Bringing Photographers Closer to Their Natural World
|
|
|
The Best of Costa Rica Typical Workshop Schedule What Is Included Payment, Discounts, Cancellation, Refund Policies What to Bring Return to Schedule of Offerings Return to Roger Devore
Costa Rica is a Central American nation with unlimited photography potential. Tropical Rain forests and beautiful ocean beaches provide the habitat for numerous species of wildlife not found in our North American homes. Toucans, quetzals, macaws, hummingbirds, exotic frogs, iguanas, sloths, 4 species of monkeys, butterflies, and many other species of birds are just a few of the species we hope to see and photograph. We have visited Costa Rica several times and each time we make minor improvements to the trip. We have made some minor changes for 2016for more improvements. We will again have our dedicated guide Oliver who is a photographer and knows the places for the best images. Join us to visit this tropical paradise.
©Roger Devore ©Roger Devore ©Roger Devore
Two priorities for us were finding a guide that would be able to stay with us over the entire trip and to schedule our own private vehicle so that we can customize our daily schedules to maximize our time in the field, where we want. We will have both for this trip. Here is day to day schedule of our trip: Day 1 Feb 23 Meet and greet at the International Airport. Transportation to the hotel in San Jose area. Dinner on your own. Overnight at Bougainvillea Hotel Day 2 Feb 24 Breakfast included at hotel. We will stay in the San Jose area for this day. Visit Paos Volcano & La paz waterfall gardens with lunch. Butterflies, humming birds, & frogs. Dinner on your own. Overnight at Bougainvillea Hotel. Poas Volcano Poás volcano is a powerful symbol of the geothermal forces that formed Costa Rica. When the mist and clouds part you'll see the sulfuric, bubbling, green rain fed lake at the bottom, surrounded by smoke and steam rising from fumaroles. Water from the lake is constantly seeping through cracks in the hot rock, evaporating and building pockets of steam. When the pressure in these pockets exceeds the weight of the water above, the steam breaks through in geysers that rocket up to 820 feet (250 meters) high. Don't worry about getting a shower though, the crater is 1,050 feet (320 meters) deep. At almost a mile (1.6 km) across it's also the largest active crater in the world. La Paz Waterfall Gardens La Paz Waterfall Gardens is the #1 Most Visited Privately Owned Ecological Attraction in Costa Rica featuring the best hiking near San José, the most famous waterfalls in Costa Rica, rescued wildlife preserve with over 100 species of animals and an environmental education program. This a great location for butterflies, humming birds, & frogs.
©Roger Devore ©Roger Devore ©Oliver Acosta
Day 3 Feb 25 Breakfast at hotel included and departure to Tortuguero National Park. Travel will be by bus & boat. Lunch in route. Overnight Evergreen Lodge, dinner included at lodge. Tortuguero National Park This is one of the few Costa Rican national parks where walking isn't necessarily the best way to see things. The marked trail along the beach is used mostly for observing turtle nesting, but the best way to see most of the park is from a boat. The area protected by Tortuguero (turtle catcher) National Park was an archipelago of volcanic islands until alluvial sediments from the interior mountains, filled in the spaces and formed a network of marshy islands. Sand piled up where the river deposited land met the sea, and the turtle nesting beaches of Tortuguero formed. The exceptionally high rainfall, and rich environment where the freshwater meets the sea makes the beaches, canals, lagoons and wetlands of Tortuguero areas of exceptional biodiversity, and opportunity for nature lovers.
©Roger Devore ©Roger Devore ©Roger Devore Day 4 Feb 26 Breakfast, lunch, and dinner at hotel included. Visit Tortuguero National Park by boat tour. Overnight at Evergreen Lodge. Day 5 Feb 27 Tortuguero National Park Breakfast, Lunch and dinner included. Overnight at Evergreen Lodge. Day 6 Feb 28 Breakfast at hotel. Depart to La Selva park en route. Overnight at La Quinta Sarapiqui near La Selva. Lunch included, dinner on your own. La Selva La Selva was originally established in 1954 by Dr. Leslie Holdridge, as a farm dedicated to experimentation on mixed plantations for the improvement of natural resources management. It was purchased in 1968 by the Organization for Tropical Studies and declared a private biological reserve and station. Since then, it has become one of the most important sites in the world for research on tropical rain forest. Over 240 scientific papers are published yearly from research conducted at the site. Day 7 Feb 29 Breakfast at hotel included then depart for west coast. This will be a travel day, we drive past Arenal Volcano, and two fantastic locations for macaws and iguanas. Lunch included at Iguana Restaurant, dinner on your own. Overnight Villa Lapas.
©Oliver Acosta ©Roger Devore Day 8 Mar 01 Breakfast at hotel. Morning river tour with giant crocodiles. Lunch included with tour. Afternoon visit to Carara National Park. dinner on your own. Overnight at Villa Lapas. Carara National Park Carara is a favorite with bird watchers for several reasons besides its ease of access. First, its position in a transition zone means that residents of both habitats are likely to appear. Second, the Río Grande de Tárcoles has free flowing sections and its waters seep into seasonal marshlands and a shallow oxbow lake covered with hyacinths further expanding number of local habitats. Finally, because it is slightly dryer, and not all of the trees are evergreen, Carara is more open than the rainforests further south making wildlife spotting easier. About 150 scarlet macaws nest and feed throughout the reserve and can usually be seen around dusk flying west down the Río Tárcoles towards the coastal mangroves where they roost for the night.
©Roger Devore ©Roger Devore ©Roger Devore Day 9 Mar 02 Breakfast at hotel included. Travel to Manual Antonio National Park. This park is the best locations for sloths. Lunch and dinner on your own Overnight at Los Almendros Hotel. Manuel Antonio National Park Manuel Antonio National Park is perhaps the most visited park in Costa Rica. The picturesque Punta Catedral was once an island off the coast. Over the years, sedimentation filled in a bar of sand, connecting it to the mainland. The locals call this stretch of white sand beach Tombolo. The volcanic-sedimentary cliffs rise steeply from the shoreline, providing scenic vistas and hiking trails. The forested hillsides are home to many of the animals, plants and flowers that are Costa Rica's unique attractions: Monkeys, sloths, iguanas, toucans and scarlet macaws. Between bouts of beaching, you can explore the park's network of wide trails, which lead into a swatch of humid tropical forest. Manuel Antonio's treetop carnival is marvelous, and best experienced by following the Perezoso Trail, named after the lovable sloths, which favor the secondary growth along the trail (perezoso means "lazy"). You might see marmosets, ocelots, river otters, pacas, and spectacled caimans in more remote riverine areas. Howler monkeys languorously move from branch to branch, iguanas shimmy up trunks, toucans and scarlet macaws flap by. About 350 squirrel monkeys live in the park, another 500 on its outer boundaries. And capuchin (white-faced) monkeys are also abundant and welcome you at treetop height on the beaches, where they play to the crowd and will steal your sandwich packs given half a chance.
©Roger Devore ©Roger Devore ©Roger Devore
Day 10 Mar 03 Breakfast at hotel included. Travel to Savegre. Enroute stop at Kusingo Reserve. Lunch and dinner on your own Overnight at Savegre Lodge. Located in San Gerardo de Dota, a small community in the Talamanca Mountains, Savegre is at an elevation of 2200 meters (7220 feet). The forest around the hotel is one of massive oaks, colorful plants, and an incredible variety of animal life. There are numerous insects, mammals, and amphibians dwell in the forest, and the pristine valley is a paradise for birdwatchers: over 170 species of birds can be seen in this cloud forest.
©Roger Devore ©Roger Devore ©Roger Devore
©Roger Devore ©Roger Devore ©Roger Devore
Day 11 Mar 04 Breakfast at the hotel included. Visit Savegre Reserve. The grounds around the lodge are also spectacular. Great place for humming birds and other species of birds. Lunch & dinner on your own. Overnight at Savegre Lodge. Day 12 Mar 05 Breakfast at hotel. Depart for San Jose with stop at Lankester Gardens, famous for orchids, enroute. Lunch & dinner on your own. Overnight at Hampton Inn. Lankester Botanical Garden Orchids are surprisingly difficult to see in the wild. Even with a qualified guide you'd be lucky to spot a dozen during a full day in the forest. The majority are epiphytic, growing high in the canopy on trunks, branches or in crotches out of sight. Additionally, many are rather mundane until they flower, and might only flower for a day or two a year. The same is true for many of the other interesting epiphytes in Costa Rica. Fortunately Lankester Gardens has a world class collection of nearly a thousand varieties displayed at eye level, and the huge number of plants means it's likely that hundreds will be blooming when you visit. Day 13 Mar 06 Breakfast at hotel included and departure to International Airport Transportation to the airport.
©Roger Devore ©Roger Devore ©Roger Devore
What's Included: All rooms and meals as indicated above. Our own private bus transportation and our own licensed Costa Rica photographer guide for the duration of the workshop. What's Not Included: Air fare to Costa Rica. Meals not included above. Passports are required for this trip. San Jose has an airport departure tax approximately $30. Fees: $3550 for double occupancy. $600 single supplement. We will do our best to place you with a roommate, if that is your desire. $750 deposit required at registration and balance will be collected November 15, 2015. Due to outfitter requirements, 5 people minimum for this trip to operate. Cancellations Penalties: Up to two months of prior to start of workshop, 50% of deposit, between two and one months before the arrival date a penalization of 25% of the total amount, and less than one month before the arrival date a 100% of the total amount paid will be penalized. We strongly recommend trip insurance.
©Roger Devore ©Roger Devore ©Oliver Acosta
©Roger Devore ©Roger Devore
|
|
To register online on a secure registration
form, or to print out a
registration form, go to
Registration, |
.jpg)
