While Away...

Up until now, our travel has mostly focused around culture, food and activities so Estación Biológica Tamandúa was the first place we went herping (looking for reptiles and amphibians) and wildlife watching properly. Therefore, here follows a blog post purely about wildlife! Birds in particular, are extremely diverse in Central America. Unfortunately, Greg and I are not bird experts and our interests mostly lie in reptiles and amphibians. However, I think we both appreciate birds a lot more now. A common feature of Estación Biológica Tamandúa, was the hummingbirds which flittered around the flowers planted around the buildings. We did not realise how angry, noisy and territorial hummingbirds are. We would constantly hear angry squeaks and a sound like a hover craft and a pair of hummingbirds would chase each other through the room, close to colliding with our heads. The hummingbirds were also extremely inquisitive. They would fly towards us and hover at eye level for a few se...

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 ...