Arenal Observatory Lodge

Red-eyed Tree Frog

Our next destination was the well-known Arenal Observatory Lodge, a location with an interesting story to tell. But first, we made a detour on the way there to take in a family farm where we had the opportunity to photograph Scarlet Macaws, Great Green Macaws and hybrids, as well as Capuchin Monkeys. This was a welcome break from the transfer, an opportunity to stretch our legs in the warm sunshine while we took a number of flight shots, before sheltering from the usual late afternoon downpours.

It was dark and still raining when we reached the lodge and checked into our room about 150m down a steep path. Originally, the lodge was a cattle ranch on a mountainside, but in 1968 that all changed when the mountain proved itself to be a volcano and promptly erupted. Four years later the ranch was taken over by the family who still run the site today and was identified by the Smithsonian Institute as a safe location from which their scientists could monitor volcanic activity. The owners built a small lodge to accommodate the scientists, some students and tourists and as the tourist numbers increased, the lodge and the 870 acres of grounds were developed to form a private nature reserve. Today it is home to a wide variety of plants and animals, not forgetting over 500 bird species.

Our main reason for being in this location wasn’t confined to the lodge as we had sessions booked over 2 days at the Arenal Eco Zoo. This was to give us the opportunity to hone our macro techniques on a variety of frogs, snakes and spiders. There was also an opportunity to visit a butterfly centre close by. Being honest, the name Eco Zoo is somewhat grand for what is essentially a hotch-potch of reptiles etc. in tanks.

Earlier in the trip we were asked if we wanted to do a night walk while we were at the zoo, a bit of a curved ball as none of us had expected it and neither of the guides had previously experienced it. We all agreed and after the King Vulture ‘extra’ at Laguna del Lagarto, it seemed to represent good value for money. What we didn’t know at the time of agreeing was that we would need wellington boots, which none of us had. Waterproof walking boots were not sufficient. So before we set off, the owners of the zoo had to cast around to find boots of varying sizes to fit five of us. Inevitably we ended up with odd pairs, odd sizes and wrong sizes in most cases. An inauspicious start for certain.

There were two more issues to deal with, one being the fact that it had been raining almost non-stop for two days. The other was the fact that we then had to take a 20 – 30 minute drive to the walk location. When we eventually arrived, it quickly became clear that this was not how we’d imagined it. There was no path, it was pitch black and still pouring with rain. Parts of the walk were, unsurprisingly, muddy therefore slippery and quite steep in places. In short it was downright dangerous and had in no way been risk assessed. Rose had the misfortune to trip over a tree root injuring her knee, a problem from which she is still suffering two months later.

After attempting the first photo opportunity with a snake, three of us decided we no longer wanted to expose ourselves to the apparent dangers and informed the guide we were going back to the bus. It’s fair to say he wasn’t happy, but equally neither was I that he had exposed us to the situation without first assessing its suitability. It’s a shame this wholly avoidable incident happened, but next day we were due to move on to our next location, hopefully a fresh start.

During our time at the lodge we didn’t do much in the actual grounds, which we thought was a shame. The pre-breakfast shoot on the first morning was cancelled, as the rain was torrential. A pity the same action wasn’t taken in respect of the walk that evening. On the following evening we ventured into the grounds after dinner and did some macro work with off-camera flash, mainly centred on Red-eyed Tree Frogs.

Suitably enthused by this session, we were all out again before 6am next morning for what was to be our first and only daylight session there. We had a couple of hours before breakfast and managed to grab some previously unseen hummingbirds, Crested Guans and Variegated Squirrels. This session left us both wishing we’d had more daylight time in the grounds, but all too soon it was time for breakfast before departing for our next lodge.