Casa Orquideas, Golfo Dulce & Rio Esquinas
It is our last day in Costa Rican water, and we can’t wait to go and check the rainforest and search for tropical wildlife. Costa Rica set apart more than one quarter of its territory for conservation in its national park service.
“Casa Orquideas Botanical Garden” was chosen as the place to start our early nature walks. In a matter of few minutes we were exposed to spectacular bird sightings: King vultures, Fiery-billed Aracari (which are endemic to the South Pacific of Costa Rica and Western Panama), White hawks, Swanson hawks, Thick-billed Euphonia, toucans and many more. All this birding took place in one of the most beautiful gardens, with a primary forest just a few meters back.
Many different habitats are contained within the gulf, including the lowland rainforest, swamp forest, mangroves, beaches and rivers. In the afternoon we went to explore the Esquinas River, which has a spectacular mangrove forest. Some of us explored the area in Zodiacs, while other guests explored in kayaks. Five different mangrove trees were pointed out by the Naturalist. North American migratory birds and resident birds were seen in large numbers along the sand bars and up on the forest. Among some of them we saw: Spotted Sandpipers, Little blue Herons and Snowy Egrets. However, the highlight was the Yellow-billed Cotinga.
After a full day of nature exploration, we cleared immigration in the small dock of Golfito. This port town was a busy center for banana exportation when the “Bananera Company”, a subsidiary of United Fruit, was operating in the area from 1938-1985, and Golfito was the company headquarters. By now, we all are ready to travel to Panama and enjoy the natural wonders that this beautiful country is saving for us.
