We will meet at the airport in San Jose (SJO) and drive to a nearby hotel for the night. Hotel Bougainvillea has a wonderful botanical garden, with a surprisingly large variety of birds for being in the middle of San Jose. In the morning we will bird the gardens before traveling south and into the highland cloud forest.

The Talamanca Mountains are the highest in Costa Rica, and home to an incredible diversity of birds, many of which are endemic just to these mountains. We will be staying in the Copey Valley, which is just north of the world famous Savegre Valley, but with a different variety of birds, and a tiny fraction of the tourists. We will get an early start the next morning in search of the Resplendent Quetzal. We will spend the rest of the day birding the Savegre Valley, including a hike to a waterfall and lunch at Miriam's Restaurant, which has incredible fresh trout and a famous bird feeding station out back.

The next morning we will take our time birding up the road from the lodge, looking for a wide range of species as we climb in elevation. There is a magic tree that is always full of birds, and no one exactly knows why…

We will head north and down the mountains to our next destination after lunch. The Turrialba area is a fascinating, and seldom visited part of Costa Rica. It sits in the Caribbean Midlands, which means we have the opportunity to find a remarkable variety of birds from a range of habitats. We will visit the Irazu Volcano, the highest volcano in Costa Rica, in search of highland endemics like Volcano Junco and Volcano Hummingbird. We will stop for lunch at a fantastic restaurant with a museum about the history of Irazu, and a trail that if we’re lucky, will lead us to Maroon-chested Ground-doves (while that may not sound too exciting, these are a VERY hard bird to find in Costa Rica!) We will also visit the Guayabo National Monument. This is the oldest Pre-Columbian ruins in Costa Rica, and aside from the remarkable cultural history of the site, the clearing in the jungle made by the archeologists, and it’s location a bit lower in elevation put us in the Caribbean Foothills for the day, with a completely different range of birds, including quite a few remarkable tanagers. 

The next day we begin our journey to the wetlands of Cano Negro. We will stop along the way at Dave & Dave’s Nature Park, where a father and son (both named Dave) have spent the last 35 years reforesting 16 acres of former palm oil plantation. They have also built a fantastic feeding station, bringing in lots of birds to get great close looks at them. 

The Cano Negro wetlands and surrounding pasture land are home to a staggering variety of birds, and we will take three boat tours in search of unique species like Agami Heron, Jabiru, Sungrebe, and if we are very lucky a Green-and-rufous Kingfisher. If we are lucky we could hope to find 150 different species in this area!

After our last boat tour our journey takes us southward to Bijagua de Upala. Located between Tenorio and Moravalles Volcanoes, this lush valley is actually considered to be part of the Caribbean Foothills, despite being far closer to the Pacific Ocean. We will be looking for birds like the Long-tailed Manakin, Rufous-winged Tanager, Yellow-eared Toucanet, and Tody Motmot in this remarkable and unique area. Our lodge features a trail with a series of Hanging Bridges that get us up into the canopy, and we will spend a day at the Tapir Valley Preserve – a private wildlife refuge that could potentially get us 100 species of birds in just one day, including Snowcaps and Black-crested Coquettes!

Our last morning will give us a chance for some early birding and one last Costa Rican breakfast before we begin our drive back to the airport, where new adventures await…

 

Trip Capacity: The tour has a maximum capacity of 6 spaces.

 

Trip Difficulty: This tour will have a moderate difficulty level. There will be walks over uneven terrain and sometimes steep trails.

 

Airport Information: The tour will begin and end at Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) in San Jose, Costa Rica. 

 

Trip Cost: $2,550.00 per person (double occupancy). 

 

Included: The price includes all lodging, meals, tours, and in-country transportation. 

 

Not included: Airfare, alcoholic beverages, and guide gratuities are not included.

 

Call or email Paul & Amanda to reserve your spot or if you have any questions. 

 

(931) 452-9254

info@epicnaturetours.com