Day 1, Arrival/San Jose

 

Arrival to Costa Rica. Meet our representative at the Juan Santamaría International Airport and transfer to your hotel near the capital city of San José, where Foto Verde Tours’ Greg Basco will be awaiting your arrival. Those who arrive early can take the afternoon to photograph the beautiful orchids and other tropical flowers in the hotel’s expansive gardens. The hotel has free wireless Internet throughout the grounds and in the rooms.

 

Day 2, Atlantic Rainforest

 

After an early breakfast, we check out and head to our first destination, a rainforest lodge where Foto Verde Tours has worked to set up a feeder that offers unparalleled opportunities to photograph keel-billed toucans, chestnut-mandibled toucans, and brown-hooded parrots, hummingbirds, and bats. We arrive at the lodge for lunch and set in immediately to photograph at the feeders!

 

Day 3, Atlantic Rainforest

 

Today we concentrate on photographing the amazing king vulture at a private blind. In the afternoon we’ll do some macro photography on the lodge grounds. And this evening we have a special treat – bat photography!

 

Day 4, Atlantic Rainforest

 

This day we'll split the group into two. In the morning, half of us will head to a nearby house for hummingbird and honeycreeper photography. The other half of the group will stay and explore the forests and lagoons surrounding the lodge. After lunch back at our lodge, we'll switch it up. At the end of the day we'll enjoy a well-earned cold drink after this busy day of photography!

 

Day 5, Cloud Forest

 

After breakfast, we travel to the higher cloud forests of the northern Central Volcanic Mountain Range and our next lodge and photography base. Our lodge is located in one of the most biodiverse areas of the country, nestled in a picturesque valley at approximately 4,500 feet above sea level. With its rushing mountain streams, cool air, and orchid and moss-festooned trees, the area is akin to a tropical Colorado. En route, we stop at a local farm where Foto Verde Tours has worked to set up photo opportunities of the wild, free-flying great green and scarlet macaws that inhabit the owner's large farm property. We’ll then have lunch at a beautiful waterfall that’s just crawling with hummingbirds. We arrive to our cloud forest lodge later in the afternoon for check-in and a bit of time to photograph agouti and black guan.

Day 6, Cloud Forest

 

After breakfast today, we set in immediately to begin photographing hummingbirds at our multi-flash setups right on the lodge grounds. We will concentrate on the violet sabrewing (Costa Rica’s largest species), green hermit, purple-throated mountain gem, and green-crowned brilliant. When not on the setups, you’ll be photographing the awesome macro subjects found in the lodge’s private cloud forest reserve.

 

Day 7, Tortuguero National Park

 

After an early breakfast, we depart for the boat that will take us into wilds of the amazing Tortuguero National Park. We enjoy a private boat ride to our lodge and check-in for a late lunch. In the afternoon, we head out in our boats to photograph birds and wildlife in the canals of the national park.  

Day 8, Tortuguero National Park

 

We head out early this morning to explore the jungle canals in our boat for birds, caiman, and landscapes. We return to our lodge for a relaxing lunch and then spend the day photographing monkeys, basilisk lizards, and frogs right on the lodge grounds. In the evening, we’ll look for tree frogs around the lodge.

Day 9, Tortuguero National Park

 

This morning before breakfast we head over to the beach to see if we can photograph sea turtles that may still be depositing their eggs. We then return to our lodge with time to photograph monkeys. Later in the afternoon we go out into the canals again on our boat and, if the weather permits, we’ll try to photograph the national park from a hilltop lookout. We return to our lodge around sunset. 

Day 10,  Tortuguero/San Jose

 

After breakfast this morning, we return to San Jose on our boat and then our bus. We stop en route for lunch and arrive to our capital city hotel in the late afternoon. If your flight departs this evening we will take you to the airport.

Day 11, Airport

Private transfer to the airport for your flight home.