Our Nineteenth Trip to Costa Rica
Nov 2nd to 9th, 2013
Day One ~~~ Saturday November 2nd. 2013
As always for me it’s been a long time getting to this place and time. It’s the beginning day of Costa Rica Herping Adventures Trip 19. I’ve been waiting since May to get back to the Arenal Lodge for herping with a group. I came into Costa Rica yesterday a day early and stayed with some friends in Atenas last night and most of today. I got to the Hotel Aeropuerto around 4:00 pm and didn’t have the first Herper coming in until around 4:45 pm. A little after 5:30 a cab pulled up with Shawn getting out. I have not seen Shawn for 2 years. This will be Shawn’s 4 th Herping trip with Costa Rica Herping Adventures. The next group of Herpers on their way to CR are connecting in Atlanta and flying in on the same flight. Jackie and Skip are on their 3rd Adventures with Costa Rica Herping Adventures. Traveling on the same flight with them will be Ed, a newbie to our group. We had a three hour wait, so Shawn and I got caught up on our lives since our last trip together which was only two years ago, but never the less a lot had changed in our lives. Finally two cabs pulled up one after the other. Ed came in first to the reception area and I yelled over: Are you Ed? He smiled and I said I’m Jim. Then Skip and Jackie walked in, I hugged Jackie and Skip. And then shook hands with Ed. Shawn and Jackie and Skip were old friends from Trip 17. Our new arrivals went to their rooms, and about 10 minutes later they came back and we headed to the restaurant. We started talking and Ed filled us in on some of his Herping background. It wasn’t long before we had some yawns; it had been a long day which travel days always are. We paid our bills and went off the bed. Our cars would be delivered at 8 am and we had a 3 to 4 hour drive ahead of us in the morning. We’d eat lunch; then we would be ready to get start on our first day of Herping!!!
Day 2 ~~~ Sunday, November 3rd. 2013
Well, the car was supposed to be delivered at 8am so we would be off to an early start to the Arenal Lodge. But, we are in Costa Rica and the chances of an on time delivery are on the slim side. At least the rental company did call me and say that the car had been returned last night and they want to put new brakes shoes on it and it would take another ½ hour. Well, this makes perfect sense; who wants to drive thought the mountains with poor working brakes. Who can be up-set about new, safe brakes? I bet they use that excuse all the time. The car arrived at 10am and after we did the inspection and I had him set up the cell phones, it was 10:30 by the time we were on your way. We went North on the Autopista to San Ramon. We drove through the city, then started our climb up the mountains. It’s a beautiful scenic long drive with lots of curves and up and downs. We were lucky this day because there was no rain or fog and light traffic. We stopped at a couple of hardware stores to buy Ed some rubber boots. We finally found his boots at a small grocery store. Once we were on rather flat ground, we made good time heading for La Fortuna, a nice city about 20 kilometers from our destination. We finally pulled up to the gate and the guard let us in. After a three kilometer drive, we were there. We picked up our keys at reception and took our bags to the rooms. We quickly made our way to the restaurant for lunch; a few minutes more and we would have missed lunch. After lunch we got our herping gear on and started hunting. The whole terrain had changed since I was there in May of this year. Once I thought about it made sense; right now was the end of the rainy season and the plants had been on a growth spurt for six months. It would have helped it I had a machete. I didn’t have one but we pushed on trying to stick to more clear areas. After about two hours we started back to the lodge without finding a single snake. After a nice dinner we decided to do a little road cruising. On the way down the lodge road to the highway, we spotted a Coyote. He was running ahead of our car down the middle of the road. When we came to a curve in the road, we lost sight of him, then when we made the turn, he was still on the road. After the next curve he was gone. A few minutes later Ed spotted eye shine in a tree; we stopped and got out of the car hoping to get a photo. It turned out to be a Kinkajou, but he didn’t sit still for the cameras. We had high hopes when we got on the paved road but a half hour later we were less encouraged, an hour and a half was enough. It had been a long day and we’d had it. After parking the car Shawn said he was going check out the garden area that had a few ponds with frogs croaking. I joined him, but after 10 minutes I was too cold and headed for my room. I found out the next morning that Shawn saved us from being skunked in our first day in the field. He found a Cat-eye Snake. I was very happy!!
Day 3 ~~~ Monday, November 4th. 2013
We all met for breakfast in the restaurant a little after 7am and ate a hearty meal for a day in the field. As I was leaving for my room, I saw Miguel who I worked with in the field in May of this year. Miguel and I became good friends the last time I was here. We gave each other a big hug, which is a Costa Rican tradition. Miguel is the hotel guide and takes hotel guests on a two hour nature tour each morning at 8:15am. He is well versed in both flora and fauna and very fortunately has a passion for herps, which in my opinion makes him the best reptile guide in Costa Rica , maybe all of Central America . We all met up with Miguel around 8:00, and I made the introductions. By 8:15 there were no other guests for the tour; we now had a herping tour and Miguel to ourselves. On the way to the trail head, we found an Eyelash Viper. We were off to a good start. The trail is about 2 miles long and we crossed water 4 or 5 times. We had just crossed over the water for the first time and were hunting around when Miguel said he found something. Using his headlight to look into a hole he said he had seen a couple of scales of a snake. The hole he was looking into was an opening as big around as my little finger. He opened the hole and removed two baby Sibon nebulatus in the snail-eater family. This was the smallest of this species I had ever seen, maybe 8 inches long. Miguel said wait a minute and pulled out another one the same size. An hour or so later, again we were crossing over water, and we started hunting the area hard. Shawn was crossing on rocks when he picked a pile of sand to step on and was up to his knee in water and sand. Being quick and agile as he was, he managed to get his other foot on solid ground and pull his sunken foot out without getting stuck. We looked all around since Miguel said he had seen Fer de Lances around this area recently. We stared turning over rocks and Miguel found something again.
Geophis brachycephalus ~~~ Costa Rican Worm Snake
He reached down and pulled out a 15 inch snake black with red blotches or bands – I couldn’t tell which. At first I thought it may be a baby Calico Snake. At that moment Miguel said there were more and held up two others. Later, with a little research we found out they were three of the Costa Rican Worm Snakes that are found in the higher elevations. This is a new species for CRHA. After lunch another Eyelash Viper was found.
Bothriechis schlegelii ~~~ Eyelash PitViper
Around 4 pm we got together for a photo shoot in the garden area of the lodge, and we finally got our photos and released all of the snakes. After dinner Shawn, Ed, Miguel and I drove down the lodge road to the bottom. Our plan was for 2 of us to walk up the road leaving the car for the next 2 to drive past us, and then leave the car. Leap frog with a car, I use to herp that way in Florida in my younger days. Shawn and Miguel stayed on the bottom, Ed and I drove up the road a bit, left the car and started walking one on each side of the road. We didn’t see any snakes on our first leg and neither did Shawn and Miguel. But we did see several frogs and a few lizards. The next leg Ed saw a snake tail go off the road. He called me over and was going to go down the hill after it. I discouraged him from doing it. It has thick and steep and looked hopeless to me. The others didn’t see anything on their leg. Our next leg Ed saw the tail of another snake go off the side of the road into the brush. When the other guys drove by us, Shawn said they had found an Eyelash Viper and they saw a Cotton Tail Rabbit on the road and an Opoddum and a Kinkajou in the trees. Ed and I were still walking when Ed said he just saw a small snake go into a small hole in the side of a small hill. He pointed out the hole to me we tried looking into the hole with a flashlight but saw nothing. We put the end of the hook on our snake hook and pried the dirt away opening the hole. We kept doing this and out came the snake. I knew it was harmless. I told Ed and he grabbed him, catching a Sock-head Snake. Ed had just caught his first Costa Rican snake. Congratulations were in order, which I gave him. This was also a new species for CRHA. We got in the car and drove back to the lodge. Shawn and Miguel were already there. A little later in my room I did a total for the day. 12 snakes felt pretty good. I knew all days wouldn’t be like this one, but every once in a while, we get a good one and I’m happy to take them when they come.
Day 4 ~~~ Tuesday, November 5th. 2013
After yesterday’s nice haul, I was a little skeptical that we’d do it again, but the hope was there and always will be. After breakfast we started for the entrance to the trail but stopped before getting there because another Eyelash Viper was found in a hedge sitting on a limb with a nice bulge in his belly. This was not more that a 200 feet from where we found one the first morning. We walked the trail and saw a few lizards and Frogs but no snakes. After lunch we did another walk and found no snakes. We used the pool or hot tub for a while and waited for the sun to set. Miguel was going to take us to a trail that was cut though the jungle to move cattle from one pasture to another instead of using the road. As we started into a field, Shawn saw a snake and a minute later he grabbed a 6 plus foot Bird Snake. We took some pictures and let him go on his way. We were walking a fence line when I believe it was Miguel who spotted a snake but was unable to catch it. A minute later Shawn spotted it and was also unable to catch it. We all hunted high and low without finding it. I asked about the size and color, and got two different opinions on the length from 3 feet to 18 inches but the color was agreed to be brown. Were we hunting two snakes or one, I guess we’ll never know for sure. We walked up a hill and took a few pictures with the sunset with Arenal Volcano in the background. Soon we reached the entry to the trail; it was a little tough going in the beginning but the trail leveled out and it was OK. We saw a few interesting insects like a Tarantula and a large Walking Stick. After a while someone up front saw a frog and they started takes pictures of it. Ed got his photos and stepped back and took a look around. Right above the frog was a snake coiled up on a limb. I heard the word snake and moved up quickly, I looked into the tree, with that bright red belly I knew it was a Salmon-bellied Racer. Since Ed made the spot, he got to make the catch. I told him to wait until we all took some photos from what we could see of him. Being a Racer, he can be here one minute and gone the next, so pictures first on Racers when possible. Ed used his snake hook to lower the limb down as the racer went up, but someone managed to get hold of the tail. We took some photos; then Miguel put the snake in a bag. We had an unfortunate thing happen yesterday afternoon. When we were taking our photos of couple snakes we found the night before, we discovered the sock-head snake had died just before it was his turn for photos. He was probably stressed out and just gave up. Jackie was very up-set about losing this snake and said we should photo them in situ and nobody disagreed. I feel I was the one who should have handled it differently, like taking the photo in the morning. In the past 18 trips prior to this one, we never had a herp die in our possession. We saved several from dying on the road and releasing them later. Well, getting back to Miguel put the snake in the bag, Jackie was very up set about the snake going in the bag and let it be known. I told her other herpers on the trip may want photos of the snake during the day. We went round and round with the pros and cons of our situation. I finally asked each herper their position on the matter and it seemed that everyone was flexible and we decided to take al photos in situ where it made sense to do so. You can’t jump out of a car and set up a photo shoot on the highway with 18 wheelers going by. In the future I plan to be a better guardian for the herps we all love so well. We moved down the trail and came face to face with six cows coming down the trail from the other way. We all moved to one side of the trail and then some, giving these guys plenty of room to go around us. The first one went right on by us and I noticed he was a Bull. The rest held back and didn’t come around us. Miguel started yell something in Spanish, and that got the next three moving and again all Bulls. The next one, also a bull, stood his ground; from the look in his eye I would not have surprised if he charged us; the ones behind him went around on a run to keep up with the other. I guess the one staying behind decided he was now out numbered and he left too. I felt very relieved. We finally came to the end of the trail. We turned around and a half hour later we cleared the trail and were back in the field again. After only a short time, Miguel led us off in a different direction, and pretty soon there were a line of trees ahead of us. They looked real good for Eyelash Vipers. We found and photographed three new Eyelash Vipers in those trees. Shawn spotted two and I don’t remember who got the third one. We then walked back to the Lodge and I along with Ed drove Miguel home in La Fortuna. Seven snakes for the day wasn’t a bad day at all!
Day 5 ~~~ Wednesday, November 6th. 2013
Today was our fourth day in the field. The morning was bright with the sun shining from the East with the Volcano sitting in the middle it and the sun shining around both side of it; it was quite a sight. We all met at breakfast and we had no particular plans for the morning. Ed had a problem with his feet from the rubber boots, so he said he would be lying low today. Shawn and I decided to walk the Lodge’s main trail. We didn’t see much, an occasional frog or lizard. Shawn decide to try his noose which he fastened to the handle end of his snake hook, it had a line with a slip knot on the end he laid that string right over the Amelia quadilineata ~~~ Four-line Whiptail. Perfect catch! I was working the right side on the trail and used my snake hook to move the leaves along the edge of the trail. I was hoping to disturb a Hognose Pit Viper. Moving the leaves I thought was my best strategy because these guys are very small, very cryptic and they stay very still, waiting for prey. You could walk right by and never see them. Good strategy, poor results! We both worked hard on this walk turning over anything that might be movable, checking under it, and then replacing it where it was. We just didn’t have any luck. After a couple hours of hard work, Shawn moved a rock and found some snake eggs under it, there were four or five small eggs. We placed the rock over the eggs as we found them. We would check the eggs every day and see it we got lucky enough to find some babies hatching around. Just before the end of our hunt, Shawn found two eggs that have pipped. This being the Rain Forest, we figured that any hatched eggs wouldn’t be left around very long before something would eat them. We hunted the whole area and came with nada. Time for lunch!!!! A little after lunch Shawn surprised me with a Giant Parrot Snake ~~~ Leptophis ahaetulla. A while later Miguel came up with a Costa Rican Coral Snake ~~~ Micrurus mosquitensis, a new species for CRHA. Later we came across an Elegant Litter Snake ~~~ Rhadinaea decorata,yet another new species for CRHA. Quite an afternoon adding three new species in one day. Meanwhile Skip and Jackie went on a tour to the hanging bridges not far from the Lodge. They had a guide all to themselves and they were very happy with him and his knowledge of the Rain Forest and the flora and fauna. Jackie added many Birds to her life list. They also got quite an education on the local Leaf-cutter Ants. After dinner that night Ed, Shawn and I did some road cruising on the highway and then on a dirt road 15 to 20 kilometers. We had no luck on the road up or back. I’m sure many snakes cross that road each night, but we just weren’t at the right place at the right time to meet up with them. Ed and I had driven this road during the day and the only interesting we saw was a bunch of Magpie Jays feeding on some ripened seeds on some type of palm tree. No luck day or night. Back to the Lodge and bed!
Day 6 ~~~ Thursday, November 7th. 2013
Yesterday’s dawn was bright and sunny, today started cloudy and foggy with rain. The rain passed after an hour or so; the clouds stayed a while longer, but finally the sun made its way through. This was our 5 th day in the field; what would it hold for us? Breakfast and watching the beautiful birds at the feeder outside the restaurant window is always a good start. We decided to hunt in a field we had not hunted before. I followed a path down a hill into tall grass that had a 5 bin composting area. It looked real snakey but after a good look produced nothing, I joined the other guys looking in the plants, scrubs and trees. We spent some time in a big stand of bamboo that looked real promising but we found nothing. We followed a road that I never ventured into before. There was a sign saying Condos for sale and a gate with a guard house. The gate was open and we went right in. This was someone’s dream before the project went belly up. They had put in a cobble stone road leading up a hill with a beautiful view of Lake Arenal and the Arenal Volcano. Another lost dream – no dough, another victim of the worldwide economy turndown of 2008. I saw a couple of Ameiva festiva up the hill on the banks on the side on the road. Jackie had some luck with finding some new birds. We walked back towards the Lodge. There was a house and the lady owner called us over. She told us in Spainish that there had been a snake in her yard this morning; she wanted us to find and remove it from her property. We looked all around and came up empty. It was getting close to lunch time so we continued towards the Lodge. Skip had gone before the rest of us. He had turned over something and found a Red Coffee Snake, we all got a few photos of him and he was put back where Skip had found him. After lunch I returned to my room to deal with some matters and then a little nap. Tonight we planned for Miguel to take us to an area where we would hunt in a tree farm. In the afternoon Shawn and Ed hunted the edge of the pasture land. This edge has a bank dropping 30 to 50 feet down to a creek; there were trees growing up from ground around the creek and smaller trees along the pasture. It makes a wonderful place to find snakes. They hunted the top part and then went down to the creek. That is something I personally have not done yet. They tried hard but no snakes. We decided that we would start our evening hunt around 4:30 because we would have to drive for a while to get there. It gets dark around 5:30 in CR. We drove to the location and Miguel told where to turn off the highway; about 200 meters down the road, a rock stopped the car. We could not go forward or backward; finally the guys pushed while I was in reverse and we got free. We didn’t need to go farther down the road so we just moved under the trees. In most places it was pretty easy walking; the tree farmers keep the underbrush to a minimum. Once in a while there would be vines that were hard to get though. I saw a huge Marine Toad (Rhinella (Bofo) marine), a while later Skip saw an Armadillo. Ed was walking along and saw a snake (looked to be in the racer family) and tried to grab it but got held up by those vines I mentioned before. A light sprinkle started and got into a little heaver rain. By the time I got my poncho on and walked less then 100 yards, it went back to a light sprinkle. Miguel suggested we try another place. So, off we went. We stopped in a place with a wide area cleared off for a devolvement. We went across the street and found a trail under the power lines. This offered us a wide area to walk and look for herps. Later Ed spotted a small Eyelash Viper on a dead banana leaf: he was a brown color just like the leaf he was on. That was a good spot!! We all took pictures of the Eyelash. On our way back someone spotted a bird in the tree about 7 or 8 feet off the ground. Our bird expert Jackie said it was an immature Costa Rica Robin. This is the national bird of Costa Rica . Well, that was it for the night. Ed and I would be driving Miguel to his home in La Fortuna. Of course we would be herping up and back. We dropped Miguel at his home and went and filled up with gas. We looked at the clock and figured we could not get back to the Lodge by 9:30, the cut off time for dinner. So, we saw a Chinese restaurant and pulled in. It was great!! But no snakes on our way back.
Day 7 ~~~ Friday, November 8th. 2013
This is our last day in the field, and we have to make it count. Tomorrow is a travel day; we might be able to squeeze in an hour in the morning if we feel up to it. By this time on our trip, the troops are getting a little worn out. No sense thinking about it now, tomorrow will take care of itself. Our job now is to make today count. We all met at breakfast to discuss our plans for the day. We would hunt the trails around the Lodge during the day. Tonight we will hunt the Silencio Trails. This would be new to me – Miguel set it up for us. The owner of this property, a friend of Miguel’s, has developed these trails that can be used by the public for an entry fee. For maintaining these trails and keeping them open to the public, the government grants the property owner a tax break. We would leave the lodge like last night around 4:30 in the afternoon. Shawn and I hit the main trail; we wanted the check the eggs and see if any might have hatched. Ed was still having some problems with his feet and was staying close to the Lodge, saving his energy for tonight. Skip and Jackie walked around the grounds keeping an eye out for new birds they may find. At lunch no one had any snakes to report. At 4.30 we all piled into our cars and went down to the Lodge entry to take a group photo.
On past trips I always tried to take a group photo the last night at dinner. Skip came up with the idea of the group shot in the field in our herping clothes ready for some action. A short while later we drove up to the Silencio Trails entry. Miguel got out and explained what we wanted to do. Then he called the owner who passed on the plan to the workers. The trails closed at 7pm, but we could stay as long as we wanted and they would leave the lock on the gate open for us to get out when we left. We drove slowly down the road until we came to a parking lot. We went to the trail entry; we had 2 or 3 trails to choose from. We picked one and hoped for the best. It was dark enough to need our lights from the get-go. The trails were color coded with red and yellow arrows, we followed the red arrow. Of course at the time we didn’t understand the importance of the color coding. But we would find that out later. The trail was well maintained, having chains you could hold where needed. It was pretty easy walking and we were on a downward slope most of the time. We were going slowly looking on the ground, up in the trees, up the hill and over the bank going downward. The terrain was changing all the time. Miguel pointed out an insect that looked more like a flower than a bug. He said if you touched it, you would be in tremendous pain for a long-long time. We did see a few frogs. But no snakes! We finally came to a spot where the trails crossed. One sign pointed to an exit 300 meters. But as Jackie pointed out we had been going gradually down hill for the past hour and a half. So, we could not be at our cars. The 300 meters would have must likely bring us to the entry gate, a very long way from our cars. There were both red and yellow arrows pointing different directions. We knew we could go back the trails we just came from. Miguel called the owner and got us on the right trail. We had been on that trail for at least an hour, maybe more, when I spotted an Eyelash Viper heading down a vine. Well, out came the cameras, we had a ten or fifteen minute photo shoot. It was nice to have something to point our cameras at. We started up the trail leaving the snake as we found him. A half hour later Miguel said “Oh Boy, I got something we been looking for all week”. Over the edge of the bank about 5 feet lay coiled a Central American Jumping Pitviper (Atropoides mexicanus).
This is another first for CRHA. Soon we were back to where we had started on the trail. Walking back to the parking lot, I hunted the trees along the fence line hoping to see another Eyelash Viper in or around the bromeliads. We got in our car and stopped at the gate. Miguel got out and let the car pass, locked the gate and got in with Ed and me. Soon we were at the highway and turned right to take Miguel home. The other car would go directly to the Lodge. We dropped Miguel off. We made it back to the Lodge and went right to the restaurant where everyone else was still eating at the table. Shawn asked if I had noticed that after leaving the gate on the trails that he wasn’t behind me. I said yes I had noticed that. Well the reason he wasn’t behind me was because they had to stop for a snake. I said great, what was it? Shawn said it was a Hognose Pitviper ~~~ Porthidium ophrymegas. WOW! This was another first for CRHA. What a great find! Shawn explained that I had run over the tiny snake, and he started moving as soon as car passed over him. Shawn noticed the movement and hit the brakes almost running over the snake. But they bagged and brought it to the Lodge for photos in the morning. Well, we ended up with three snakes for the day. Not great, but it’s a lot better than getting skunked.
Ed, Jim, Miguel, Shawn, Jackie & Skip
Day 8 ~~~ Saturday, November 9th. 2013
All good things must come to an end and so it is with Costa Rica Herping Adventures Trip 19. But before this trip ends, we have a few items to take care of. We started with breakfast; at that time I told everyone that we would be leaving the Lodge around 11am. Then we would drive back to Alajuela and drop off the rental cars. They would take us to the Hotel Aeropuerto. The next day we would leave from there by cab to the Airport for our own trip back to the States. We had a few hours here to kill. We spent part of that time taking photos of the Hognose Pitviper that was found last night. I spent a good part of my time at the front desk going over and over the bill for the hotel and our food; finally worked out OK.
Packing is always a challenge for me. It took a while but I finally zipped up my suitcase and put it in the trunk of the car. I had asked Miguel to come by so we could goodbye. He showed up at our rooms and we stood outside and talked for a while. We all gave Miguel a nice tip for all his help and guidance. In addition Shawn gave him a high powered flashlight. Ed gave him a 100 feet of line he brought for repelling down the mountain, which he did not have an opportunity to use. He also gave him the pair of boots which caused the problems with his feet. Miguel seemed very happy and grateful for the tips and gifts, saying he can’t wait until we all come back. After our goodbye with Miguel and other on the Lodge staff, we hopped into the cars for the long ride back. It was pretty clear sailing for the first hour, but as we were approaching the mountains I didn’t look the looks of those clouds. It rained light and hard all through the mountains; it finally stopped when we drove into San Ramon. The car Shawn was driving needed a fill-up there; he was down to one bar. I filled up on the road to Atenas at a station about 12 kilometers from the Airport we also ate lunch there in a tipico Costa Rican restaurante. We checked in the cars and they piled the 5 of us and our luggage into a SUV with some luggage on top with the threat of rain. I sat in the third seat with bags all around me. The rain held off, and a short time we were at our Hotel. Later we all met at the bar and ordered dinner there. We talked about our experiences of the past week. Skip and Jackie had an early flight, so they turned in early we said our goodbyes and everyone a soon followed. In the morning Skip and Jackie were gone when we met for breakfast. Shawn, Ed and I had breakfast together. A while later Shawn and I shared a cab to the Airport. Soon he went one way and I the other. We said goodbye until the next time. The trip was done.
For me it was another great trip in the old Snake bag of memories!!
Jim
Species List
The following is a list of Snakes our Herpers encountered on our trip to Costa Rica; November 2nd to 9th 2013.
|
Species
|
Common Name
|
Live
|
DOR
|
| Bothriechis schlegelli | Eyelash Viper | 9 | 0 |
| Leptodeira septentrionalis | Northern Cateye Snake | 1 | 0 |
| Sibon nebulatus | Cloudy Snail-eater | 2 | 0 |
| Geophis brachycephalis | Costa Rica Worm Snake | 3 | 0 |
| Enuliophis scateri | Sock Head Snake | 1 | 0 |
| Micrurus mosquitensis | Costa Rican Coral Snake | 1 | 0 |
| Leptophis nebulosus | Yellow Lip Parrot Snake | 1 | 0 |
| Porthidium ophryomegas | Slender Hognose Pitviper | 1 | 0 |
| Rhadinaea decorata | Elegant Litter Snake | 1 | 0 |
| Atropoides mexicana | Jumping Pit Viper | 1 | 0 |
| Mastigodryas melanolomus | Samon-bellied Racer | 1 | 0 |
| Ninia sebae | Red Coffee Snake | 1 | 0 |
| Pseustes poecilonoyus | Bird Snake | 1 | 0 |
| Unidentified | 5 | 0 | |
| Total | 29 | 0 |
My Herping Adventure in Costa Rica
Nov. 2nd to 11th 2013
I’ve taken herping trips to Central and South America every year since 2002. I’ve gone to Costa Rica eight of those years, and four of those trips have been with Jim’s Costa Rica Herping Adventures. Number five is probably not that far away! If you enjoy herping and want to see what Costa Rica has to offer, Jim’s trips are the best option out there. You really get the best of both worlds – you get the benefit of an organized trip with the flexibility and experiences of a solo trip. How can that be? For starters, Jim knows the country very well, and where many of the top-notch herping locations are. He’s got great contacts that will get you access to areas beyond the tourist-oriented parks and trails. And he’s also been able to swing great deals at nice, well-located lodging sites. He makes sure we’re comfortable, well-fed, and in close proximity to the action. At the same time, one never feels like you’re on an organized tour. There’s lots of flexibility in terms of the daily schedule, the atmosphere is relaxed and easy going, and we always manage to go off the beaten path several times on each trip for a real adventure. Best of all, the other trip participants are always great people. The camaraderie of these trips simply can’t be beat, and on every trip I’ve felt like I’m hanging out with friends, doing something we all enjoy. Needless to say, having all those sets of experienced eyes also goes a long way towards making sure we spot lots of interesting herps and other animals.
If you have even the slightest interest in tropical reptiles and amphibians, and/or want to explore parts of Costa Rica away from the tourist traps, Costa Rica Herping Adventures is the way to go.
Shawn
My Herping Adventure in Costa Rica
Nov. 2nd to 11th 2013
I just wanted to say that I had a great time experiencing the Costa Rican jungle with you and our fellow herpers! It was truly an honor… You made the adventure very comfortable– Accept for them boots– Lol. I will definitely be coming back down there with you on the future. The variety of species in such a short period of time had me in aww!! What a beautiful country and especially the La Fortuna area…
Very nice herping country!!
Sincerely, Ed
Thanks for visiting!
Last Updated December 6th, 2013
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