These past two days we have been at the Tirimbina Field Station, which is part of the Tirimbina Ecological Reserve (http://www.tirimbina.org/). Daisy and Pablo were there to welcome us with lunch, after a canal boat ride out of Tortuguero and the bus ride to Tirimbina. The reserve is used for ecological research and tourism, all with the aim of promoting an awareness of the beauty and vital importance of the forest in this northern tropical region of Costa Rica. We began our first day with an unbelievable bird walk, where a myriad of species were seen. The afternoon was also breathtaking, with a walk across the largest suspension bridge in Central America (800 feet long), that spans the Sarapiqui River, where we saw toucans and a Howler monkey. Continuing on, we had a presentation on the history of chocolate. A separate post of those pics will follow. We finished the day off with a night walk, where we saw multiple species of frogs, a snake, cool insects and arachnids, and a two-toed sloth. Special thanks to Daisy and Pablo for hosting us, and to Mark and Raul who enabled students to see some really cool animals up close and personal!
Yesterday we left Tirimbina to head to Rancho Margot, which is where we are today on Day 7 of our trip. See pics below from our time in Tirimbina, the iguanas at the Iguana Bridge, and a couple of pics before we headed into the Venado Caves. A full set of Venado Caves pics will be posted once we get access to an external CD player and can upload the pics from the CD we purchased. Pura Vida!
BIOL 398 Tropical Ecology & Culture in Costa Rica 