Estación Biológica Tamandúa
We set off from our Hotel at 5.30 in the morning and met a quad bike who took us up to the Lodge. The Biological station is about 4.5km from Drake Bay along a muddy track which crosses 5 rivers and two streams. Although it is a fun quad bike ride, during the rainy season, the station is often cut off due to road conditions and high river levels.
Upon arrival at the station we briefly met the volunteers we were replacing whom had stayed for 2 weeks and assured us we would have a great time. They were then quickly whisked away by the Quadbiker and we were left on our own.
Now for a little more on what was our home for over a month and a half. Estación Biológica Tamandúa is a jungle lodge set in the tropical rain forest next to the Corcovado National Park. The Corcovado is the largest park in Costa Rica and covers about a 3rd of the area of the Osa Peninsula. The only potential drawbacks with the secluded location were the lack of internet and hot water. The latter is true of many places in Central America and not an issue, the former takes a little more of a change in mindset and a bit of planning.
After having a snoop around we found the kitchen well stocked, though the only cooking facilities were a gas stove, not uncommon in Central America. Mid way through the afternoon, Rebeca, our host, rolled up on her Quad bringing food and orders of what needed doing at the facilities. For almost the entirety of our stay we were in a spacious little private cabin. During the majority of our stay Bryony and I were alone in the forest with sporadic walks to civilisation for internet and Rachel would deliver food once a week or so. I am realising as I write this that a month and a half is a difficult quantity of time to cover. To start, I will describe our general duties and then highlight interesting events in roughly chronological order. Not everything will be covered as this would not only be onerous to write but exceedingly boring to read.
Our role, contrary to what we originally thought, turned out to be more of a caretaker role at the facility. Each morning we would normally wake anywhere from dawn to 7 (Greg at dawn, Bryony at 7). A breakfast of pancakes (normally made from yellow platanos, a kind of savoury banana), fruit and coffee would be followed by cleaning the kitchen and sweeping the common area floors. Afterwards, if rain held off, we would then rake the garden of leaves and debris. We would then cook some lunch, then spend the afternoon reading, writing or walking in the forest. Another couple of tasks we completed during our stay were building a path to one of the cabins, and clearing the paths in the forest of fallen trees.
Apart from this we had to deal with having a lot of spare time and no internet. One thing that helped us survive was the routine of cooking three meals a day. The traditional food in Costa Rica is gallo pinto which literally translates to “spotted rooster”. For every meal in Costa Rica, people eat either gallo pinto, beans and rice and when they want to mix it up, rice and beans. Black beans are normally cooked over a fire as they require at least an hour of boiling. Our fire was in an old metal wheelbarrow. We became experts at lighting said fire and creating the tastiest beans ever.
Another great thing about our jungle hideaway was the abundance of edible plants. The extensive garden has many banana and platanos trees. Every so often, we would go and find platanos from a tree that had fallen. When green, platanos can be fried like crisps as a savoury snack with salt. When yellow, platanos is also eaten fried and tastes sweet. We used yellow platanos in pancakes every morning. Bryony also worked out a way to cook platanos cake over the fire in a pan. This meant that we regularly had a great snack. At the viewpoint at the top of the hill are lots of Yuka plants. We foraged for yuka and found some huge roots. We then cooked these as chips, patties or mashed like potato.
One thing I probably shouldn’t neglect to mention is the amazing wildlife we saw. All day we could hear the cries of Toucans who perched in the tall trees surrounding our valley. Daily we would have scarlet macaws and small green parrots fly overhead, shrieking. We watched the common garden birds building nests, raising chicks and then seeing the chicks fledge. One of the most interesting common birds were the “red bums” as we called them. We watched the males (black with red butts) courting their females.
In terms of mammals, we saw a couple of species of monkeys. The first morning, we awoke to the sight of spider monkeys swinging through the trees. We also saw a coati in the garden a couple of mornings as well as a paca one night (large spotty agouti- big guinea pig on stilts). All species of cat occurring in the Corcovado have been recorded at Tamandua including Jaguar, Jaguarundi, Puma, Ocelot and Margay. Although we saw no footprints of any cats, we almost definitely heard the roar of a puma near to the lodge during the first week.
On one of our trips into town, we were lucky enough to spot Estacion Biologica Tamanduas’ namesake on the track. The Northern Tamandua (Tamandua mexicana opistholeuca) is a type of anteater, that feed mainly on ants and termites, spend around 40% of their time in trees and are generally nocturnal. This Tamandua appeared to be eating fruit and seemed oblivious to us as we approached slowly (tamanduas have poor eyesight). When we were within 2 meters, it awkwardly ambled off the path.
During our stay at the Biological station, we helped with some butterfly surveys. This involved setting up traps with mashed banana and taking pictures of the butterflies we caught twice a day. We set up two traps: one in the forest half way to the lookout point, and one at the lookout point in the open. We generally collected more butterflies from the “open” trap, whereas we would find one or two large butterflies in the “forest” trap. There is such a variety of colours, we must have seen at least 15 species in total!
However, there is so much more interesting wildlife to cover we have decided to produce a second blog specifically highlighting our wildlife encounters (mostly reptiles and amphibians!). The rest of this blog will cover a little more of our daily lives and other interesting events that happened during our time at the station.
Life on the station was an extreme change of pace for Bryony and I. Firstly, the lack of internet played a big role. Suddenly, we found ourselves with no easily available news and no quick entertainment. Those who grew up without the internet will know that life goes on without Facebook. In fact, you suddenly become aware of how much time is taken up by short YouTube videos and inane browsing. However, Bryony and I already went for nearly a month without internet whilst in Nicaragua (see blog on Carpe Diem), so what is different? People. For the majority of the time, only Bryony and I were at the station. At Carpe Diem there was a constant supply of people to talk to and find out new perspectives on any subject, curtailing the need for much other entertainment. I (Greg) am quite extroverted, I gain a lot of my energy by hanging around others and love a good conversation. Any of my family and friends will tell you I can talk the hind leg off a donkey and love playing court. Therefore, having no one to talk to than my beloved took a bit of getting used too. Especially, as Bryony is much more introverted and adjusted easily to a low number of companions. The experience was good for me, I read many books and spent more time thinking. I even wrote a short story, something I have always wanted to do but never found the time. At several points, I did almost break and want to leave because of chronic boredom. However, in hindsight, living in an age of instant media and information, it is probably a good thing to occasionally be bored and realise that life goes on and that one could probably find something useful to do with the time if you really thought about it.
One such activity that Bryony and I did, was to spend 30min a day practising Spanish using the podcast Coffee Break Spanish and materials from our previous Spanish school. We made flashcard of words to learn the conjugations in the past and present and made conversation using these new words. When travelling, we generally stay in hostels where the language spoken most is English so it is very easy to neglect Spanish practice.
After a month of solitude, we were joined by Fernando, Rebecas’ father, who came to stay for a couple of weeks to tile the floor. A retired machinist from San Jose, he spoke no English which meant that we were forced to communicate in Spanish. Luckily he was very patient and we were able to discuss many varied topics such as the Monarchy in the UK, global economics and religion. Our Spanish conversation skills improved dramatically. We also helped a bit with the tiling, but most importantly, we cooked Fernando three meals a day and introduced him to some English dishes- one day we cooked a beef stew which we ate with yuka. As Costa Rican cuisine is pretty much limited to rice, beans and grilled meat, Fernando was very interested in our traditional foods such as pies and roast dinners.
One thing that we accomplished during our stay, was growing an avocado tree. Bryony has tried several times in the UK to get avocado seeds to germinate, however, the lack of heat and humidity means that all attempts have failed. This time we succeeded and witnessed how rapidly the avocado tree grew- must have grown an inch some days.
After a month and a half, it was finally time to leave. Although we had enjoyed the wildlife, living in the rainforest away from civilisation, we looked forward to catching up on what was going on in the outside world. Muchas Gracias por todos, Estación Biológica Tamandúa, Rebeca, Fernando y la familia! Hopefully we will return someday in the future to find more snakes and hopefully see an elusive tapir!
We hope you are enjoying this somewhat belated update from our travels. The next blog will focus on the wildlife we saw in Costa Rica.
Feliz Viaje,
Greg & Bryony
P.S. The story that I (Greg) wrote and that was lovingly edited by Bryony is linked HERE. I would love some constructive criticism if you (The Reader) get the chance to have a read.
Upon arrival at the station we briefly met the volunteers we were replacing whom had stayed for 2 weeks and assured us we would have a great time. They were then quickly whisked away by the Quadbiker and we were left on our own.
Our role, contrary to what we originally thought, turned out to be more of a caretaker role at the facility. Each morning we would normally wake anywhere from dawn to 7 (Greg at dawn, Bryony at 7). A breakfast of pancakes (normally made from yellow platanos, a kind of savoury banana), fruit and coffee would be followed by cleaning the kitchen and sweeping the common area floors. Afterwards, if rain held off, we would then rake the garden of leaves and debris. We would then cook some lunch, then spend the afternoon reading, writing or walking in the forest. Another couple of tasks we completed during our stay were building a path to one of the cabins, and clearing the paths in the forest of fallen trees.Apart from this we had to deal with having a lot of spare time and no internet. One thing that helped us survive was the routine of cooking three meals a day. The traditional food in Costa Rica is gallo pinto which literally translates to “spotted rooster”. For every meal in Costa Rica, people eat either gallo pinto, beans and rice and when they want to mix it up, rice and beans. Black beans are normally cooked over a fire as they require at least an hour of boiling. Our fire was in an old metal wheelbarrow. We became experts at lighting said fire and creating the tastiest beans ever.
Another great thing about our jungle hideaway was the abundance of edible plants. The extensive garden has many banana and platanos trees. Every so often, we would go and find platanos from a tree that had fallen. When green, platanos can be fried like crisps as a savoury snack with salt. When yellow, platanos is also eaten fried and tastes sweet. We used yellow platanos in pancakes every morning. Bryony also worked out a way to cook platanos cake over the fire in a pan. This meant that we regularly had a great snack. At the viewpoint at the top of the hill are lots of Yuka plants. We foraged for yuka and found some huge roots. We then cooked these as chips, patties or mashed like potato.
One thing I probably shouldn’t neglect to mention is the amazing wildlife we saw. All day we could hear the cries of Toucans who perched in the tall trees surrounding our valley. Daily we would have scarlet macaws and small green parrots fly overhead, shrieking. We watched the common garden birds building nests, raising chicks and then seeing the chicks fledge. One of the most interesting common birds were the “red bums” as we called them. We watched the males (black with red butts) courting their females.
In terms of mammals, we saw a couple of species of monkeys. The first morning, we awoke to the sight of spider monkeys swinging through the trees. We also saw a coati in the garden a couple of mornings as well as a paca one night (large spotty agouti- big guinea pig on stilts). All species of cat occurring in the Corcovado have been recorded at Tamandua including Jaguar, Jaguarundi, Puma, Ocelot and Margay. Although we saw no footprints of any cats, we almost definitely heard the roar of a puma near to the lodge during the first week.On one of our trips into town, we were lucky enough to spot Estacion Biologica Tamanduas’ namesake on the track. The Northern Tamandua (Tamandua mexicana opistholeuca) is a type of anteater, that feed mainly on ants and termites, spend around 40% of their time in trees and are generally nocturnal. This Tamandua appeared to be eating fruit and seemed oblivious to us as we approached slowly (tamanduas have poor eyesight). When we were within 2 meters, it awkwardly ambled off the path.
During our stay at the Biological station, we helped with some butterfly surveys. This involved setting up traps with mashed banana and taking pictures of the butterflies we caught twice a day. We set up two traps: one in the forest half way to the lookout point, and one at the lookout point in the open. We generally collected more butterflies from the “open” trap, whereas we would find one or two large butterflies in the “forest” trap. There is such a variety of colours, we must have seen at least 15 species in total!
However, there is so much more interesting wildlife to cover we have decided to produce a second blog specifically highlighting our wildlife encounters (mostly reptiles and amphibians!). The rest of this blog will cover a little more of our daily lives and other interesting events that happened during our time at the station.
Life on the station was an extreme change of pace for Bryony and I. Firstly, the lack of internet played a big role. Suddenly, we found ourselves with no easily available news and no quick entertainment. Those who grew up without the internet will know that life goes on without Facebook. In fact, you suddenly become aware of how much time is taken up by short YouTube videos and inane browsing. However, Bryony and I already went for nearly a month without internet whilst in Nicaragua (see blog on Carpe Diem), so what is different? People. For the majority of the time, only Bryony and I were at the station. At Carpe Diem there was a constant supply of people to talk to and find out new perspectives on any subject, curtailing the need for much other entertainment. I (Greg) am quite extroverted, I gain a lot of my energy by hanging around others and love a good conversation. Any of my family and friends will tell you I can talk the hind leg off a donkey and love playing court. Therefore, having no one to talk to than my beloved took a bit of getting used too. Especially, as Bryony is much more introverted and adjusted easily to a low number of companions. The experience was good for me, I read many books and spent more time thinking. I even wrote a short story, something I have always wanted to do but never found the time. At several points, I did almost break and want to leave because of chronic boredom. However, in hindsight, living in an age of instant media and information, it is probably a good thing to occasionally be bored and realise that life goes on and that one could probably find something useful to do with the time if you really thought about it.
One such activity that Bryony and I did, was to spend 30min a day practising Spanish using the podcast Coffee Break Spanish and materials from our previous Spanish school. We made flashcard of words to learn the conjugations in the past and present and made conversation using these new words. When travelling, we generally stay in hostels where the language spoken most is English so it is very easy to neglect Spanish practice.
After a month of solitude, we were joined by Fernando, Rebecas’ father, who came to stay for a couple of weeks to tile the floor. A retired machinist from San Jose, he spoke no English which meant that we were forced to communicate in Spanish. Luckily he was very patient and we were able to discuss many varied topics such as the Monarchy in the UK, global economics and religion. Our Spanish conversation skills improved dramatically. We also helped a bit with the tiling, but most importantly, we cooked Fernando three meals a day and introduced him to some English dishes- one day we cooked a beef stew which we ate with yuka. As Costa Rican cuisine is pretty much limited to rice, beans and grilled meat, Fernando was very interested in our traditional foods such as pies and roast dinners.
One thing that we accomplished during our stay, was growing an avocado tree. Bryony has tried several times in the UK to get avocado seeds to germinate, however, the lack of heat and humidity means that all attempts have failed. This time we succeeded and witnessed how rapidly the avocado tree grew- must have grown an inch some days.After a month and a half, it was finally time to leave. Although we had enjoyed the wildlife, living in the rainforest away from civilisation, we looked forward to catching up on what was going on in the outside world. Muchas Gracias por todos, Estación Biológica Tamandúa, Rebeca, Fernando y la familia! Hopefully we will return someday in the future to find more snakes and hopefully see an elusive tapir!
We hope you are enjoying this somewhat belated update from our travels. The next blog will focus on the wildlife we saw in Costa Rica.
Feliz Viaje,
Greg & Bryony
P.S. The story that I (Greg) wrote and that was lovingly edited by Bryony is linked HERE. I would love some constructive criticism if you (The Reader) get the chance to have a read.
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