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Costa Rica: day 11 - Lapa Rios Osa Trail

Lapa Rios is more than a luxury ecolodge on the Osa Peninsula. It is a 1,000 acre, private, nature reserve, protecting Central America's last remaining lowland tropical rain forest. The reserve is mostly primary rain forest, meaning it has remained relatively untouched by human activity.

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At 8:15 we hiked the Osa Trail, which, again, brought the Tropical Nature book to life. (There are sign-up sheets at the front desk where you sign up for the activities you want to do; they are all an additional charge.) Jason was our guide. One other guy also did this trail with us. He was the director for Sansa airlines in Panama, on assignment to figure out why people choose Nature Air over Sansa Airlines for their Puerto Jiménez flights.

The hike was great. Very interesting...

We saw the Sangrillo Colorado - a massive tree, found only in the Lapa Rios Reserve (not sure which picture this is). There were the "loco leaves" that move all crazy-like while the leaves around them are not moving at all!

This is either a Strangler Fig or just woody vines that have grown along and fused with the tree trunk. (Link to "Day 4 - Monteverde Cloud Forest," a previous post with info on the strangler fig.)


Light Gap. (Link to "Day 4 - Monteverde Cloud Forest," a previous post with info on light gaps.)


Jason pointed out a tree - with these stilt-like roots - that he said can move up to one meter a year (!) seeking nutrients in the soil. Being that they can live 30 years, well, you do the math! Amazing!



No idea what this is...


Again, no growth rings...


Here is an example of the "buttressed" trees found in a rain forest. These buttresses help stabilize the tree in the wet, shallow soil.


Gazing up into the canopy. The way the trees in the rain forest sway is wild!


More examples of the buttressed trees...



Jason was all excited when he spotted this snake, the extremely venomous Fer-de-Lance. He said it's really rare to stumble upon them like this. He proceeded to tell us that this is the snake responsible for the most snake-related deaths of humans in Costa Rica!


Tons of ants... This mound reminded me of meatballs with parsley on top. (Or maybe I was just getting hungry.) An interesting fact: ants far outweigh humans in terms of biomass - in fact, in terms of biomass, they outweigh all animals!


More intriguing trees...



Cool little out-of-focus mushroom.


There's a monkey in there somewhere... You can see the twisting lianas, the woody vines. They benefit from having their roots in the soil, then they snake their way through the trees, into the canopy, in search of light. Over time, they can actually harden and come together to form a tree.




Strikingly beautiful remains of a Blue Morpho Butterfly. We saw a lot of these at Lapa Rios, live ones.


Can you guess what Jason's looking for?


Bats!!! They roost under these leaves. This is the Disk-Winged Bat. (Link to my post on "The Disk-Winged Bats of Lapa Rios".)


Not sure what this is.


What else?... Jason showed us this seed thing that when you rub it, it smells like Fruit Loops! It's used as an insect repellent. (I wonder if this is how Fruit Loops and Toucan Sam were born?) He also showed us how to make a torch using the sap from the calomina tree, the white powder of which calomine lotion is derived. We also saw puma tracks, ocelot tracks, wild pig tracks. And we ate a palmito (hearts of palm) along the trail - this ingredient is featured in a lot of Lapa Rios' dishes

And that concludes the Osa Trail.

next post > day 11 - Lapa Rios Lunch, Surf, & Dinner
previous post > day 11- Lapa Rios Bungalow & Breakfast
first post > day 1 - Adventure, Exploration and Relaxation
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