Rivers to Rainforest: The Full Osa Experience
We decided to spend our second full day exploring on our own, so we headed out to a place called Rio Nuevo. We started along the dirt road winding through the countryside. We stopped at an overlook to watch a Roseate spoonbill fishing in the river. Some other small songbirds and humming birds also appeared along the way. The road carved its way through palm oil plantations, farm land and jungle. We reached a river crossing and we stopped to assess our ability to drive across. A local rancher riding a horse appeared on the road behind us and he politely nodded and waved and guided his horse through the fast moving water. After watching him cross we decided that although it looked shallow I wasn’t about to risk the rental car by driving across. We took a stroll along the river instead and found two horses cooling off in the water. While we took in the sights and sounds, the rancher once again crossed the river. From the bank we noticed a lot of vultures circling a field on the other side. As we watched, a large white bird left the area. A king vulture.
roseate spoonbill
lattice-tailed trogon
tropical kingbird
We couldn’t drive across but we could walk across. I threw on my Cotton Carrier vest, locked my camera to my chest, and we forded the river. The water came up to my knees and was moving quickly. Slow and steady. Once on the other side we reached a fenced-in field where the vultures had gathered on the ground. Cattle moved about in the distance. The rancher appeared again, this time with another rancher on horseback. We asked them what had happened that attracted the vultures. They told us that someone had abandoned the ranch and a young cow had died several days ago and the vultures had picked it clean. We hung out watching the vultures hoping the king vulture would return. It didn’t but we got to watch the ranchers wrangle in a horse which was very cool. We crossed back over the river, drained the water from our boots, and decided to head to the beach. There are several public beaches along 245 we chose Playa Zapatoe where we basically had the beach to ourselves. After a few hours walking the beach, exploring the tide pools and getting a bit of sunburn, we worked up an appetite. Lunch was at an American-owned spot in Puerto Jiménez, where we had burgers before continuing the journey as far south as possible.
We took off south on 245. I caught some sleep along the way and when I woke up we were on a dirt road deep in the mountains. It was getting late and we decided to turn around. As we changed drivers, the trees around us came alive. A troop of spider monkeys moved through. We watched them forage the ficus trees and chase each other 40ft off the ground. After some time they crossed the road and disappeared into the canopy. On our way back down the mountain lunch didn't agree with me and we had to stop on the side of the road. A most unpleasant experience. Getting bit by ants and monkeys dropping unknown objects from above made the experience extra special. With my insides now empty, we worked our way back to the cabin. Along the way we spotted a group surfing and stopped to watch.
Geoffroy's spider monkey
Geoffroy's spider monkey
Further on we unintentionally linked up with a photo tour group. We semi-tagged along with them and ended up meeting a pro photographer, Dennis, known on instagram as @osa_photography. He was incredibly polite and even offered us some intel about the northern part of the country where we would be later in the week. For dinner we grabbed a pizza (not a New Jersey pizza but it was better than pizza in most parts of the US.) At the cabin we packed up our gear in preparation for the boat ride to Corcovado.
Panamanian white-faced capuchin