Costa Rica: Santa Maria Night Hike

juvenile Side-striped palm pit viper

Jorge picked us up from our hotel and drove us through town to a small building with a dirt parking lot full of tourists. Jorge met with the owner briefly and we started our hike. Right away we encountered our first species. A super rare almost never seen…. house cat. The cat followed us for a short time but then disappeared into the night. Tonights mission… vipers.

Millipede

Leaf-mimic katydid

Central American horned tarantula

Cockroach on fungus

I came to Costa Rica with this goal and tonight was the night. Bugs galore. Less frogs in the cloud forests so more bugs including cockroaches…. we quietly tucked our pants into our socks. This property is partly on an active coffee farm with patches of rainforest around it. the trails moved from dense undergrowth to open spaces with neatly planted coffee plants. We stopped many times to see different bugs along the trail. Jorge explained what to look for when looking for vipers. He explained that they wrap around small branches or trees and face downward. They remain motionless for hours waiting for prey to move below them so they can strike. We looked for some time until Jorge pointed out a viper. Not in the position he described but laying on a small branch. This was a juvenile, again an uncommon sight. We trekked on listening to stories of Jorge finding bushmasters, and frogs across the country and how he helped identify new species with local biologists.

Side-striped palm pit viper

Viper. Interrupted the story. We followed the cone of light from his flashlight just off the path. And there it was posed and poised to strike just like he had described. Bright green against the darkness of the night. I got as close as I dared. Took some pictures. While not as exciting as watching lions hunt, an osprey catch a fish, or bison fighting in the snow this was definitely a show-stopper for me.