Rio Tigre de noche

Again we met Royer at around 6:00pm to go for a night hike. This time we drove up to a town called Rio Tigre. We parked on a dirt road and started near a football (soccer) field where Royer has seen fer-de-lance vipers. Although we did not see any vipers, we did see a species of keelback snack high in a tree. We moved on and moved up the road to cross a bridge over the river. A little nerve racking as it was a little shaky and we could hear, but not see, the water below. We followed the dirt road for some time listening for different species of frogs.

Let me stop for a moment to re-explain our guide Royer. The jungle is a loud place in the dark. Hundreds, if not thousands, of species of bugs and amphibians and who knows what else is making noise. Royer can distinguish all the noise and tell you what is what. When he hears something good he quickly darts away off the path and into the dark to find his quarry, usually not much bigger than a quarter up to a half dollar. Sometimes he can see them from the path at distances up to 30ft away, in the dark. So when I say “we” listen for frogs I really mean we wait for Royer to show it to us. We stopped a number of times to look for glass frogs, tarantulas, and snakes. We found one really cool blunt-headed tree snake and a few glass frogs.

After 30-40 minutes along the dirt road we came to a small house. Royer said he knew the family who owned the property and had gotten permission for us to explore. What he did not tell us is that that was where the road ended. We marched off through the long grass towards the sound of a swift moving stream. All I could think about was The Lost World: Jurassic Park where the guy screams “ DON’T GO INTO THE LONG GRASS!” and then everyone gets eaten by velociraptors. I digress. We climbed down the muddy, slippery bank and into the stream. We crossed the stream and back up the other side. The trail meandered above the stream with steep muddy banks. We hiked on for a while looking for vipers mostly but the occasional frog didn’t hurt. I found a bell frog in a small nook on a tree branch. The bell frog is one noise I was able to distinguish. I couldn’t get a good shot of him as he was turned away from me.

They sound like a smoke detector with dying batteries. As we hiked on, Royer suddenly stopped and grabbed at his shorts and told us there was a bug in his shorts, most likely a moth. He shook out his shorts but nothing fell out and we moved on. A few moments later he stopped again. This time he was sure there was something there. As he shook, a small cockroach fell out of his pants. GROSS. We had seen a roach or two, but there was something about it being in Royer’s shorts that made the skin crawl. We decided it was a good time to tuck our pants into our socks.

A little further up Royer could hear glass frogs in the ravine below. He disappeared down the muddy bank and into the dark. He called up that he found the frogs and they had eggs! I made my way down. I slipped towards the bottom and slid a short distance. I ended up with my foot stuck behind me. Royer came to take the camera so I could extract myself from the mud. He led me to some leaves overhanging the stream and lifted them. And there was a glass frog and a clutch of eggs. What a find! There was something about it that hit me deep down. As I stood in a small stream in the immense vastness of the jungle here was this tiny frog no bigger than one digit of my thumb. Protecting its eggs, eating, living and just existing. It's moments like these that bring the world into perspective. It becomes clear that as a human our impact can be huge on such a small creature. I took a few pictures, thanked Royer for finding them, I thanked the frogs for existing and quietly moved on and let them be. The night wore on and the trail looped back around through the land. We climbed a steep muddy hill with some difficulty and moved into an area that was once an old cacao farm. Old cacao trees lined the trail overgrown and unkempt, the jungle had reclaimed them as their own. The night ended and we went back to get some sleep.

Costa Rica: The Osa Peninsula

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