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Biodiversity Sampler
Day
1
Arrival to Costa Rica. Meet our representative at the
Juan Santamaría International Airport and transfer
to your hotel on the outskirts of Costa Rica’s capital
city, San José.
Note: The Hotel Bougainvillea offers free wireless
high-speed Internet throughout the property.
Bougainvillea Hotel (No meals included) |
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Day 2
Today, you will be picked up at 6:15 AM, for your bus
ride through Braulio Carrillo National Park in the Central
Volcanic Mountain range, to the Caribbean lowlands, where
a boat will be waiting to take you to the Tortuguero National
Park area. Breakfast is en route, at the Suerre Hotel,
and you will be arriving for lunch at Tortuguero. Upon
arrival, you will have the afternoon free to explore the
beautiful grounds around the lodge looking for flora and
fauna to photograph.
Evergreen Lodge (L, D) |
Day 3
Today the activities include three different boat rides
to different areas of Tortuguero’s canals. First,
a before-breakfast boat ride, especially good for birds.
In the morning, visit to Palma Canal and in the afternoon,
boat ride to either Harold or Aguas Frias canal. This
will be a relaxing day for photographing the abundant
wildlife, such as aquatic birds, monkeys, sloths, and
caimans (an alligator relative) that frequent the canals
and the lush vegetation that surrounds them. In the evening,
you can search for nocturnal tree frogs on the lodge grounds.
Evergreen Lodge (B, L, D) |
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Day 4
After breakfast, you will leave Tortuguero by boat and
continue on toward the Arenal Volcano area via private
van. After lunch en route at a local restaurant (price
included), you will arrive at the town of La Fortuna,
home to the country's most active volcano, with continuous
emissions of lava and incandescent pyroclastic flows since
the beginning of the present active cycle in 1968. On
clear nights, the views of incandescent avalanches are
breathtaking!
Evergreen Lodge (B) Arenal Observatory Lodge (D) |
Day
5
Early wakeup for sunrise photographs of the Arenal volcano.
After breakfast, you will visit the nearby Danaus Ecocenter
for great photographic opportunities of tropical butterflies
and their life cycle, tropical flowers, reptiles, and
possibly even the unusual boat-billed heron. After lunch
(on your own at the restaurant of your choice, price not
included) you will head to the Aerial Skytram, where you
will have a late afternoon tram ride over the forest canopy
with spectacular views of the Arenal Volcano and Lake
Arenal as well as a good opportunity for aerial shots
of the rainforest canopy. After dinner back at the Lodge,
you can photograph the volcano and lava flows at night
from the observation deck just outside the restaurant.
Arenal Observatory Lodge (B, D)
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Day 6
The early morning will be free for bird photography on
the grounds of the Arenal Observatory Lodge, an excellent
place to photograph regional hummingbird, tanager, and
toucan species. Of particular interest is the Black-crested
coquette hummingbird, which frequents the flowering hedges
on the lodge grounds. After breakfast, you will depart
for the famed cloud forests of Monteverde, with arrival
scheduled for mid-afternoon. Upon arrival, you can unpack
and then pay a visit to the nearby Hummingbird Gallery
to photograph the myriad hummingbird species that frequent
the feeders there. Late afternoon is an especially good
time to photograph hummingbirds as they actively try to
fill up on nectar before entering a state of torpor to
conserve body heat during the chilly cloud forest nights.
Pay special attention here to mammals such as coatimundis
and the grey fox that frequent the forest behind the hummingbird
gallery.
Arenal Observatory (B) Lunch en route TBD Cloud
Forest Lodge (D) |
Day
7
This day you will photograph Monteverde’s cloud
forest from the ground and the air. You will start with
a morning hike in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve,
which offers excellent opportunities for landcape photographs
of the forest interior. Take your time on the trails looking
for natural, artistic compositions for your landscape
photographs, and you will be rewarded with outstanding
images suitable for printing and framing. You also will
have the chance to spot quetzals, which frequent the Preserve.
After lunch, you will visit the Selvatura canopy walkways
for aerial perspectives on the cloud forest. Your entry
here also includes the hummingbird and butterfly gardens,
great places for portraits of these colorful inhabitants
of the cloud forest.
Cloud Forest Lodge (All Meals Included)
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Day 8
Mid morning departure, with lunch en route, for the Palo
Verde Biological Station on the western side of the Gulf
of Nicoya. The Tropical Dry Forest found at this research
station, run by the world famous Organization for Tropical
Studies, is a completely different habitat where you will
find many different species of birds, insects, and plants
to photograph. You will have the afternoon to explore
the grounds around the lodge before photographing the
forest and nearby wetlands in late afternoon light. After
dinner night walk.
Cloud Forest Lodge (B) Lunch en route TBD Palo
Verde (D) |
Day
9
Early morning boat ride through the brackish mangrove
estuaries to photograph this fascinating habitat and the
fauna that dwells within it. After lunch, you will have
the afternoon free to explore the trails and wetlands
in search of photographic prey including migratory bird
species, tarantulas, and landscape photographs.
Palo Verde Biological Station (All meals included)
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Day 10
Late morning departure for San Jose with lunch en route.
You will arrive at the Bougainvillea Hotel in late afternoon,
with time to photograph the orchids and bromeliads in
the tropical gardens or just to relax and pack.
Note:
The Hotel Bougainvillea offers free wireless high-speed
Internet throughout the property.
Palo Verde (B) Lunch en route TBD Hotel Bouganvillea
(D) |
Day 11
Private transfer to the Juan Santamaria International
Airport for your departure flight back home.
Note:
The Hotel Bougainvillea offers free wireless high-speed
Internet throughout the property.
Hotel Bougainvillea (B) |
Note :
Due to the somewhat complicated nature of this particular itinerary
in combining water and land transport, we recommend using Foto
Verde transportation rather than traveling on your own via rental
car. 
Click
the button above to fill out our online customized trip form.
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