Costa Rica Tours - A Sloth-Watcher’s Mecca
Patience, keen eyesight and knowing what to look for will reward tourists with a rare sloth sighting.
“All I need is a big stick,” our guide Adrian says as he scours the muddy ground. With those words, a few doubts creep into my head.
Adrian really wants our group to have a close encounter with a giant orange-kneed tarantula during our visit to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica. He needs the big stick to coax the hairy spider out of its hole. I’m not convinced this is a good idea.
My suspicions are confirmed when Adrian finds his stick and gently pokes it in the hole. One unhappy tarantula scurries out, far too close for my comfort. This thing is the size of my hand. Admittedly, I’m not a fan of spiders, particularly large hairy ones. I’d rather see animals that are cute and cuddly. Fortunately, Costa Rica is probably one of the best places for wildlife viewing.
Costa Rica is known for biodiversity. In an area smaller than the province of Nova Scotia, there are half a million species, including more types of birds than North America or Europe. All that flora and fauna has made tourism the country’s number one industry.
The sloth is on top of my must-see list, and my first attempt to find these gangly creatures is in the damp, cool cloud forests. Near the village of Santa Elena are three private reserves covering 28 000 hectares – Monteverde, Santa Elena and Bosque Nuboso Eterno de Los Ninos.
Sloths are in abundance in cloud forests, but the difficult part is seeing them. These funny-looking mammals don’t make any noise, nor do they move quickly enough to rustle leaves. They are masters of camouflage with long scraggly fur that seems to be the exact color of tree trunks. My best opportunity to see sloths was with the help of a guide. At all of Costa Rica’s parks and reserves, trained guides can show you a lot more than you’ll see on your own. They even carry high-powered scopes for a close-up view.
But, Adrian doesn’t seem to care much about sloths. He is fixated by the resplendent quetzal and determined to find what has been described as the most spectacular bird in the new world.
Monteverede is the place to spot this endangered bird and it’s considered a coveted sighting by birdwatchers, so I am excited when Adrian points into a tree and exclaims “Quetzal!”
The quetzal is hard to miss. It has iridescent emerald green and turquoise blue feathers on its back, and a flash of bright red on its stomach. The most outstanding feature is found on the male quetzal: amazing tail feathers up to a meter long.
Near the end of our three-hour slog through the dripping forest, Adrian utters what I’ve been waiting to hear, “Sloth.”
At 25 meters away, it is camouflaged so well I can barely distinguish it from the foliage. It looks like a big hunk of dried moss tucked into the crook of the tree.
Longing for some heat and sun, I head to the central Pacific coast and Manuel Antonio National Park, one of the country’s most popular destinations. Crammed into 6.5 square kilometers, you’ll find three white sandy beaches, a couple of rocky headlands, tide pools, mangrove swamps, and rainforests. There are so many sloths here, sightings are virtually guaranteed.
As I trek through the tropical jungle, already steaming hot at 7 a.m., our guide Sterling assures me he has just seen sloths the day before. After the first sweaty hour of rambling, I start to lose hope.
We see dozens of cat-sized black iguanas, a pelican, monkeys and bats, but no sloths, not even in their usual hang outs. Then we run into another group. After much gesticulating and rapid-fire Spanish between guides, we head down another path. Sterling turns to me and whispers, “Sloths.” My heart starts beating hard in anticipation as we scramble over the trail. This could be it. Adrian finds the spot, peers through his scope and exclaims, “There’s a baby.” It’s actually pretty difficult to distinguish the baby from its mother– one small fur ball lumped to a bigger fur ball and both completely still.
Sloths only have half the muscle mass of other mammals. Their top speed is half a kilometer an hour and most of their time is spent hanging out in the trees.
I am satisfied with that sighting, but clearly, Mother Nature is out to impress me today. Another ten minutes of trudging on the aptly named Perezoso Trail (Spanish for ‘lazy’) brings me eyeball to eyeball with a sloth lounging in the trees just off the path.
A small crowd has gathered, taking pictures.
The sloth doesn’t seem very interested in the hubbub. Clearly, his intentions are to get back to the peace and quiet higher in the canopy. It is like watching a slow-motion film as the sloth methodically makes his ascent, hand over hand, and foot over foot.
I could stand for hours watching this awkward animal (his upturned mouth makes him look as if he’s smiling) but it’s nearly noon, unbearably hot, and I have no more film.
So, with this craving met, it is time to deal with the second item on my list (and another major tourist activity in Costa Rica) - some serious beach time.
Author : Elaine Yong
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