Tortuguero

We arrived in Puerto Limon and were met by a driver who took us to meet our boat and guide. The guides name was Willis - he was quite a character, but was possibly the best guide we had all trip for spotting wildlife. He did have an annoying habit of whistling at us when it was time to go anywhere which got on some peoples nerves.

We found out that our packs were to be stored at Willis's house which did not fill us with much confidence however off we set on the motor boats along inland jungle canals into the national park towards our jungle lodge just outside of Tortuguero village. Tortuguero is unreachable by road and everything is brought in by boat.

Well the journey was sensational, the canals were literally teaming with wildlife. Although we were travelling at speed Willis kept pulling the boat back around towards points and stop by the bank where there would be a bird, Lizard or other creature he'd spotted.

We passed by the police checkpoint and were shown some drug runner boats with up to four high powered engines which the police had seized. We also pulled in for lunch on the way.

As well as all kinds of birds and lizards, we also spotted a Caiman (like a small crocodile) as well as a tree full of sleeping bats. We also drove passed a point where the jungle canals met with the sea which was pretty cool as the river waves were being hit by the flowing river.

We finally arrived at our lodge. The cabin accomodation was really nice and the lodge was on a thin strip of land between a river on one side and the Carribean on the other - Willis told us we couldn't swim in the sea as there were sharks or the river as there were crocodiles and pirahnas!! Later that afternoon we headed by boat into town where there was a visitors centre where we saw a video of the giant turtles that lay their eggs on the beach all along the strip of beach next to Tortuguero, and which we might see if we were lucky. It also told us about the conservation work going on to protect the turtles eggs from poachers.

After the visitors centre we walked through the village - for such a tiny place there were about 4 supermarkets which seemed strange.

After a quick look around we met up with Willis and the boat and headed back to the lodge for the evening meal. After the meal we had a limited time to head down to the beach to see if we could see some of the sea turtles laying their eggs. The beach is strictly controlled at night and we had to walk in pitch darkness in pairs - Willis had an infra red torch and would flash if there was something to avoid like a rock or tree stump. No lights or cameras are allowed as the flashing scares the turtles and stops them laying. It was the end of the laying season for one type of turtle and the start for another so in theory we had a good chance but although we spent ages walking up and down, the visitors video was as close as I was destined to get to these fellas.

We were up at the crack of dawn next morning for coffee and an early morning safari. The park is strictly controlled and even though we were travelling by boat there was a particular route we had to register for and follow.

There was so much to see again and we saw Toucans, Kingfishers, crocodiles (which got a little too close for comfort to my side of the boat), baby and adult caiman, river turtles (these were far more curious than I had expected and actually swam right up to the boat)and finally some otters. (I'd stopped counting the monkeys by this point).

We raced back to the lodge where Willis had mysteriously procured the smallest TV he could find so that we could watch England v Equador and have breakfast (seriously I never expected he could get us a TV and he did very well at such short notice).

After breakfast we were dropped back in the village where there is a section of the park you can do on foot. It was a good loop of a walk which took us along the river, to a beach, before coming back into the village.

That night we came back to the village where we went to a restaurant that belonged to Willis' sister. I played it safe and had the chicken - some of my collegues did not and were tempted by the prospect of fishey treats in the form of lobster. Unfortunately these turned out to be river lobster which were tiny and smelt of cooked mud - mmmm! We then got to check out the local bar which was playing reggae and even in this most remote of places we got offered drugs which amused me.

We set off from the lodge after breakfast and settling our bill - it was raining a bit so we didn't stop much except to see some otters which we got a much better view of than the previous day (but too quick for photos!). We then stopped en route at a bar on the river to watch Australia vs Italy. The bar was just at a point where the roads started again so our minbus drove up to meet us. After seeing Australias unlucky defeat we said goodbye to Willis and were re-united with our bags before heading off towards Cahuita.

There was a stop off en-route which seemed to take hours - the Toucan guide had to get money and a few people needed to change travels cheques. However we were eventually back on the road to Cahuita.

Of all the blog entries so far this has been the hardest to chose photos for as I took quite a lot so if anyone is interested in seeing more let me know.