Incidentally, the poison-dart frog does not in fact shoot poison darts as one might imagine: its secretions were allegedly used by Amerindians to coat the tips of their blow-darts.)

When palm trees are attacked by insects they secrete toxins at the eaten edges of leaves. At least one palm tree has evolved to have leaves which look as though they have been previously attacked.

Finally, consider these two butterflies: the Postman on the left and the False Postman (same colours, different arrangement) on the right.

This is another example of mimicry. The Postman is poisonous and if the False Postman was not it would be an example of Batesian mimicry, where a non-toxic species evolves to take on the look of a toxic one as a means of defence. Alternatively, in Mullerian mimicry, a number of similar species are all poisonous and have evolved a similar colour scheme. This is thought to increase their collective safety by making it easier for predators to learn what not to eat. (To be honest I am not sure which type is being displayed by this pair of butterflies.)

We also learned the answer to one of the great nature questions: what are wasps for? In Costa Rica at least, species of small parasitic wasps have a complex symbiotic relationship with certain fig plants, in which they are central to the plants' ability to reproduce.

In conclusion then, understanding something about these interdependencies and mechanisms was more interesting and enlightening than simply spotting various exotic species and was the real pay-off of our trip. 

Selvatura hanging bridges

The cloud forest

We are now staying in Monteverde, which straddles the Continental divide: the Pacific slope on one side and the Caribbean slope on the other. It is accessible only by one of the worst roads we have ever seen. Apparently the locals don't want it improved because they fear to be over-run by tourists. The main attraction is the Cloud Forest - basically rain forest at high altitude (about 1600m). It is always damp because of warm moist air coming from the Caribbean discharging its water when it hits the high ridge of the Continental divide.

We have explored the cloud forest at ground level and now we are taking a high level path linked by eight hanging bridges to see what it looks like at canopy level. We know already that there is a lot going on in the canopy and this branch covered in bromeliads gives a good indication of the way in which plants pile on top of each other in the struggle for light.

The first bridge was fairly uneventful, but the next one presents a more dramatic sight.

 Soon you have a real feeling of being on top of the world, looking down on the thick forest.

It is of course raining a little so the view is not great, but it is marvelous to be able to see the tops of the trees we have previously only been able to gaze up at.

In one of the ground level sections we were thrilled when our guide pointed out an Owl butterfly sheltering on a tree trunk. This one is Caligo atreus dionysos, the Yellow-edged Giant Owl.

On the final bridge our guide spotted this green viper nesting in the top of a tree. It is a side-striped palm-pit viper, one of the dozen or more venomous snakes found in Costa Rica.

As we neared the end of the circuit, I couldn't resist this shot of somebody zooming across the sky, high above the canopy, on a zip line. The remarkable coexistence of eco-tourism and activities for teh thrill-seeker!

After the canopy walk we had a very interesting guided tour of the fine butterfly house. There weren't as many butterflies as one might have hoped, but this remarkable Colobura dirce stood out. It has a kind of dummy head at the back of its body. The idea being that if this part is attacked by a predator, the insect can escape with its vital organs unaffected.

We also saw some newly hatched Malachites. It is a beatiful butterfly when roosting with its wings open ..

... but quite staggering when you see the underwings.

Conditions: Cool and damp.

Distance: about 2 miles.

Rating: five stars.

Arenal Volcano

Arenal Volcano: almost free of cloud!

We arrived in La Fortuna this morning and this afternoon's entertainment is a walk on the lava field of Arenal Volcano, 1633m above sea level. It used to be the most active of Costa Rica's volcanoes and indeed one of the most active in the world, but it has been quiet since December 2010. It is notoriously difficult to see, allegedly only clear for 77 days a year. As the picture above shows, we were lucky.

You follow a trail from the car park through a grassy landscape and we quickly noticed some wildflowers, which have been noticeably scarce on our trip so far, and immediately afterwards some butterflies. Hurray! Apart from some, by now, familiar Sulphurs there was what I thought was a Monarch (see for comparison this one I saw in Hahei in New Zealand - it is obviously brighter).

When it opened its wings however, it was instantly obvious that it was not a Monarch, but in fact a Queen, a first for me.

The path had been following a field edge and we now turned right to enjoy our first clear sight of the volcano, with a very pretty small pool in the foreground to enhance the view.

We walked along a track towards the volcano noting the view to the right of scattered trees amid grassland, with mountains behind. This was very different from what we have seen previously in Costa Rica and seemed almost African.

At the end of this section we cross the paths of several groups of leaf cutter ants. I took some photos, but failed to get close enough and they simply show some green bits on the path: you can't see the ants carrying them back to their next.

At this point we began the ascent towards the view point for the volcano. As we got closer, it was framed rather delightfully by the bushes.

At bit further on we entered the lava field from the last major eruption in 1968. This was a major event, killing 78 people and changing the shape of the volcano as the top was blasted off.

Further up, there was a lovely view to the right over Lake Arenal, an artificial lake which, by means of a hydro-electric scheme, provides nearly half of Costa Rica's electricity.

As we got closer to the view point, the cloud continued to clear and we were delighted with the view shown at the top of this post.

We came back down by a steeper route and returned to the car park, seeing a One-day orchid on the way - it flowers for one day only, every six months. To my frustration, I couldn't manage a decent picture. 

Conditions: hot and sunny.

Distance: only a couple a of miles.

Rating: five stars. A really memorable walk.

Selva Verde

Part of the garden at Selva Verde Lodge

We are on holiday in Costa Rica and staying for a few days at Selva Verde Lodge in a private reserve near Puerto Viejo di Sarapiqui. It is in the tropical rain forest on the Caribbean slope of the central mountain range. The post describes our exploration of a couple of self-guided trails followed by a guided tour in primary rain forest.

We started the self guided tour in the small botanical garden where there were a number of dramatic tropical plants like this heleconia ...

... and this vibrant passionflower.

The presence of flowers meant some butterfly sightings, including several Banded Peacocks, which looked at first like some sort of White Admiral.

We walked in a loop around this section of the grounds, spotting an Agouti (which I failed to get a really clear photo of). It is rather like a very large squirrel.

Then we crossed the road and walked through secondary rain forest (i.e forest which has been cleared and then has regenerated).

 This brought us round to the shallow, but fast-flowing, Sarapiqui river.

To continue our exploration we had arranged for a guide to take us across the suspension bridge over the river into the primary rain forest which lay beyond.

The essential difference between primary and secondary forest was immediately apparent: the trees were bigger and more closely packed, there were more epiphytes and more activity in the canopy.

It was hot and humid in the rain forest but surprisingly quiet. Our guide was very enthusiastic about it: the forest was "very beautiful" and "gorgeous". I was thrilled to soon see a Giant Damselfly.

But I was frustrated by a blue Leaf butterfly which would only perch on the underside of leaves.

One of the features of Costa Rican rain forest is how many of the plants and creatures are dangerous: we soon saw the poisonous Blue Jeans Frog (a tiny red frog blue legs) and the Green/Blue Poison Dart Frog ..

.. and the bullet ant.

An American entomologist, Jason O Schmidt, has developed the Schmidt Sting Pain Index and according to him the bullet and offers the world's most painful insect bite.

Our guide also identified the black growths we had seen on several trees - they were termite nests.

Our fascinating introduction to the rain forest ended at a 300 year old hollow tree with bats roosting inside.

Conditions: hot (low 20s) and humid.

Distance: probably not much more than a couple of miles all told. Frequent stops for explanations and photographs.

Rating: four and half stars.

La Paz Waterfall garden

View over the garden

We arrived in Costa Rica yesterday for a two week holiday and are today en route for our first destination, the Salva Verde Lodge at Puerta Viejo di Sarapiqui. We stopped mid-way at the La Paz (Peace) Waterfall Garden. We didn't really know what to expect, but it functioned as an excellent introduction to Costa Rica and its wildlife.

La Paz is a mixture of garden, river and wildlife sanctuary and we began by descending past lovely tropical plants to see some aviaries and in particular the three main varieties of Toucan which are found in the country. This is the Chestnut-mandibled Toucan (the others are the Keel-billed and Green).

Next door was a butterfly house. It was so cloudy that most of the butterflies were clustered near the roof, but I did get a nice shot of this Postman. I was told later that it is so called because it visits the same nectar plants in the same order each morning. I don't know if this is in fact true, but it's a great story.

Next we walked down a series of paths to see the first of a series of waterfalls - and of course pose for some souvenir pictures.

A series of walkways followed the path of the river and revealed the next waterfall.

At the end the narrow valley opens out and the river continues at the base of a much wider and very deep-sided valley. We were all set to walk back up, but a shuttle bus was waiting and spared us the trouble.

Back at the main garden, we visited our first hummingbird garden. A series of feeders provide sugared water which the hummingbirds access by inserting their long thin beaks into a matching hole. The birds are wild, but are drawn to the feeders by the easy food source. They are almost constantly on the move, whirring, hovering, stopping and starting in mid-air like characters in a cartoon. However, with a bit of patience it was possible to get some nice pictures of them either on a feeder ...

... or preparing for the next onslaught sitting on a nearby branch.

Costa Rica boasts some 54 species of hummingbird - and in fact has improbable numbers of species of almost every type of creature imaginable. For example, more than a thousand species of butterfly.

The final section of our tour was more uncomfortable. A series of enclosures held some of the big cats that are the top predators: puma, jaguars and ocelots. Although these were said to be animals which had been rescued and would be released into the wild if suitable territories could be found for them, we couldn't escape the feeling that we were in a zoo, with these dramatic animals sitting listlessly in their smallish enclosures.

We headed on our way to Sarapiqui and were delighted when our driver stopped to show us a Coati by the road side.

It turned out that there was a whole group of them (I think band may be the collective noun) lurking by a lay-by waiting for cars to stop and feed them. When a car stopped they would all rush (I could very aptly have said hightail) towards it with an expectant air. If food was on offer they would mob the people, if not they would quickly turn away disdainfully and wait for the next arrival. The Coati is related to the raccoon and the long tail helps balance when climbing trees.

Conditions: damp at first, but brightening up after lunch.

Distance: perhaps two miles, maybe less.

Rating: four stars.