Caño Negro photos

photos of the wildlife I spotted yesterday courtesy of Steve Kettman।

Caño Negro Adventure

(Caño Negro photos courtesy Steve Kettman.)

Near the northern border, Caño Negro Reserve consists of over 100 square kilometers.

Unlike a national park, locals and farmers are permitted to live and work within it’s limits provided they maintain a specific buffer around their property. The dynamic saves the govermnent in national park staffing, keeps the region wild, and keeps locals in the money.

While the waters of the Caño Negro Lake are at historic lows, rare and endangered wildlife continue to populate the area.

My Abercam pal Steve and I took a Caño Negro cruise with Canoa Aventura tour company and fellow travelers from Switzerland, England and British Colombia, Canada.

It was a day filled with satisfying sightings.

At the beginning our Rio Frio cruise, I spotted a reptile on my Costa Rica wish list, the basilisk lizard. Locally known by the nickname “Jesu Christi” for their ability to walk on water by quickly moving their hind legs, the basilisk’s English name also cites mythology. Medieval folklore held that the basilisk was a creature the body of a serpent and the head of a bird. It was believed to be so ugly it would turn it’s observers into stone.

Our entire group hoped to see all three kinds of Costa Rican monkey. Our guide, Pablo, careful not to dash our hopes, joked that he hoped to see a jaguar, a relative impossibility.

But shortly afterward, we spotted a group of howler monkeys, including an albino juvenile. Pablo noted that albino monkeys are more common as human encroachment on habitat forces many monkeys to mate within their own bloodlines.

Steve immediately spotted a group of white-faced capuchin feeding on palm fruits on the opposite shore. The capuchins made attack faces and noises at their neighbors to the south.

Just when we thought the excitement was over, an enormous crowd of spider monkeys burst through the folliage, following one another single file through the trees. We saw many mothers with babies on their backs. Within ten minutes all three species had presented themselves boldly.

Near the entrance to Caño Negro, a pile of brown rocks near the red clay shoreline turned out to be several dozen caiman, eyes above and noses below the water. We later saw one munch a large tilapia.

Iguana perched on feathery trees high above the water. When they are attacked they drop into the river to avoid becoming lunch. The Ticos refer to them as “Chicken of the Tree,” but have largely stopped consuming iguana in their diet.

Birdwatching was rich with variety. Three kinds of kingfisher, two kinds of egret, and several kinds of heron. We saw many northern jacana and hinga birds, an ibis, a wood stork, and a large bat falcon.

In another eagle eye moment, I spied a grey hooded kite, about twice the size of a parrot, but roughly the same shape. This carnivorous kite is actually a dark powder blue with alternating black and white feathers on it’s inner wings.

The last group we saw were a flock of rosette spoonbills. They resemble flamingos in their coloring but have unusual blue bills and a ordinary standing posture.

Afterward we ate a leisurely lunch at the Caiman Restaurant, a well balanced feast included with the tour.

In the weeks to come I hope to pass through Caño Negro again on my way to a day trip in Granada, Nicaragua.

Volcan Arenal Dessert

Even away from home it’s impossible to keep me from inventing in the kitchen! Two helpings of my Volcan Arenal dessert.

Volcan Arenal dessert: Vanilla ice cream atop a bed of limon cured apple slices, with apple puff pastry mountainsides, Melcochas de Natilla rocks, and guava jelly lava made to “glow” with a dusting of mandarin sour powder.

Thanks to fellow Abercam guest Steve Kettman for providing the salads that preceeded.