Few people come to Costa Rica without visiting the famous cloud forest of Monteverde. This region is known for its incredible biodiversity, due to the fact it’s located on the Continental Divide and receives precipitation through mist.
Monteverde is the name of the region and there are actually several reserves you can choose to visit (one of them is Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve). We opted for a guided tour of Curi Cancha Wildlife Refuge, which has several wide open spaces that help with spotting birds and sometimes animals. Though Curi Cancha is smaller than Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, it is also less crowded.
Watch our latest video showing our drive to Monteverde, where we camped, and what our cloud forest tour was like:
We paid $60/adult and $30/Caspian for a private two-hour guided tour of Curi Cancha. This price included admission to the reserve, which is currently $20/adult and $12/child ages 5-12. We don’t recommend you go without a guide. It is nearly impossible to spot birds without their expertise. When you do see them, birds and animals are typically too far away to appreciate with the naked eye. This is when your guide’s scope becomes crucial. Seeing the birds magnified through the scope is a wonderful experience.
We arrived early at 7:30 a.m., when birds and animals tend to be more active. We saw toucans, bell birds, a motmot, female and juvenile male quetzales, a large family of coatis, and unique plants and trees. We also learned the sounds of many cloud forest birds. What I thought was a frog croak turned out to be the toucan’s call!
Let us know if you have more questions about overlanding to the Monteverde area.
What’s next?
Originally, we were planning to rent a house or apartment for our full 90 days in Costa Rica. We thought we could use the rest after so many months on the road, and it also seemed like a good opportunity to enroll Caspian in a school where he could improve his Spanish.
We didn’t end up settling on a place for all 90 days, but we’ve arrived in Alajuela where we’re renting an apartment for the month of August. Caspian started going to a preschool where he’s the only non-Costa Rican and Eric is working on his book daily. The month is going to go by quickly!
In case you missed it, I recently returned to Lady Overlander Radio for an interview. You can watch the conversation on Facebook here.
-B
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