64. Tortuguero: turtle paradise

Costa Rica with friends - by Pierre, Marine and Adrien
1
- Here we are, just arrived in San Jose, the A-team composed of:
- - Pierre (you already know me, right?)
- - Marine, my friend of BEST France
- - Adrien, which pops in my trips after in my apartment.
- Here is the Church Nuestra señora of the Merced.
Direct on the route towards Tortuguero
2
- We take the direction of Tortuguero in order to discover the famous paradise of turtles.
- Legend of the map:
- - red (center): San Jose, the capital
- - red: terminal Cruz Rio Frio, one step
- - brown: Cariari, city step
- - blue: La Pavona, port step
- - green (with the blue arrow): Tortuguero
- Find all videos from Tortuguero here:
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpkaK0yJ22Oy95uMFusF7tLS8pjqdZ8OK
Cariari - La Pavona
3
- On the road, we admire a very green and very rural Costa Rica. The journey between Cariari and La Pavona announces already a great trip.
Boat on the Rio Suerte
4
- Only two access lead to Tortuguero: by plane or an one-hour boat trip. We choose the latter in order to combine an out-of-common transport and discovery of the ecosystem.
- Here is the photo on the Rio Suerte, the passage is narrow and the view is more than worth.
- https://youtu.be/DdzRFZKaVuY
Boat on the Laguna Tortuguero
5
- The way is much larger, the motorboat can speed up to Tortuguero.
Tortuguero, what is that?
6
- This place deemed to be a paradise turtles, especially the place where several thousands of turtles lat eggs every year.
- At the origin, the people took fully advantage of the resources from turtles (sale of shells, animals, their meat, their eggs,...)
- The number of turtles was sinking for a lot for years. And 50 years ago, Dr. Archi Carr, a scientist, managed to set up a turtle conservation program and transform Tortuguero in the first area of eco-tourism in Costa Rica.
Report photo to National Park Tortuguero
7
- During our two-day stay, we were able to see a lot of animals and vegetation. Here is now the report photo:
A three fingers sloth
8
- The local people distinguish easily this animal from its cousin the two fingers sloth. That was surprising since it is not easily visible as static in high branches.
- In Tortuguero, we can observe up to 125 mammal species, including jaguars (which we have seen traces on the beach), manatee, river otter, tapir, spider monkey, peccary, opossum, cougar, red brocket deer, kingfisher, warblers, swallows, parrots, ospreys and guatusas - a kind of rodents that we surprised one second on our path before it disappeared
Spider monkey
9
- There are plenty of species of monkeys in the park
- And also that black monkeys, also called howler monkeys that we heard quite well!
Long-tailed grackle
10
- Here the ravens are called grackle and here is their song:
- https://youtu.be/IaVBM7UO-6k
- All birds identifications comes from this site:
- http://francois.juignet.over-blog.net/2015/05/faune-du-costa-rica-2-oiseaux.html
- In the park, there are over 375 species of birds (herons, kingfishers, warblers, swallows, parrots, eagles...)
Blue heron
11
- Fishing in the park
Little egret, also called white heron
12
- Fishing in the river
Tiger heron
13
- Approaching slowly to a fly
- There are also a green heron in Costa Rica.
Anhinga
14
- No, it is not a cormorant. Even if this bird dives to catch its food, it is a duck. Satiated but all wet, it exposes proudly its body facing the sun, in order to dry a little bit.
Black hawk
15
- One of the predator of the baby turtles :'(
Black vulture
16
- This vulture is also a baby turtles eater :'(
- Fortunately stray dogs of Tortuguero don’t let them stay on the beach.
- https://youtu.be/GwKDFABf68g
Blue-gray tanager
17
- Particularly visible by rainy weather.
Woodcock
18
- Found on the Tortuguero beach.
Toucan of Swainson
19
- Admire its move in the tree
- https://youtu.be/C0Cu4mk4cA8
Great kiskadee
20
- We have also seen macaw flying over the top of trees.
- And these waterhens:
- https://youtu.be/8Hqm0KHeeXY
- https://youtu.be/yH8tkbUX1K4
Cayman
21
- During our morning tour by boat, we were able to see four of them.
- How to approach them?
- https://youtu.be/yH8tkbUX1K4
- In the park, there are more than 100 species of reptiles between the turtles, tortoises, crocodiles, snakes and lizards.
Lizard: the common basilic
22
- During our night trip, I had to the chance to touch the tail of the latter: no reaction. Then its body. And hop it jumped as far as it was surprised.
- We have also seen plenty of brown basilic lizards.
- https://youtu.be/vI9KVf_gUFc
- https://youtu.be/Ral_f_riewU
Adder
23
- Imperceptible, hidden on its branch for our eyes but not for our guides who found two of them during full night.
- The day before, a boa was overseen in a tree during last boat trip. We had to deal with the picture on the guide’s self phone.
Green iguana
24
- To distinguish the male, look for a mane redhead and yellow skin. The female has green skin.
- It takes a variety of colors according to its region of origin, its color can take different shades of green, but also pink , blue or orange. It is also characterized by the black rings visible on its tail and its peak of thorns back from:
- http://francois.juignet.over-blog.net/2015/06/faune-du-costa-rica-5-reptiles.html
Gaudy leaf frog
25
- Unfortunately we did not had a chance to see the strawberry poison-dart frog. There are 65 amphibian species in the Tortuguero reserve.
Turtle
26
- And the reason of our presence here...
- In Tortuguero, we were able to see many evidence of the turtles passage: film, statues, touristic leaflets, beaches filled with 1 meter diameter holes, shells of hatched eggs and even this bone of caparace (surely from a turtle killed by a jaguar). But no turtle or babies.
- It's a shame. The main period of egg laying is July - October. And the hatching happens in autumn. We knew that there are many holes filled with babies, but they did not show to the end of their nose to swim up the Caribbean sea...
Plants, fishs and insects
27
- Yes, it is needless to say. In this ecosystem tropical, there are 55 species of fish and more than 700 plants and I don't know how many ants, spiders, flies and those pesky... mosquitoes :-(
- And also I forget this Halloween butterflies:
- https://youtu.be/xLXzdg5MNHY
This is it!
28
- A long article for a good start of my trip and I highly recommend to go through Tortuguero in summer or fall. Be careful with the non-drinkable water and the very high level of humidity in this marsh. And discover how fast the weather changes: we got frequently beautiful sun then strong rain (in less than three minutes). So, we came out always with sunscreen and waterproof, in addition to the anti-mosquitoes.
- Weather may vary in a video:
- https://youtu.be/G2d3_s6eGis
- Nevertheless, it's an amazing nature findable nowhere else. When are you going there?

Add a comment

Here is the photo gallery of this article