Wednesday, October 24, 2018

#48 | Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica


Our shuttle dropped us off directly at our bed and breakfast, Camino Verde. We were greeted with hospitality by the owner and his family with a coffee and a 'Pura Vida'. Once we had checked into our space, we went to the front desk to ask questions about tours and activities around the area for the following day. We decided to go with a tour of the Monteverde Cloud Forest and transportation to the hanging bridges.

To give you a bit of information on Monteverde, it is a town known for being near a cloud forest. Cloud forests are quite unique because of the low-level of clouds that I believe are formed from the effects of wind and moisture from both the Pacific and Caribbean Oceans that are met at the high regions of the forest. The specific forest nearing the town is the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve which is protected to preserve the lives of different wildlife. We were recommended to check out this area of Costa Rica by some close friends of ours and it certainly did not disappoint.


The tour of the cloud forest began at 8am the next morning where we and another couple were picked up and driven about 30 minutes to the entrance of the park. Generally the park officials will select a path for you but because it was low season our tour guide took us to his favourite route which included a waterfall at the very end. Our guide was a local to the area and took courses before he began working which was proven as he provided us with facts, spotted creatures with his telescope and gave us the history of Monteverde, without him it may have just felt like a regular walk. For me it was a refresher on the biology classes I took in high school as he grilled us on our previous knowledge. We saw many different birds, plants and creatures that were specific to this region of the world (we even saw a dead tarantula in a hollowed out tree) and the tour itself felt like a private tour. 





Once we made it back to the entrance of the park we headed to the hummingbird garden. They feed the birds here and it can honestly be quite scary when these birds fly right past your face. It was also difficult to take photos of them because of their speed and quick change of direction but it was really cool to get so close to them. I highly recommend if you visit Monteverde that you book a walking tour with a guide for the full experience.


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