Day 8: Herradura/Disembark/Carara Biological Reserve
Highlight of the Day:
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Lucky for us, we had booked the extension and therefore got also to know Costa Rica’s lowlands and highlands during the week to follow.
We disembarked the Sea Voyager in Herradura at around 8:10 am and took a 20-minute bus drive to the Carara Biological Reserve. This mature rain forest is very densely populated by plants. We did not see many animals, except two large lizards posing next to our bus.
The drive up the mountain to the Monteverde Cloud Forest took about 2.5 hours, the last over a very bumpy road. There, the temperature was much lower, the humidity totally gone and the air super fresh. After lunch and a short break, we visited the Bat Jungle, a community project in the area to teach visitors about the importance of bats. First, our guide gave an introduction about the 120 bat species living in Costa Rica. There are fruit eaters, nectar drinkers, insect hunters and even blood drinking vampires. The faces, ears and noses are highly adapted to the way the bats locate their food (eco location) and eat. There were also some fun exhibits such as scales that calculated how many gallons of nectar or how many bananas or buckets of insects a bat of our body weight would have to eat. Highlight of the tour was the bat cave, a darkened room where the night active bats are awake during our daytime.
This visit followed a presentation given by Marvin Rockwell, a 86 year old Quaker from Alabama who immigrated to Costa Rica in 1952 together with 11 other Quaker families. Costa Rica abandoned its army in the 1940’s and therefore became very attractive to the non-violent and peace-loving Quakers.
After finding and settling in this beautiful area which they named Monteverde – Green Mountain – they started from scratch, in the beginning without much electricity. They prospered by producing and distributing cheese, getting involved in the tourism development etc. Marvin Rockwell, despite his age, was quite lively and active.
Dinner was served at the upstairs café. Afterwards, we retreated to our hotel, a charming, family-owned lodge. The original owner was a painter, his paintings are in all public areas and rooms. After living in the small cabins of the Sea Voyager for a week, these large rooms were quite impressive.
More information
Daily Expedition Reports are only provided onboard.