Costa Rica!
Pictures by Diederik Kok
Amusing and witty text by Shanna Shaked
Howler monkey: this monkey likes to greet the sunrise and senset with VERY LOUD howls that sound like a pack of dogs barking. It's pretty cool, but in a scary way.
Baby howler monkey with parents: How cute is this?! We found a group of about 10 monkeys just hanging on a tree by the side of the road!
Chestnut Mandible Toucans: the monkey better watch out, because toucans enjoy eating baby monkeys. :-(
Baby turtle: our guide found this baby turtle in the middle of our muddy trail on it's way to the ocean.
Jasper and Shanna got to hold a baby turtle! It has the softest little belly and such cute claws!
Tarantula: to continue with the baby theme, this tarantula also has its young nearby (the somewhat fuzzy spots to the right of it). Cute, huh?
The hanging bridge at Monteverde Park was awesome! It provided such an amazing view of the rainforest. You could really see the "levende dak" (living roof), because deep layers of soil would build up on the tree branches and sprout more life.
Olingo: Once all the hummingbirds had left the hummingbird garden, this olingo crawled down the wires, tilted the feeders over, and helped himself to the yummy nectar. It was pretty darn cute.
Bat: learning from the olingo.
I'm not sure where this is, but it's a rainbow, so woohoo!
Santa Elena Park: This was one of my favorite parks. It's just beautiful!
Tortuguero: A wonderful early morning boat ride through this beautiful forest.
A sunset... or sunrise...somewhere..?
Tortuguero Butterfly Garden Trail: after a very humid, hot, bug-infested, feet-stuck-in-the-mud trail, we all pretended to look happy for this picture. :)
Scarlet Macaw: I didn't actually see this one, but I saw a bunch flying over us!
Trogon: at Monteverde National Park, this trogon was just sitting on the balcony outside the restaurant!
The resplendent quetzals: pictures don't do these birds justice, but they're absolutely beautiful!
Diederik birding: here we are able to observe a vogel sukkel in his favorite habitat.