Overview
When it comes to the sheer vibrancy of colour, the birdlife to be found in the rainforests is almost untouchable. With a well-developed tourist infrastructure, Costa Rica represents one of the best places in Central America to photograph it too and this trip will take us to some of the very best places to do so. Our three lodges based in the central part of the country are situated in the prime rainforest as well as elevated cloud forest and their array of feeders attract a huge variety of hummingbirds, and we will concentrate on achieving both natural lighting and high-speed flash images of these delicate beauties as well as searching for the iconic Resplendent Quetzal.
Further north we will have several days working from bespoke hides and open balcony areas for amazing viewing and photography of toucans, parrots, tanagers and an array of other striking bird species in their amazing rainforest settings; the highly colourful King Vulture is another real possibility here too and we will also look to turn our high-speed flash photography experiences to bats during the hours of darkness! Costa Rica has become one of the most popular destinations in the world for bird photography and we have been running trips to this wonderful country for many years and as a result have fine turned our trip to maximise the best potential that this special place has to offer.
Itinerary Open +Close -
Day 1: Today will be a long day of travelling to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. We will be arriving in the afternoon, so we will transfer to a local hotel to get some well-earned rest.
Day 2: After breakfast in the morning, we will head south-east for approximately a 4-hour drive to one of the country’s premier birding lodges set in the Turrialba region of the country. With over 400 different species having been recorded here its excellent reputation is well deserved. The balcony areas around the lodge are home to an array of hummingbird feeders which attract many different species, and this is where we will be focussing our photography on the first afternoon after we arrive and settle in – we are based here for 2 nights.
Day 3: Among the many hummingbird species, we aim to work with here are Violet-crowned Woodnymph, White-necked Jacobin and Green-crowned Brilliant – and these are birds that really live up to their dramatic names: this is also one of the best places in the country to find the striking and diminutive Snowcap. Although the hummingbirds will be our main focus for these two very full days of photography here, the paths around the lodge and surrounding rainforest also offers the potential for frog, butterfly, insect and floral photography too as we look to build up a rainforest portfolio.
Day 4: After a final breakfast we will return to our vehicles and drive north to our base for the next three nights close to the Nicaraguan border where an array of hides and open-air photography opportunities await. It will be a full day’s drive to get there but we should arrive in time for some photography on arrival: there are often toucans to greet us on arrival so the cameras will almost certainly get an immediate airing too.
Days 5 and 6: Over the course of our further 2 full days here we will have the opportunity to work in several different settings created specifically for photography. A large balcony area at the lodge allows superb opportunities for an array of colourful species including Keel-billed Toucan, Brown- hooded Parrot, and Baltimore Oriole, oropendola and aracari amongst others. There is a Vulture focussed hide we will spend a full session at that attracts not just Black and Turkey Vultures but also the stunning King Vulture. Mammals, reptiles and amphibians await in the surrounding rainforest if you can find a spare moment too, and our nights will be spent using high-speed flash for bat photography as well. It’s a photographer’s paradise here and we will be very busy throughout.
Day 7: After breakfast we will head for a 2 -3 hour drive south and our very comfortable eco-lodge base for the next 3 nights in the high-altitude cloud forest mountains of Parc Nacional Juan Castro Blanco. The grounds here offer some of the best hummingbird photography opportunities of the trip with coatimundi and agouti also regular visitors and we will arrive in time for lunch and a full afternoon of photography.
Day 8: Situated in a stunning montane rainforest location this Eco-Lodge offers the chance to further explore the rainforest on foot for an array of subjects, with orchids high on the agenda. It’s the birds though, and especially the hummingbirds such as the Violet sabre Wing and Magnificent Hummingbird that are the main attraction for us. Many feeders are present providing the focus for our photography as we work on building our portfolios in terms of both species and image styles.
Day 9: It’s a morning drive to our final cloud forest base in the Parc Nacional Los Quetzales which again has an array of feeders in the surrounding areas for us to work at. We will arrive in time to spend the afternoon with some different hummingbird photography and there are some nice sunset opportunities here as well.
Day 10: The resplendent quetzal will be our main focus while we are here, and we plan to look for them on both mornings. This will consist of our own guided walk into the cloud forest to look for them: these incredibly rare birds are among Costa Rica’s avian jewels and the researchers in this small region are the best at finding them for us. During the afternoons we will concentrate on a bespoke photography area, which offers excellent hummingbird photography opportunities.
Day 11: We will have a final early morning walk for a last photography session with the resplendent quetzal before a late breakfast after which we’ll begin the 3-hour drive back to San Jose in time for our early evening flights back to the UK/Europe.
Day 12: Arrive back in Europe.
What our customers say
“I especially enjoyed the fact that Mark & Paul were constantly on the lookout to create new opportunities for us all”.
“It was brilliant! We got more than we expected by way of macro subjects and the bats were an unexpected bonus (and probably the highlight of the trip!)”.
“I had always wanted to visit Costa Rica for its wide variety of birds, and this trip way exceeded my expectations of them”.
“Way more photographic opportunities than I had expected – I loved the frogs and snakes most!”.
“The food was generally excellent. Lots of fresh fruit and veg, lots of home cooked/prepared fresh food rather than processed conveyor belt stuff and nice not to have chips on the menu every day (or even every week)”.
“Overall, this was a super trip that I would love to do again. Very well organised, lovely environment, good accommodation, good food and a wonderful variety of wildlife, especially birds. Nice group of guests too. Top guides of course”.
“Another great trip that fully met my expectations”.
“The structure, content and pace of the holiday was good”.
“Mark and Ellie were particularly patient and worked hard to get the high-speed flash set ups right. I particularly liked Ellie’s approach of wandering around the group asking individuals if they were ok, moving on if they were and helping if need be”.
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