This time of year, the crisp fall weather of the north sends birds packing south to warm tropical climates. Bird migration season in Costa Rica is here.
According to the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology, approximately 350 bird species from the United States and Canada migrate south to winter in the Neotropics of the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and South America. These birds include raptors, vultures, waterfowl, shorebirds, and passerine species such as hummingbirds, thrushes, warbl
A recent news item shows that peacocks are being hunted. It’s the first news that comes from the Kaladhungi region of Uttarakhand. Some weeks ago, when a young boy was attempting to wring the neck of a peacock, the forest officials caught him.
It said that there are lots of people who are crazy about the meat of peacock, and they have been hunting our national bird for quite a long time. It is said that the meat of peacocks is very tasty. It is the biggest reason why the peacock is being hunted.
L
Puerto Plata is one of the Dominican Republic’s most amazing tourist destinations (if not its most). It has white and golden sandy beaches, Victorian houses, a historic area, the Isabel de Torres mountain and its cable car, but what's more, if adventures are your thing, you can enjoy the 27 waterfalls or cascades of Damajagua.
Damajagua is a geological fault where the waters form a canyon several kilometers in length, with parallel waterfalls above eleven meters. It is located 10 kilometers fr
The Canary Islands began to emerge from the ocean’s depths as a result of magmatic activity. This process began in the Miocene period, 23 million years ago. The oldest islands are La Gomera, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, and Lanzarote, the youngest being El Hierro, La Palma, and Tenerife. Mount Teide, Spain’s highest peak at 3,718 m, is the third highest volcano on Earth from base to peak.
Getting up close to these volcanoes brings you closer to the very essence of the archipelago and allows you t
The northwestern province of Guanacaste in Costa Rica has one of the largest dry tropical forest areas in the Americas. Dry tropical forests are unique with many deciduous broad-leaf trees and vegetation that survive with much less water than a tropical rainforest. It endures a dry season lasting approximately eight months, yet is still home to a splendid diversity of plants, trees and wildlife.
The book Green Phoenix: Restoring the Tropical Forests of Guanacaste, Costa Rica, by William Allen (20
Central Florida boasts a range of the world’s best theme parks. But it’s also home to a selection of the best animal attractions and wildlife destinations. So if you're coming to Orlando for the parks, try to make some time to stay for the critters! Here are several of the best places for doing that:
Lion County Safari
Lion County Safari is Florida's sole drive-through safari is located in Loxahatchee between Orlando and Miami near the east coast. There are over 900 animals to see; as you’d a
It’s amazing how many national parks, conservation areas, wildlife refuges and private reserves there are in Costa Rica.
One little-known private reserve, not far from Nosara, is the Karen Mogensen Nature Reserve in the mountains of the Nicoya Peninsula.
This wildlife refuge and reforestation project serves as an important biological corridor between the Cabo Blanco Reserve and Barra Honda National Park on the Nicoya Peninsula. The reserve is named after passionate Danish environmentalist Karen
Part mountaineering and part rock climbing, but in reverse, with the added challenge of pounding water, the waterfall rappelling extreme sport of canyoneering is the latest top popular adventure tour in Costa Rica.
One of the best places for canyoneering, also called canyoning, is by the Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica. The rugged, mountainous rainforest around the popular volcano is ideal for canyoning in Costa Rica.
Operated by Desafio Adventure Company, the Lost Canyon Canyoning Tour at Arenal
Green season in Guanacaste, Costa Rica is when the waterfalls at Rincon de la Vieja Volcano really show off.
Near Rincon de la Vieja hotel Hacienda Guachipelin, four waterfalls flow, and all of them have pools where you can swim. Getting to the waterfalls is an adventure on its own – either by hiking or horseback riding. The Hacienda Guachipelin Adventure Center organizes waterfall tours, which last usually two to three hours and are available between 7:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
Victoria Waterfall
Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the Malaysian state of Sabah, is located on the island of Borneo. Borneo has long been known for its exotic wildlife. However, today, as with wildlife the world over, Borneo finds it is necessary to protect its wild animals. There are a couple Orang Utan centers in Sabah but both are full-day trips from Kota Kinabalu. Visitors should consider visiting the Shangri-la’s Rasa Ria Resort Nature Reserve where they have a variety of nature-related activities. Twice da
I never get tired of watching the monkeys in Costa Rica. It is so much fun to watch the cute, miniature-sized Squirrel Monkeys jump and play, and marvel at the ingenuity of clever White-faced Capuchin Monkeys. Spider Monkeys are wonderful to see swinging gracefully through the trees with their long arms, legs and tails. And the haunting call of Howler Monkeys at dawn, dusk, or before the rain, gives you that spine-tingling “I’m in the jungle” feeling.
There are only a few places in Costa Rica
Rainy season in Costa Rica is the best time to visit the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge. Known as the “everglades of Costa Rica”, its 25,100 acres have been designated a “world protected area” by conservation groups like the Ramsar Convention, for being home to some of the world’s rarest plant, animal and bird species.
Located near Costa Rica’s northern border with Nicaragua, by the small town of Los Chiles, Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge is one of the best places for bird-watching in Costa Rica. The
Two must-see destinations on your Costa Rica vacation are the Arenal Volcano and Northern Plains of Costa Rica.
The tall, impressive Arenal Volcano rises 5,437 feet above the verdant rainforest and neighboring Lake Arenal, framing the skyline with its near perfect cone shape. The spectacular live volcano is easily one of the most photographed landscapes in Costa Rica.
Formed nearly 7,000 years ago, after four centuries of inactivity, Arenal Volcano roared into life with the famous 1968 eruption.
The peaceful and shy manatee has been declared a national marine mammal in Costa Rica.
Costa Rica lawmakers this week passed the bill making the endangered Caribbean mammal a national symbol; the honor had been proposed by two school children from the region of Limón after they learned about manatees in school.
Also known as sea cows, manatees are large herbivorous mammals that live in rivers and oceans in tropical climates. On the World Wildlife Fund’s “Endangered Species List”, there are three
Starting in August, the tranquil blue waters of the Golfo Dulce, between the Piedras Blancas National Park and the Osa Peninsula in southern Costa Rica, will witness one of the most amazing spectacles in the animal kingdom – the thousands-of-miles-long migration of Pacific Humpback Whales.
The annual migration of endangered Pacific Humpback Whales is a remarkable journey of nearly 10,000 miles from near the North and South Poles to warm tropical waters to breed and give birth. As winter turns the
There are plenty of beaches covered with shells in Costa Rica. The beaches near Nosara, Costa Rica, however, are spread with a different kind of shell – that of nesting sea turtles.
This time of year, from July to December, hundreds of thousands of Olive Ridley sea turtles swim to these remote beaches of the Nicoya Peninsula on Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast. They arrive en masse at the Ostional National Wildlife Refuge, slowly hauling their heavy bodies out of the surf and up the sand to dig their n
Down in the very south of Costa Rica there is a rainforest you dream to see. Thankfully off the tourism “superhighway” and explored only by adventurous intrepid travelers, it is a place of rugged mountains, plunging waterfalls, free-flowing rivers, striking beaches and magnificent towering trees in dense rainforest.
Jaguars roam freely, scarlet macaws soar overhead, and humpback whales and dolphins splash in the calm blue waters of the Golfo Dulce in this wilder side of Costa Rica. There aren’t m
Ilha Grande is one of those places where anyone who loves nature, hiking, wild beaches, or anywhere far removed from the pollution, noise and commodities of a big city, will feel as though they’ve reached paradise. Located in the bay of the same name, in Rio de Janeiro State, it is a destination entirely disconnected from worldly commotion, technological advances and luxury. The traveler who likes comfort and to have hammocks and Jacuzzis at their disposal is better off looking for somewhere els
If you think bird-watching is, well, “for the birds”, then you haven’t traveled to Costa Rica. The first time you see a brilliant flash of scarlet, yellow and blue fly past – a Scarlet Macaw, or the bright yellow and black with the multicolored beak of a toucan, or the iridescent flitting jewel of a hummingbird, you’ll be hooked.
Soon, you’ll be asking, “Hey, what kind of bird is that?” You’ll remember names and start noticing movement in trees and bushes. You’ll find yourself taking photos of vi
Here is the rainforest you dream to see. Down at the bottom of Costa Rica, in the very south of the country that is thankfully not on the tourism “superhighway” and explored only by adventurous intrepid travelers, lay rugged mountains, free-flowing rivers, plunging waterfalls, striking beaches and magnificent towering trees in dense rainforest.
This is the wilder side of Costa Rica. A place where jaguarsroam freely, scarlet macaws soar overhead, and humpback whales and dolphins frolic in the cal
