Skip to main content

Adventures in the Treetops!

December 27, 2009

We wanted to take a guided tour of the Monteverde Cloud Forest; however, Heidar, the guide that Jenn recommended was not available. Actually no guide was available and you needed reservations at this time of year etc. In place of this, we decided to have a zipline adventure (eeeeks!) at Sky Adventures. I believe this is located in or close to the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve. It's just down the road from Hidden Canopy Treehouses.

Driving up to it, we could see the people ziplining by. It looked scary - I mean, I am admittedly a first-rate wimp. We looked over the different packages and decided to go with the whole she-bang, the whole enchilada. That included a tram ride to the top (Sky Tram), the ziplines (Sky Trek), and a guided hike via suspension bridges (Sky Walk). $75 per person.

After coming back from the restroom, having mulled over the crazy decision just made, I started chickening out. I informed Nick that I really didn't want to do this. But then after 15 minutes of excruciating indecisiveness on my part, I decided I did want to do this. (That didn't mean I wouldn't start crying and chickening out again when I got up to the zipline platform.)

We suited up, got instructions and off we went...

Here, you do a practice zipline before getting on the tram, which is an excellent idea. You get a feel for what it's going to be like on a short, slow line. It was a little scary, but it was good. The guides pretty much do everything for you. You just have to extend your arms as you hold the bar, cross your legs at the ankles and tuck them in. If the guide on the other side shakes your line, that means you need to slow yourself down, and you do that by moving the bar from side to side. If you get stuck on the line, which sometimes you do if you are lightweight (eeeeks!) and don't build up enough momentum, you have to turn yourself around and pull yourself to the other side hand over hand. (That might've freaked me out - luckily it didn't happen!)

Anyway, after you take the tram up -


 way up - 


you're overlooking the canopy and can see all the epiphytes.



As we ascended the stairs to the first real platform, it was unbelievably windy. Anticipating what this was going to feel like flying down the line above the treetops was scary. However, actually going across the line, the wind didn't have much of an effect.

Then off you go on a series of 8 more lines, I believe. Some lines require more weight, so they let you go two people at a time. Basically, my husband would be behind me with his legs wrapped around me. The second to last line is the fastest (single) and the last one is the longest (double).

I never really looked around me while ziplining. If you do, you slow yourself down. The noise the line made was quite addictive - like stepping on a sportscar's accelerator. That picture below is neither of us. I grabbed it from the Sky Adventure website because we didn't take any pictures while ziplining. I was too nervous to have to take out the camera and worry about putting it back at every platform.


she'd go faster if her legs were pulled in to her chest more

The suspension bridge tour was pretty cool.


Not quite as informative as our other tours from the first trip - that could've just been our guide - but you got to see the cloud forest canopy with all of its mystique up close.




The cloud forest canopy is incredibly atmospheric and changes in a snap.


We did get to see a colony of bats roosting in the hollow of a tree. The guide didn't know the species. You could kinda see them with binoculars. They were brown with a white belly and white stripes on the back.

roosting bats 

We also saw a few Capuchin monkeys, but that's about it for mammals. But lots of weird plants and trees...









 this was some kind of moth


There's so many layers and textures and nice compositions in the cloud forest. It's so enveloping. I couldn't stop taking pictures, and these are but a few...







Afterwards we sat by the hummingbird feeders and had a lunch of tuna, pringles, and apples. We made our way back at the hotel, and by this time it had started raining.

Pretty soon it was time for dinner, at Restaurante de Lucia. Too much food, too pricey and not that great.  Then back to our beautiful, cold room.

* * *

Take another hike through a cloud forest (from our previous trip): Monteverde Cloud Forest

next post >> To Villas Nicolas II
previous post << Monteverde Activities
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chiropterophily: Bat Pollination

I see you! Geoffroy's tailless bat (Anoura Geoffroyi) - photo by Nathan Muchhala Ever since coming across this word, I can't stop saying it: chiropterophily. Chiropterophily, or pollination of plants by bats, is very common in the tropics. Hundreds of tropical plant species are exclusively or at least partly pollinated by nectar-feeding bats. Many tropical flowers are night-blooming, specializing in attracting bats. Bat-flowers are typically white, cream, or pale green in color, making them easier to see in the dark. They usually have a musky, fermented odor - like that of the bat - or sometimes a fruity odor. They have a large, sturdy, open shape with long, bushy anthers so that the bat's head and chest get coated in pollen when it visits. In return for the bat pollinating the flower, the flower provides the nectar that these high-energy flying mammals need.* Tube-lipped nectar bat (Anoura fistulata) - photo by Nathan Muchhala Nectivorous bats have both good eyesight an...
1 comment
Read more

Eyeshine in Nocturnal Animals

Peters' Epauletted Fruit Bat (Epomophorus crypturus), Kruger National Park - photo by Peet van Schalkwyk Have you ever noticed how under certain lighting conditions some animal's eyes seem to glow? Animals that are nocturnal hunters - and a few of them that are not - have something called eyeshine . Eyeshine is the light that we see reflected back from the animal's tapetum lucidum (a membrane behind the animal's retina). Light enters the eye, passes through the retina, strikes the reflective membrane, and is reflected back through the eye toward the light source. This phenomenon makes the most of what little light there is at night for these nocturnal creatures. a moth with pink eyeshine Humans can display the red-eye effect in flash photography, but we do not have a tapetum lucidum , and thus, do not have eyeshine. Eyeshine is best observed by wearing a head lamp or holding a flashlight at eye level against your temple because the light is reflected right back into ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Leaving Bosque del Cabo

January 4, 2010 We woke right before dawn. The howler monkeys were especially vocal this morning (or perhaps we just slept through the loud parts the previous mornings). We got ready then had a super quick breakfast of granola and fruit. The staff packed us some sandwiches for later. I selected avocado; Nick selected the pb&j deluxe. Eric drove us to the small, regional airport in Puerto Jiménez. It was a quiet ride; we were sad to go. We were fortunate to be able to stay 6 days; but even in this amount of time, we didn't do everything we wished to, like hike down to the beaches, hike to the waterfalls and the take the zipline tour. As we continued down the road, we passed the signpost to Lapa Rios, the lodge we had stayed at the previous year. Which was better? I hate to make such comparisons, as each of these places holds a special place in our hearts. Lapa Rios was the climactic end to our very first trip to Costa Rica. It was during the rainy seaso...
1 comment
Read more