Our Ninth Trip to Costa Rica
November 12 to 19th, 2005
The Day Before (Friday 11/11/05)
Around 11 AM, I was just getting on the International Highway heading into San Jose after dropping off four of my high school Fraternity Brothers. We had just spent a week of some pretty good fishing in the Playa Jaco area. Tomorrow I was expecting the arrival of the herp group I’d be spending the next week leading on the Costa Rica Herping Adventures ninth trip. One of the herpers, Steve, would be arriving at the airport in a couple of hours. He’d catch the hotel bus and meet me at the Best Western Irazu. I have been staying at the Irazu for over 25 years and have never had a problem getting a room there. But today I didn’t have a room. They were booked solid and had been for several weeks. I had four rooms booked for Saturday night, but none for tonight. But thanks to Steve I would be able to share a room with him tonight. Steve was coming in a day early so he wouldn’t be rushed. He booked the hotel room after booking the trip with me. The week before I had e-mailed him saying Friday night was a problem at the Irazu but I had Saturday booked. Steve reply was, “No problem, Jim, I got reservations at the Best Western. You can stay with me.” So, when I got to the Irazu, I went to the desk and asked for Steve’s room. “Sorry but we have no room for Steve and we are totally booked,” was the reply. They were having the Pan American Games Junior Judo competition nearby, and the hotel was full for Friday night. Well, I had no idea how Steve’s reservation got screwed up, but I figured I’d find out when he arrived. I expected him to show up between 1 and 2 PM, so by 3 PM, I was beginning to think there was a problem with his flight. I got someone from the hotel to check it out; no problem – his flight had come in before 1 PM. Now all kinds of possibilities crossed my mind, like maybe he was not on the flight, etc, etc. Around 5 PM one of the guys that had been trying to help me out came up and said maybe he’s at the other Best Western. “The other Best Western,” I say, “I didn’t know there was another one; where is it?” He got a map and showed me. It was in downtown San Jose about four blocks of the main drag. I called Steve and said I would be there ASAP. I thanked everyone who had been so kind to help me and took off from the hotel. Waiting to get a break in the traffic, I noticed my gas gage light was blinking – as a matter of fact it looked like it was hyperventilating. I had no idea if it just started or if it was on before I arrived at the hotel and I hadn’t seen it. Well, there was a station right across the street, but after making my way into the second lane I saw there was a median in the street that I couldn’t cross. Well, you know Friday afternoon rush hour traffic in any town is bad, but in San Jose multiply it by 100 and you’ll have a good idea. Gas is not available on every corner like in the States; you have to know where to go for gas. I knew there was a station ahead on this road, but I didn’t know how far ahead it was. Traffic was stop and go at a snail’s pace, ans I was afraid of running out of gas and making a bigger traffic mess. I made the next right at a light went a few blocks, U-turned, came back to the light, and made a left and back to the station I was so close to before. I waited in line. filled up, paid dearly, and headed back into the traffic nightmare. It was dark by now and I hadn’t driven in downtown San Jose for ten years, but my sense of direction was holding up pretty well. I met Steve at the hotel, and we went to the bar for a beer, then to the restaurant for dinner. Then we went to the room for a little rest. I have one more mission to accomplish before bedding down for the night. I had to pick up another herper at the airport. He was coming from Norway, and his plane was due in at 11:45 PM. Steve wanted to go with me to the airport, for which I was grateful. We rested for a few hours; then made a couple of signs with OYVINE name on it from hotel stationary. Oyvine finally came out the airport door around 12:30 AM. We introduced ourselves, picked up the bags and headed back to the hotel.
First Day (Saturday 11/12/05)
Steve and I got up and headed for the restaurant, stopping by Oyvine’s room to see if he wanted to join us. No he said, “I need a couple more hours of sleep. I didn’t expect him to be up bright-eyed and brushy-taied this morning after traveling close to 24 hours from Norway to Costa Rica. Steve and I had a leisurely breakfast and visited a few stores just killing some time. Finally we saw Oyvine who had just had breakfast and was ready to go. We all checked out and headed for the Best Western Irazu to meet up with the rest of our group. When we entered the Hotel Irazu, Shawn was waiting in the lobby. Now we were then up to four with three more to go, but I didn’t expect the others for a few hours. We checked into our rooms and I went use the Internet to check e-mail. I hung outside at one of the bar tables watching for the buses from the airport. Finally Mark and Donna arrived; I got them checked in to their room. We all decided to meet at the 5 to 6 Happy Hour, then go to a little Italian restaurant near the hotel. I was still sitting out front waiting for our last herper Garett to show. We had a great dinner and a lots of interesting conversation about herps. Mark and Donna had herped in Australia. Shawn had herped Costa Rica before and been to the Amazon. We all went back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep. I checked but still no Garett.
Second Day (Sunday 11/13/05)
Still no sign of Garett. We had breakfast, checked out of our rooms, packed the cars, and started our trip for the Hotel Villa Lapas. We stopped on our way at the bridge over the Rio Tarcoles to see the crocodiles. We got to our hotel a little after noon, then checked in and went to our rooms. I told everyone to meet at the restaurant for lunch in a half-hour. Of course while eating lunch everyone start to notice the basilisk and spiny tail lizards 30 feet from out table on the ground and in the trees. Within ten minutes Shawn had caught a Basilisk and a Skink. We finished lunch, and I asked everyone to meet in front of our rooms in twenty minutes for some instructions on encounters with venomous snakes and what you may expect to find in the Rain Forest and how to handle it. After a very short class we went across the river to the jungle to try our luck finding herps. All we came across was one poison arrow frog. This is a good area to start herpers out in because the ground is level the paths are wide, and I can observe how they handle the Rain Forest. Sometimes I make suggestions like slow down; you’re walking too fast, or don’t talk so loud or you’ll scare something away before you have a chance to see it. In most cases I never have to say a word because this isn’t their first time in the woods. But there have been a couple of occasions over the years that I found it necessary to pull someone aside and have a heart to heart talk with them. Nobody likes being in a group with a wild man in the jungle scaring all the animals away before you can spot them. This is one place where silence is golden. We spent a couple of hours hunting without any luck finding any snakes, but everyone who hadn’t seen them before found the leaf cutter ants amazing. On the way back on the hotel grounds, Shawn yelled “Snake.” Everyone looked and he was pointing to a hollow in a tree about five feet of the ground. There was a nice Sibon about 30 inches long. The Sibons are in a family of snail eaters. For the last five years I and every other Herper that’s come to Costa Rica with me has looked in that hollow in that tree and said “That’s a perfect place for a snake to be lying”; well today he was there. After dinner Mark, Donna and I got into one car, while Shawn, Steve and Oyvine got into the other and we set out for some road cruising. The car I was in found a Sibon, Speckled Racer and Unidentified snake all DOR; the other car got skunked.
Third Day (Monday 11/14/05)
Today after breakfast we planned to walk up the Skywalk hunting for herps. We met at 9:00 in the parking area. I walked over to a small opening at the jungle’s edge leading up a hill. This opening is hardly noticeable to most people walking by. This pathway leads up the hill to the road. From there you walk back down the road a few hundred meters where there is the path up the mountain on the Skywalk trail. Of course everyone else walks from the top of the Skywalk trail to the bottom. It’s better herping walk from the bottom to the top. If you walk from top to bottom, your momentum moves you too fast and you don’t have a chance to study the ground, shrubs and trees. Many snakes will just freeze and you’ll just walk past without noticing them. It takes 2 to 2 1/2 hours to walk up and an hour or little less to walk down. Today’s walk top the mountain turned out to be like so many other times I’ve made this walk before – plenty of interesting things to see, but no snakes. Oh, the snakes are there; it’s just a matter of timing and being in the right place at the right time. The nice thing for me is I can point out as we go along that we caught a “this” right here on this climb, we found a “that” sitting right here on this rock. We missed a green vine snake right over here in these vines. But guess what they aren’t here today. When you’re lucky, you’re lucky, but no one is lucky all the time. One thing that happened that was not usual was we got a shot of a Toucan close up; he was maybe 30 feet away. We were on one of the bridges when he flew into a tree near by. We returned to the hotel for lunch. After lunch some took a siesta; some walked around herping, some headed for the pool area. When I returned from a little jungle walk, Shawn had a nice 4 foot Red Tail Boa he caught when one of the workman from the hotel told him he had seen one. The Boa was still in the area when Shawn got there. Mark and I went road hunting that night in one car, Shawn, Steve and Oyvine in the other. I told Mark I was taking him to my secret spot. Of course it was no secret, just further down the road then I usually like to go. But at this point we had been on the road for three hours and I was desperate. We did find and catch one Sibon and did find a Blunt Headed Tree Snake, DOR. The others found 2 DOR a Boa and a Sibon. On the way back we did stop and backed up checking if we did see a snake but it turned out to be a stick. We noticed after backing up there was liquid on the road coming from under our car; it looked real black. The first thing in our minds was we are a long way from the hotel and we have an oil leak. But we are only a mile or two from an all night gas station. So we drove on waiting for the oil light to come on. We got to the station, and they have all the pump areas taped off and they are closed. The next station is 40 to 50 kilometers away; boy, this doesn’t feel good! At 1 o’clock in the morning there’s nothing to do but go on and hope for the best. Finally we got to the station, and we are both somewhat relieved. I bought some oil. Of course it took a while to find where to put it but we got it in. I asked Mark to back it up I wanted to see if it was still leaking. It was, but it looked a little lighter then it did on the highway. I put my finger in it and smell it. You guessed it, water. All that worry of being stranded for nothing. I just laughed about it. Well , no one ever said I was a mechanic.
Fourth Day (Tuesday 11/15/05)
After consuming another glorious breakfast we sat around the table working down the last cup of coffee and discussing the plan for the day. Some want to do this, some that, so we decided everyone should do want they wanted to do. Two or three got together and drove to Jaco to check out the shops for tee shirts, etc. Some of us stayed and hunted around the hotel for herps. After an hour of finding no snakes, we separated. I decided to walk up the mountain. Before getting to the first bridge, there is a little chikee with some seats. I stopped there as usual, by the time you get here you need a five minute break to just sit and suck down some water. So I sat for a short rest. On another trip while resting here we found a Brown Vine snake. I was looking up at the tile roof which of course I always do. This is a natural thing for any herper to do, we may never seen anything, but we always look. This time in an inch and a half between tiles a saw something that looked very much like it could be a snake’s belly. This part of the roof is maybe 12 feet on the ground but it’s looking good to me. Assuming it was a snake – how could I get to it? The answer was – I couldn’t, but I thought I’d better make sure it was a snake before figuring out how to get it. I found a long branch and reached up and lightly touched it; it scooted to the side about an inch. Then I was 100% sure it was a snake, and my motivation had just improved a lot. My only possible way to get to him was a ladder which I didn’t have or maybe I could figure out something from the outside. This Chikee was built in a place they cut from the mountain, so by climbing the very steep mountain I could at least be able to see the roof and maybe figure a way from there. I slipped and slid my way up to where I could see the roof which was covered with vines. From where I was, it was impossible to get onto the roof. This was hopeless, I looked at him from the bottom and came up with three possibilities of what the snake may be: Either a Brown Vine Snake, Cateye Snake or a Blunted Headed Tree Snake, in that order would be my guess with heavy odds on the first one. I continued climbing close to the top before turning around and heading back to the hotel for lunch. At lunch I told the group of my frustration of not being able to catch that snake. After eating Shawn and OV wanted to go back up the mountain. We had to shorten Oyvine name because we all got tongue-tied trying to say it. But it started raining hard, and we were locked in for an hour or so, which was good because I needed the rest. When we made it back to the Chikee, you guessed it the snake was nowhere to be seen. But he could be up there just moving a little and he would be out of sight. Shawn start trying to climb up the frame of the Chikee, but Shawn is a big guy, at least compared to me. The frame started to look like it might fall, so I figured I might better try to make it up to what might be considered a ceiling area. I had to jump to get hold of the beam, but I managed to get my leg around the beam and swung up from there, but I couldn’t quite get my balance. I asked Shawn to grab my foot and give it a little push up, then I was sitting on the beam.
I poked all around the tiles which were just lying on the cross beams. When I was by myself before, I had thought of jumping to the roof, but I didn’t have a good feeling about it so I didn’t. Good thing or I and all the tiles would have been on the ground. I probably would have been looking for a new hotel to operate out of. We didn’t find the snake but I’ll be looking for him on the next trip. The first day we arrived the the Villa Lapas, Mario the naturalist guide at the hotel told me one of the hotel workers had asked him to tell me he had a place he knew that he had been finding loads of snakes. I told Mario at that time to set it up, we would love to go. I ask him the next day if he had it set? He said he was working on it but we would go. By now I knew it wasn’t going to happen without me doing something. I got Mario away from everyone for a little talk. He said we couldn’t go because the roads were too bad from all the rain. I told him I had talked to the herpers and they really wanted to go. He said he would talk to the guys. Later he came back to me and said the road crew had been working the area and the road was passable. I said, Let’s go tonight. A while later he said it was set for tonight at 7 o’clock. I waited until around 7:30 then I sent someone to his room to see what the problem was. Mario had fallen asleep waiting for us to finish dinner. This kind of thing is not unusual in CR. But at least we are on our way as we get high up the road I was wondering where the road crew did any work. None was noticed by me, the road was bad but got worse as we got higher up the mountain. On a prior trip one of the car that I’m thankful I wasn’t in got stuck is a hole in the road for three hours before they were able to get it out. I could see why they got struck, we were moving from side to side trying to stay out of holes. We were heading for the town of Bihagual. I asked Mario where we were to meet our guide. He said “in the bar I guess”. Right away I didn’t like the sound of that answer. But being in CR. I figured it would likely work out OK. I asked Mario which bar? He said there was only one, which made me feel better right away. Of course when we reached the bar he wasn’t there. I asked Mario what now? He shrugged his shoulders. Then he said the guide said we were going to a Reserve, Mario took off again to the bar to see if anyone knows about the Reserve. Mario came back with someone in tow. This guy knew where the guide lived about two kilometers from here and he would take us to get him. Great but we had to wait for the other car to get here, and they should only be a couple of minutes behind, I said. They caught up with us, I explained the deal and asked them to wait until we came back with the guide. Off we went. If I thought the main road was bad, this one was a horrifying nightmare. I considered calling off the whole deal but Mark was driving well and not complaining, but of course his name wasn’t on the rental agreement. Finally I said we couldn’t chance it any further; if we broke an axle we would be here forever. The guy in the back told Mario it was only a little further, we could walk it and back in ten minutes. OK, I said. They left, I asked Mark how were we ever going to turn around: this is a very narrow dirt road. I said we should get out and see if we can find a place to turn around, if we couldn’t we’d have to go forward anyway. Five feet behind out back tire there was little narrow driveway. We hadn’t seen it before and if we had not been on foot we’d never seen it. Mark got in the car and I got in the driveway told him to go forward one foot and cut hard and pull in, he backed right in. He cut the wheels and started forward I yelled STOP. The back right tire was going to fall in the ditch. About that time Mario gets back with two guys. I explained our problem to Mario; he translated, our long lost guide jumped into the ditch, yelled in Spanish to Mario and Mario went ahead and told Mark to make the ture. Mark pulled forward, the guide put one hand under the car just in front of the tire and the other just in back of the tire and held the car up as the tire went across two feet of space to the road. I stood there with my mouth wide open, not believing what was seeing. We all piled into the car and went back to town dropping off Mario’s friend after giving him some Colones for his trouble. We got the other car and started down the road but we had a guide this time. I ask Mario to ask the guide if we should expect to see a Fer de Lance tonight? Mario ask, he answer, Mario tells me we should expect to see 20 Fer de Lances tonight. I cringed; I didn’t want to see 20; it’s bad enough seeing them on a blacktop paved road where they are easy to see and handle but in the middle of the jungle, eight guys -that’s sixteen feet to step on one. Oh well, we ended up going down the same road – I was hoping for a better one. But we didn’t go quite as far as we did before. The guide got out and opened a barbed wire fence and told us to park in a little ways. I was wondering if this was the Reserve, but it was now just someone’s farm. He led and we followed and I was looking for some nice wide path thought the Reserve. Dream on! Soon we came to a river with rapidly moving water. Our guide stepped in and motioned us to follow. We thought he was going to the other side which was not far, but he headed straight up stream, hunting both side of the river. When we got in, we found that the water was cold and fast but only about thigh deep, I was hoping it didn’t go any deeper; there were big rocks everywhere – some we could go around, some we could climb over. If we hadn’t had snake sticks or a branch or something we all would have gone down. We got to a place that I judged to be Class 3 Rapids, and we pushed on without seeing any snakes. Finally about an hour and a half later, we climbed out of the water, and I was told we were in the Reserve. Where are the paths? I asked. Oh, we’re on them was the reply. Well, I was glad somebody could see them because I couldn’t. Another half hour and we were back on the road. The guide was sorry we didn’t see any snakes. We paid him and he pointed the way to the cars and headed the other direction. We found the cars and left, hunting the road on the way back to the hotel. I said after all that effort I didn’t like being skunked, and I was going to walk on the other side of the river for a while, and did anyone want to join me? Steve said he had enough for one night. When we got to the other side of the bridge, Mark stayed with me on one path while Shawn and Ov went the other way. After a while Mark said to me he had done this type of hunting a lots of time and never caught anything. I said yes I know, but we have a better chance there than in bed. A couple of minutes later I spotted one in a tree about head high just sitting in a coil. I called Mark over and showed it to him in case I didn’t make the catch. He asked what it was. I told him I didn’t know but it’s surely not venomous. I went over and put one hand over and one under and made the grab. It was some form of Racer or Coachwhip. We hunted a while longer and Mark said he was tired from the river walk and he was going to bed. I stayed a while longer until I heard the other guys coming. They didn’t find anything, so we all decided to pack it in for the night and it was only about 1 AM. When Mark was walking back before he got to the river he caught a nice four foot Red Tail Boa.
Fifth Day (Wednesday 11/16/05)
After breakfast we were back by our cabinas get ready to go to the Carara National Park. Shawn spotted and caught a nice Speckled Racer. That’s one of the nice things about these trips: even if you have to wait for all of your fellow Herpers, you can still be hunting. Of course that did delay our departure a little bit, but no one seemed to mind because everyone was anxious to get a picture of our new find. Although the entry to Carara National Park is only a six or seven minute drive on the highway from the road leading to our hotel, there are some differences in the herps to be found. One that OV was interested in finding was a small Crocodile. He wanted to catch one for a few photos he could take back to Norway, then release the Croc back into the wild. He made sure I understood he just wanted to catch a small one like 3 foot or under, not a Big One. I assured him that I understood him perfectly; not only would I stand by and protect him from momma it she was nearby, but I wanted be sure he understood that that protection was only limited to a warning, not diving between him and momma croc. He said he understood, but I think he was looking for a little more. Carara has two trails: one at the visitors’ center and one at two kilometers down the road. We decided to do the far one in the morning and the other going back to the hotel for lunch. Our morning trail has water 95% of the time during the rainy season. The rainy season official ends November 1st but, of course, Mother Nature doesn’t look at the calendar very often, and when she does, she sometimes like to show her good sense of humor. So far on this trip she’s having a good laugh at our expense, but herpers don’t care one bit because stuck somewhere in our minds we think herps come out the play in the rain. Sometimes this is true but sometimes not. After getting our tickets to the park, Mark and Donna opted to rent knee high rubber boots for the walk through the water. We drove down the road to the entry to the second trail. Good news – they had someone there to watch the cars while we walked the trail. This was good and well worth a tip later on. We started down the trial which was a dirt road; we didn’t have to go very far before we found it covered with water – maybe 6 inches deep. Not too far and we were back on dry ground, then water again and back and forth. Finally we came to a part that was knee deep. I stayed right on the tracks where the park truck runs every day while on patrol. This part is packed hard and easy to walk on. Donna, trying to stay a little dryer, walked to the side of the road where it was muddy, and she got stuck. She yelled to her husband Mark to help her. We all turned around to see her teetering back and forth. Just as Mark arrived to help, she fell on her butt in the water. Of course, we all tried not to laugh, but after a few seconds we just couldn’t hold it; it was just too funny. As you could expect, this just added fuel to the fire. Hubby was close by, and he got the full brunt of it. Mark, after some effort, did get Donna back on her feet, but she couldn’t pull her feet out of the mud. Mark was holding her up – if he hadn’t been, she would have been down again. But he couldn’t hold her up and pull on her boots at the same time, but Donna didn’t quite see it that way. Finally she screamed for one of us GENTLEMEN to please help her out. The gentleman closest was Steve, and he was glad to help; but his help was as a director, not as a grunt. Donna didn’t seem to like Steve’s program, and she let him know it and told him to get over there and pull this and that. She knew what she was talking about. Soon, to everyone’s relief, she was free from the mud. This whole thing must have been five minutes, and we all had long since stopped laughing. But I’m sure if the boot had been on someone else’s foot, Donna would have laughed too, or a least had a smile on her face. She was a good sport; once it was over, it was over, and we just kept going down the road. We were now in water up to our knees; the water covered the road completely. The road is bordered by banana trees on both sides so everyone was looking hard. I saw an outline on a banana leaf maybe twelve feet above me. I studied it for a while; it didn’t move, but it had the right taper to it to be a snake. I kept looking at it, becoming more sure it was a snake by the minute. Shawn was walking foward me and I motioned him over saying I’m 98% sure I’ve got a snake spotted. He looked where I was pointing and agreed it looked like a snake. About that time it moved and its head was visible at the base of the leaf. I said Parrot Snake. Everyone came for a look. I said we have to plan this or we will never have a chance to catch him. The snake was at least twelve feet off the ground and he could easily go higher or to another tree. I thought our chance was slim to none on making a catch. We agreed on a plan; we would all surround the tree and if he dropped to the ground, we would have a shot at him. If he went higher our job then would be to track him. Shawn, being the tallest, would try to push the tree fowards the road- if it came over enough we might be able to make a grab. Shawn pushed and the tree came over about a foot, but this made the snake move for a higher position. But to make it to the next tree which was taller, the snake had to come down some. Shawn made a grab, but it was just out of his reach. Someone moved the tree snake was trying to get to away from him, causing him to come a little lower. I made a jump as high as I could and got hold of him. Unbelievably we had him; the planning and team work paid off. We stood in the water for the next twenty minutes taking pictures of the Parrot Snake.
We moved on down the trail and came to some dry sunny spots where we saw some Ameivas and Spiny Tailed Iguanas. We finally came to the lagoon area where we hoped to find some Crocs. We tried to go to the lagoon through several spots that were open and some we trail blazed, but no luck. Passing the lagoon, we walked the trail to the end. We turned around and started back, and on the way Shawn stopped and pointed to another Parrot Snake. This one was lying on top of the water in a very small pond. I was closest to it, and Shawn said “it’s all yours.” I started toward it, expecting it to speed away, but when it didn’t move after my first couple of steps, I thought I might have a chance, so I revved my engines and hit high gear. He moved, but I was already on him and he was in my hand. He was about the same size as the first one – both being 3 to 4 feet long. The adults are sometimes over seven feet long. As we came to the lagoon area again, OV and I made up our minds we were going to find a Croc. We made several trips from the road to the lagoon, but finally we just stayed at the water’s edge the best we could. It was rough going. OV spotted a small Croc, but he went underwater quick. With some much rain, the rivers, ponds and lagoon were full. Under normal conditions there is grass and weeds line the shore line and the small Crocs hide in the weeds, at least giving you a shot at finding them before they go for deeper water. Conditions just weren’t right for us that day. We caught up with the rest of our group, and we all spotted two groups of monkeys before getting back to the cars. After lunch at the hotel we just hung out until 3:30 for our trip back to the park and the second trail for the day. On this trail an hour before getting dark, the Macaws often come in to roost for the night. We talked to one of the park guides, and he said there had been some sighting of Fer de Lances around the walkway area in the past few days, Well this perked our interest. We walked the trail which was shorter then the one tthat morning. We didn’t see any herps, but just as we were get back to the parking lot, we heard some Macaws nearby coming in to roost. Shawn, Donna and Mark wanted to walk back to find them, but the rest of us kept going for the cars. We said we wait for them in the parking lot. Finally they came out of the trail with big smiles on their faces. I knew something was up, I figured they had found a snake. They said your’re not going the believe this. They found the Macaws high in a tree. While trying to figure out how to get a good picture it them, they said one flew off the limb he was on and came down and landed on Mark’s shoulder. I said your’re right – I don’t believe it! They said there’s the digital picture to prove it.
Mark said he didn’t know what to do when the bird was making his approch; he thought it was going to fly by and even that spoked him. He didn’t know if it was going to claw him or take a bite. The last thing he thought it was going to do was land and make himself at home. Remember this is in the jungle. In Costa Rica there was a law passed a quater of a century ago prohibiting people from keeping native wildlife, so this bird was no one’s pet. Boy, I wished I had been there to see it happen. At dinner Mark, Shawn and I decided to go up to the top of the Skywalk and hunt down the first three bridges, take the short cut back to the road, and walk back up to the car. After going in the gate there was a short walk to the shelter which had been disassembled; all the tiles from the roof were laying in neat stacks. I was shining my headlite around the tiles and spotted a small snake – one which I had never encountered before. It’s color were red, yellow and black, but this guy didn’t look like a Coral Snake. The head wasn’t right nor the color patterns. But the colors were enough to make me cautious. I very lightly pinned the front part of the body, tailed it and moved it to the center of the path. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew it wasn’t a coral snake. Later I found out that it was a Red-Eyed Tree Snake.
A while later Shawn spotted the tail of a snake moving off the path, but we couldn’t come across it again. We did catch a couple of Banded Geckos and a Big Frog and that’s how Day 5 ended.
Sixth Day (Thursday 11/17/05)
This day we had planned to go to Quepos and visit Manuel Antonio National Park. Manuel Antonio is a seaside park that extends from the beach to the mountains and includes several different types of habitats. Near the shoreline were plenty of Spiny Tailed Iguanas; on the other side of the path were Basilisk and Ameivas. We walked the trails looking for herps, but after leaving the beach area, we didn’t see a single one. We were rewarded with seeing several Monkeys, both Howler and Capuchins. With the Howler Monkeys you usually hear them before you see them, this time was no exception. We also saw some Sloths high in the trees feeding on leaves. The jungle was alive with sounds of birds; we even saw a few, but the one I remember most was a huge woodpecker with the reddest head I’ve ever seen. If you had walked down this path, you couldn’t miss seeing him; he was banging on a tree so hard you couldn’t help but look and see what was making all the noise. We did get a brief look at a small mammal on the jungle floor, but it was too fast to make an ID. We spent a little more than half of a day at the park, then had a nice drive back to the hotel. I have been hunting the road we were on for the last 5 years, but this was the first time I had seen it in the day time. That night we were walking to dinner when a young lady all excited came running up to us and asked me if I spoke Spanish? I replied “Poco”; at that point she wisely switched to English. She told me they had just seen a “Baker” at the restaurant. The rest of our group looked at me with an expression of their faces that said – So what, you would expect to see a Baker at the restaurant, wouldn’t you? Only I knew that Baker in Costa Rica is their term for Boa. She took us to the spot where they had seen the Boa, of course it wasn’t there. We hunted the ground around the spot for five minutes before Shawn spotted it 8 feet up a tree out on a limb. Shawn managed to pull the limb down with a stick and make the catch. This night they were having a show with dinner, and the dancers were on the floor rehearsing. They all stopped the see the “Baker”; some of the girls even held it, including the girl who came to find me. We had a wonderful meal that night, and the show was a special treat. Later that night a few of us walked the Skywalk trail again. Shawn saw another snake tail disappear into the side of the mountain by some loose rock. We dug and dug, but it just kept going deeper and deeper. We never saw him again.
Seventh Day (Friday 11/18/05)
As all good things do, this trip was close to coming to an end. Today was the last full day we had left, tomorrow would be a travel day. But, what is bothering me is the number of snakes we have come across. We are not even close to the average, which is usually in the forties. This trip, going into the last day, we weren’t even in the twenties. We hadn’t spent the time on the road we usually do, but the nights on the road in the first couple days were slow – we only came across a few snakes. Snake hunting is like fishing; sometimes you get them sometimes you don’t. It’s all luck, being in the right place at the right time. On best trip we found 65 snakes; this trip looks like it will be our worst. Well, tonight I’ll be on the road trying to bring up the numbers; we haven’t even seen a Fer de Lance dead or alive. As always our last night’s dinner at the Villa Lapas was wonderful.
Standing: Donna, Mark, Steve — Sitting: Oyvine, Shawn and Jim
After dinner Shawn was the only one that wanted to go with me for road cruising; the rest needed their beauty sleep. As we approached the highway from the dirt road, I suggested we turn right instead of left. This highway I usually stay off of until very late because of the traffic volume. We were five minutes down the road when I spotted what I was pretty sure was a good size Fer de Lance. We stopped the car, and I checked him out on the ID. It was a Fer de Lance around five feet long. I got the snake hook and bagger out of the trunk, and Shawn made the catch. Well, at least we wouldn’t be skunked; all a sudden the night held promise. That was the only snake we found on that road, and we decided the traffic was a little to much. We head for the road we usually hunt with less traiffic. We found 2 snake that were so squached that I coundn’t ID them. Next we found a Fer de Lance DOR. Soon we saw a good size snake on the road moving. At first I thought it was another big Fer de Lance, but when we were a little closer, I saw it was a nice big Boa, which turned out to be about 6 feet long, nice and fat, maybe gravid. We made it to our turn-around place, and on the way back five minutes later there was a beautiful small brightly colored boa, DOR. It had just be hit since he wasn’t there when we came by 10 minutes ago. Another five minutes another dead Fer de Lance; 10 minutes more a second one, both frechly killed. Before getting back to the hotel, we found a Cat-eye snake and a Green Vine Snake both DOR. We had found 10 snakes that night with just one car on the road. At least we brought the numbers up to 27 snakes encountered on this trip. That was lowest count so far, but we’ll do better next trip. So, why don’t you plan to be there.
Until the next time.
HAPPY HERPING!!!!
Jim
The following is a list of snakes our herpers encountered on our trip to Costa Rica Nov. 12th to 19th. 2005.
|
Species
|
Live
|
DOR
|
| Boa Constrictor |
5
|
2
|
| Bothrops Asper |
1
|
3
|
| Drymobius margaritiferus |
1
|
1
|
| Imantodes cenahoa |
0
|
1
|
| Leptodeira Septentrionalis |
0
|
1
|
| Leptophis ahaetulla |
2
|
0
|
| Mastigodryas melandomus |
1
|
0
|
| Oxybelis fulgidus |
0
|
1
|
| Sibon nebulatus |
2
|
1
|
| Siphlophis compressus |
1
|
0
|
| Unidentified sp. |
2
|
2
|
|
TOTAL 27
|
15
|
12
|
This list doesn’t include the numerous other forms of reptiles and amphibians we came across on this trip. This list was compiled by: Jim Kavney.
Each of the Herpers on our trip has a few things to say about their personal experiences.
My Herping Adventure in Costa Rica
Congratulations and thanks to you for creating this excellent educational experience and coupling it with a congenial, interesting group of fine fellow herpers. All of us will remember this week as one of our most memorable. I think you are entitled to enjoy a high level of personal gratification for bringing us this extraordinary adventure.
To prospective participants: I endorse Jim, his tour, personality, input and expertise without any reservation.
Sincerely,
Steve Sundheimer
Hello Jim!
I’m doing fine, and you? I have had a good Christmas holiday, a lot of snow here, but not to cold. I really liked Costa Rica. And to be able to spend some days in the Rainforest looking for reptiles with you and the group was just perfect! Next time I will stay many more days, and try some fishing too. I think that to get together in a group like that is a GREAT
idea! There are no Europeans doing tours like that, with reptiles, and no one to Africa either. I would love to join you again, to find more snakes, and then maybe catch a small croc! I really thought you were cool when you showed us the Fer de Lance that last morning! THAT WAS A GOOD WAY TO END THE TRIP! GOOD. And the boa was a good one too. I enjoyed the day we caught that green parrot snake on the palm leaf, that was a good hunt for that one, to get him
down from that tree. And right before that, Donna got stuck in the mud, Remember? Ha-ha-ha, that was fun. And the Villa Lapas and all the people working there as great were nice people! An excellent hotel. Good choice! That night we went out to walk in the river, was very special, I enjoyed that, strange that we didn’t see one snake that night, hmm. And I liked the
rode hunting too. I can tell you, that this trip is the best I have been on so fare in my life! And I have travel a lot. I LOVED IT, and I Think the rest of the group also did! Thank you! And another thing Jim, if you ever need some help with the Costa Rica Herping Adventures. I would love too help, and work fore you, just as you now, and there are a lot of Europeans who would like to go on trips like this but they don’t now about it. But, maybe that’s a good thing, because they are crazy, especially NORWEGIANS. Ha-ha-ha. Anyway I would like to go again some day Jim, and I hope we can stay in touch!
Thanks for everything! Have a good 2006!
My Herping Adventure in Costa Rica
Hi Jim,
Thank you again for a very enjoyable herping trip to Costa Rica. As someone who’s herped in Costa Rica before, with organized groups and without, I can honestly say this was one of the nicest trips I’ve taken. The accommodations were great (and the food tremendous!), the location easy to get to (and yet still “wild”), and the cost very reasonable. Of course, the virtually constant opportunity to herp was a definite plus!
I felt you did a great job of organizing everything involved in the trip, while at the same time making the entire week feel relaxed and easy-going. I felt like I was with a group of friends I had known for a long time, as opposed to five strangers I’ve never met before. It’s so nice to be able to share the unique passion of herping with other similarly minded people, and I appreciate all you did to make that happen.
I hope I can make it again on a future Costa Rica Herping Adventures trip.
Shawn Mallan
Last Updated February 5, 2006
Website created and maintained by: Jim Kavney