Constructing Life: Corcovado Park Walk and Hike to Waterfall

We had to take a boat to get to the area in the Osa Peninsula that contains Corcovado national park. It’s a massive stretch of untouched rainforest that is only eclipsed by the jungles of Brazil. Tony, our guide started us off with a hike through the bush that allowed us to see a three toed tree sloth, an anteater, incredible frogs that only mate three times a year and we got to see this, a white hawk, macaws, pelicans, white faced monkeys, howler monkeys, an ibis heron, bats, crocodiles, leaf cutter ants, huge blue butterflies, land crabs, wild turkeys, coatis, and foot prints of a 300lbs tapir (not to mention the dolphins & brown boobys we saw next to the boat on the way to the hike).

How do you beat that? Well, I don’t think you do.

The hike was two parts. We hiked through the jungle, going across little streams and climbing over all sorts of tree roots. I once stepped off the path I realized why the guide wears gum boots – the leaves and debris are so thick that snakes could be anywhere. They were also useful to keep your feet dry but I imagine they are the best protection against a snake bite, good thing we let him lead the way. This first hike led out to the beach where we followed the beach back to the start.

The second hike was along a river, deeper into the jungle with the destination being a pretty waterfall that we could swim near. We saw crocodiles along the river multiple times so I think many of us were questioning Tony as to whether this made a whole lot of sense. We ended up swimming downstream from a little guy who was clearly no threat. I don’t think we would even register on his radar as food.

The hike finished with us back at the ranger station by the beach enjoying lunch in the sun near the surf.

This was the boat trip from Drake Bay to Corcovado Park

The first hike

The hike to the waterfall

Termites - they really are very tiny

Our guide Tony

Huge roots

For huge trees

These trees have large bulbous roots and are related to ginger.

Bats

Macaw

These frogs were a special encounter. They normally live high in the trees and you don't see them. However, they come down close to the ground to mate just three times a year.