Rob and Anna's travel adventure

Tortuguero, Costa Rica - with PHOTOS

Anna's entry:

Tortuguero is located in northeastern Costa Rica, on a tiny slip of land between the Tortuguero canal and the Caribbean. Parque Nacional Tortuguero is home to some of the greatest biodiversity in the country, and is referred to as "mini-Amazon". Caimans and crocodiles can be seen lounging on river banks, while fresh water turtles bask on logs.

To get there was an adventure in itself. We got their in a motorized boat - navigating there for two hours along the river in the rain forest. The village of Tortuguero is located right at the entrance to the rain forest. We spent two days exploring the National preserve while hiking, and took a canoe tour with a local guide exploring the rain forest friom the river shores. It was REALLY COOL! We saw three ty pes of monkeys - spider monkey, white-faced capuchin, howler monkeys; sloth; iguanas; Basilisk lizard (aka Jesus Christ lizard - called so because of its ability to run on the surface of the water); alligator lizards; boa constrictor; young caiman; and lots of birds - blue herons, anhingas, small toucans, and tiger herons. The latter one makes a scary loud sound when approached, and it does sound similar to the tiger!

Also, the last night before our departure we got invited be another traveling couple from Italy to their home made dinner, and we had a great time sharing our stories.

We returned back from Tortuguero by taking a boat again through the great rain forrest, and while crossing the river, Rob saw a caiman (small crocodile). We are really glad we made a trip there, Tortuguero national preserve was a truly enjoyable and rewarding experience!

posted by Rob and Anna @ 9:21 AM