Travel Advice - Central America

As the winter nights draw in I've started thinking about a vacation in warmer climes. I like the idea of South East Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, etc..) but keep getting drawn to Central America, Costa Rica in particular, which sells itself in many travel guides as a reptile and amphibian heaven. I love the idea of seeing dart frogs and of course Bolitoglossa sals which Costa Rica offers amongst much more.

If you've visited Costa Rica, or Panama, Nicaragua etc what did you think? Which places or sights would you recommend? Is there a region or park that's particularly good for herps? Any recommended jungle treks or eco-lodges?

I'm open to other suggestions in South America or Asia - there just has to be lots of jungle and wildlife!

I spent half a year in Costa Rica in 1988. I'm not sure how much would have changed since then.

It's a herp paradise for sure. Saw LOTS of D. pumilio in the Limon (atlantic) region, also saw D. auratus, Centrolenella spp, TONS of tree frogs, toads, lizards, geckos, iguanas, caimans, a boa contrictor curled up in a creek bed, and some of those baaaad baaad but beautiful snakes - fer de lance, corals etc.

Best of all, I saw hundreds and hundreds of Boltioglossa (pesruba, I believe) under just about every rock at 3300 m in the central cordillera - stunning numbers of them, in fact.

I yearn for the tropics this time of year too, and have been thinkin' I should go herping in Costa Rica over Xmas - if only I could leave my dog for that long!

do you have the book "The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica"?
Amazon.com: The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna between Two Continents, between Two Seas (9780226735382): Jay M. Savage: Books
It's a bit too hefty for a field guide, but it's a magnificent book that can get your herp desires to flare up big time!

Thanks Molch, We actually settled on Costa Rica and have started planning the tour. It’s very difficult to know which parts to visit when time is limited. So far La Selva and Corcovado national park on the Peninsula de Osa are on the itinerary. We’ll also be checking out the cloud forest at Montverde and possibly a volcano or two. Sadly it’s not all about frogs…

Thanks for the book recommendation. I will certainly need a good herp field guide too if anyone can recommend one.

One of the highlights of my trip was to climb up Mt. Chirripo - an epic hike through all the layers of cloud forest till you hit this bamboo heath at >3000 m - it was up there I saw all the salamanders. Also, I loved Santa Rosa Nat. Park, in the Pacific north coast. It's a seasonal dry forest, much different in character than the wet rain and cloud forest elsewhere. And hiking in Braullio Carillio, a Nat Park near San Jose. And I hiked around Mt. Arenal and watched it erupt at night - very creepy.

And I spent about a month in Tortuguero Nat. Park. I found this weird British guy, and we rented a fisherman's dug-out for a few days and peddled off into the flooded forest. Rained the whole time, and we slept in the canoe because there was no dry piece of ground to pitch a tent. At night, we'd park under an overhanging branch and throw the tent fly over it as rain shelter. Still had to bail water all night long. One evening, an ocelot swam across our channel near our canoe, climbed out, shook itself like a dog, and disappeared into the forest. There were HUGE green iguanas way up in the trees, and lots of caimans. And basilisks running across the water whenever we floated by. And the birds! Very epic.

Corcovado was awesome - I was going to hike across the park, but then there were torrential rains because of Hurrican Juan, and the rivers swelled too much to cross, so I just hung out at a ranger station on the beach and rode their horses up and down the beach for about 10 days. We were cut off from the outside because of the weather and all we had to eat was rice and coconuts. I'd just walk into the forest everyday looking for frogs etc. Tons of red-and-blue macaws were there, too. A jaguar came to the beach every night; we'd hear him and see his tracks in the a.m., but I never saw him. Torrential rains every day; the whole country was flooded and it was weeks before the roads were passable again. I think it was about Nov/Dec or so.

Mark said:

Thanks Molch, We actually settled on Costa Rica and have started planning the tour. It’s very difficult to know which parts to visit when time is limited. So far La Selva and Corcovado national park on the Peninsula de Osa are on the itinerary. We’ll also be checking out the cloud forest at Montverde and possibly a volcano or two. Sadly it’s not all about frogs…

Thanks for the book recommendation. I will certainly need a good herp field guide too if anyone can recommend one.

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I was thinking about a trip to Costa Rica in the next year or two. You'll have to post a report of your trip when you get back as I'd be really curious about your experiences. Seeing the elfin cloud forests of Monteverde is one of my travel goals. Maybe you'll see some Bufo periglenes and become famous?