Hiking and Rafting

March 27, Monday - Today was spent hiking for a half a day and whitewater rafting for half a day.  In the morning, we walked 1.1 miles out across a suspension bridge over the Sarapaqui River, and up hill to the largest almond tree in the region - 150 feet tall and 400 years old.  The path went up and down in muddy, clay soils, over routes and small creeks.  The vegetation was dense but varied on both sides.  Along the way, Reimer, who led the walk, spotted 3 of the 7 poison tree frogs, one of which was a first for him.  Reimer also spotted a Motmot bird (one of three kinds), which some of us saw.  The motmot males, curiously, pluck feathers from their tails to make themselves more attractive to females.

The tree was impressive and Reimer said it survived logging because they didn't have saws large enough to cut it down.  In the rotted center there were a number of little White-Lined Bats in residence.  And we had a lecture on leaf cutter ants (five castes - queen, workers, soldiers, cleaners and males).  We walked back the same way that we came, arriving in time for lunch.  We are getting three meals a day, regular as clockwork.

After lunch, we rode about 7 kilometers from the hotel for whitewater rafting.  We had three rafts of 5 or 6 people.  Everyone was experienced and the outfitter was efficient in getting us into gear and doing the  safety briefing so we were on the river quickly,  We had an easy, fun ride in Class 1 and 2 Rapids.  The weather was just the right temperature with overcast skies and no rain.  Swimming in the river was quite pleasant, given that I fell in twice.  We had the usual paddle splashing between boats.  The water flow is regulated by two dams ,and the chief guide was anxious to finish before the flows dropped for the day.  Just before the end, we had a brief break for pineapple and watermelon slices.   Birds on the river included several varieties of heron, especially a “tiger heron,” migrating vultures bathing in the river daily, both turkey and black vultures, kingfishers, egrets, and cormorants.

We were back at the lodge by 4:30 in time for showers, a lecture at 6:00, and dinner at 7:00 pm.  The lecture was quite interesting yet depressing because it reviewed the worldwide threats to the earth's ecosystems (e.g., climate change), species extinctions, and genetic diversity.  The speaker, who was very articulate, said that there is not much interest in the ecosystem and genetic areas, and most of the  conservation activity is directed at saving "sexy" mammals - Jaguars in Costa Rica, pandas, Tigers, etc. He argued that these limited efforts has some benefits, but his solution and interest was on connecting national parks and private reserves with biological corridors.