Tag: Birding
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World-Class Birding in Manizales
From Jardín, our journey continued along some of the most scenic roads in Colombia towards the city of Manizales. Nestled in the Central Andes range, Manizales sits at a higher altitude of around 2,150 metres and is surrounded by diverse ecosystems, including cloud forests and montane rainforests. It also lies in the shadow of Nevado…
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The birding starts in Jardín
If you’re a regular follower of my blog, you might have noticed a significant trend over the last year we’ve been travelling… More and more birds popping up in the posts. Yeah… sorry about that 😂 I’ve always been into wildlife, more than the average person, for sure, and most of my travels in my…
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Corcovado: Costa Rica’s last wild frontier?
Our next stop in Costa Rica was the biggy – Corcovado National Park. Located on the Osa Peninsula, on the south west coast, this region is a biodiversity hotspot, it’s the most biodiverse place in central America, not just Costa Rica. It’s a lowland rainforest, think hot steamy jungle, with brown muddy rivers, crocodiles, sloths,…
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Finding peace (and Quetzals) in San Gerado de Dota
Since we’d had such a hard time spotting Quetzals in Guatemala – we tried three separate places with no luck, I hedged my bets here in Costa Rica, and although we’d already had an amazing Quetzal experience in Monteverde, our next stop was another quetzal haven (just in case we hadn’t seen one) and was…
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Resplendent Monteverde: Quetzals, Clouds and Hanging Bridges
When I think of Costa Rica, for me, the first thing that springs to mind is dense cloud forest, high in the mountains, full of birds and wildlife, with bridges suspended high in the canopy…. That’s the Costa Rica I’ve seen on TV in documentaries and on social media, and it’s the Costa Rica I…
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La Fortuna: Frogs, forests and free hot springs
Miguel dropped us at the bus stop in Katira, a town on main road towards La Fortuna in the Rio Celeste region. We didn’t have to wait long until a direct bus turned up, and(!) we got seats this time! 🥳 The bus was big and comfortable, meaning we could really relax and enjoy the…
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Sloths and Snakes in Rio Celeste
Next stop in Costa Rica was the Rio Celeste region. Here, two clear rivers (the Quebrada Agria and Río Buena Vista) meet. One is slightly acidic, the other is rich in aluminosilicate particles, both thanks to the local volcanic activity. When they merge, the change in pH causes the particles to clump together in just…
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Liberia: the gateway to Rincon de la Vieja
Costa Rica has been at the top of my travel list for a long long time. I am a big wildlife lover and pretty much all of my trips in the last 6 years have been wildlife focused, from hiking to see wildlife mountain gorillas in Uganda, a snorkelling expedition in Philippines, Mashpi Lodge and…
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Wildlife and Peace at Laguna Apoyo
Never one to follow the Gingro Trail exactly, we had a look to see if there were any lesser known spots in Nicaragua we could stay. Tourist infrastructure isn’t as well developed here, so staying in smaller towns can be a little harder, or at least pricier. But Laguna Apoyo stuck out as somewhere worth…
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Motmots, Volcanoes and Alfombras in Antigua
To get from San Marcos on Lake Atitlan to Antigua Guatemala by public bus looked like a bit of a mission, with potentially 5 different buses changing in 4 towns… So we booked a tourist shuttle to take us for Q140 each which we didn’t think was bad for such a long journey. We arrived…
Travel Alchemist 