Take a walk (and a slide, glide, float or jump) on the wild side
David Rose discovers the astonishing forests and animals of Costa Rica
GETTING to Costa Rica used t o be s omewhat gruelling, requiring a change of planes in Spain or North America. Not any more: l ast spring British Airways began flying direct from Gatwick to the capital, San Jose, three times a week. I suspect that demand will soon increase this. As I discovered last summer, Costa Rica is one of the most gorgeous and hospitable countries anywhere.
Only twice the size of Wales, it sits astride Central America between the Pacific and Caribbean and is astonishingly varied, with tropical beaches, 11,000ft volcanoes, l ush f orests, swamps and plantations that produce exceptional coffee.
Above all, there is wildlife. Costa Rica is said to possess the greatest biodiversity in the world, and its people are looking after it. Since a low point in the 1970s, when much of the country had been cleared for agriculture, Costa Rica has increased its percentage of forest cover from 20 per cent to more than 60 per cent.
In this humid tropical climate, the new ‘ second- growth’ forest grows quickly, creating habitats for a dizzying variety of animals and birds. Meanwhile, the rampant wildflowers are so ubiquitous that the place feels like a giant botanical garden.
Having abolished their army in 1948, successive democratic governments managed to avoid the turmoil and war that swept through the rest of Central America in the 1970s and 1980s. As a result, the country is far cleaner and more prosperous than its neighbours, and has built a high quality infrastructure to match.
The British summer school holidays coincide with the first part of Costa Rica’s rainy season. In some ways this is an advantage: peak time for visitors is the northern hemisphere winter, when the country is especially popular with Americans. My wife Carolyn and sons Jacob, 17, and Daniel, 12, and I spent three weeks there in August. We did experience some afternoon downpours, but nothing like enough to spoil our trip.
And although San Jose is only nine degrees north of the Equator, it was never unbearably hot.
In fact, at the Poas Volcano Lodge, a green and peaceful retreat an hour and a half from the airport where we spent our first three nights, we needed fleeces or jumpers in the evenings. On our second morning, we strolled to the top of the 9, 000ft vol cano, which has erupted 39 times in the past 200 years, and peered into its gigantic crater. At the bottom, far below, an acidic, turquoise lake steamed.
It would be perfectly possible to put together your own trip, although speaking Spanish would be an advantage. We did it the easy way – via Last Frontiers, a bespoke agency that specialises in Latin America. It created an itinerary that meant we saw a bit of everything. All our transport was prearranged – and worked smoothly throughout the trip. From Poas, we were driven back to the airport and flew on a single- engine 18- seater plane down from the mountainous central belt to Tortuguero, a national park to which there is no road, on the Caribbean coast. This was an absolute highlight.
Tortuga is the Spanish word for turtle, and throughout the summer nesting season, hundreds of these great animals emerge each night from the waves, most having swum hundreds of miles to get there. They make their way up the sandy beach, use their flippers to dig deep pits, and then lay their eggs, more than 100 at a time – of which perhaps just one will survive to reach adulthood. Having deposited the eggs, the turtles bury them, then return to the water. We saw all of this under moonlight, in the company of a local guide. He assured us that so long as we were quiet, the turtles would not be disturbed. We were staying a short boat ride from the beach at Manatus Lodge, sharing its gardens with huge iguanas, capuchin monkeys, blue wild parrots and toucans. The lodge has kayaks and narrow boats. Exploring t he inland waterways of Tortuguero, we saw caimans, and, on a branch less than 10ft away, an adorable three- toed sloth, eating its lunch of leaves with the expected slowness. Next up was another highlight, back in the highlands: the Pacuare Lodge. We got there via a rugged ride in a 4x4, followed by a hand-pulled cable gondola across the mighty
Pacuare river. The only way out was by white-water raft. We’ve tried rafting in several countries, but this was the best: wild rapids, warm water, and stunning rainforest scenery.
The lodge is a marvel. In its scabins there is no electricity, thoughhh bio-gas, made from the waste from its organic farm, produces enough energy for limitless hot water. Power from solar panels lights the bar and restaurant – where the food is sensational: true fine dining, deep in the jungle, where (though we did not see them) jaguars roam.
There are several places in Britain where committed kidults like me can join their offspring ziplining – sliding down a cable on a pulley attached to a harness. Some have lines more than 200ft long. But from the top of another volcano at our next stop, Arenal, we made our way down again by a series of ten such zip-lines, some more than half a mile long, hundreds of feet above the ground, reaching 50mph. The adrenaline rush was intoxicating.
We spent eight nights in the western province of Guanacaste, where even in August the weather stays mostly hot and dry. Our first stop here was Rio Perdido, another isolated lodge with a view of the confluence of two jungle rivers – one cold, the other, thanks to thermal s pr ings,slik ea hot bath.b In the cold river, wew went ‘ tubing’ – tumblingtu down rapids in inner tubes: another blast.bl The hot stream waswa for lazing, in pools of crystalline clarity, overhungov by trees that arear home to howler m on keys:kasy bar iticbparadi se.
After that, it was time to enjoy the Pacific at Papagayo, a rocky spit where one side faces a sheltered lagoon, the other the ocean. There we sampled two resorts: the Andaz, which has the edge architecturally, and the Four Seasons, with beaches on both sides of the peninsula.
In Costa Rica, the phrase ‘pura vida’ – pure life – has become both greeting and national motto, seeming to express what many Costa Ricans see as their purpose. In this wonderful, beautiful country, ecotourism means something real. It deserves to be experienced.