Monteverde, Costa Rica
From landing in San Jose, Costa Rica, you are transferred up to the Monteverde Cloud Forest. Monteverde is a unique balance of conservation and tourism. There is an amazing variety of flora and fauna, plus the largest variety of butterflies and moths in the world. Costa Rica’s cloud forests – where misty fog clings to the treetops – offer a refreshingly cool retreat from the warmer, tropical areas of the country. These high-elevation forests contain 420 different kinds of orchids, ferns, and a wide assortment of mosses. The slight changes in elevation have made these areas hotbeds of wildlife diversity. Birding is especially treasured here. Nature enthusiasts travel far to spot the rare Resplendent Quetzal bird hiding amidst the trees. The Quetzal can only be found in the cloud forests of Central America. Another suggestion is a guided night walk in the forest. Over 80% of the forest life becomes active after nightfall. A naturalist guide will lead you through the forest pointing out a variety of wildlife like armadillos, tarantulas, and more. Listen closely to the sounds of the forest! You may hear the nocturnal Hoffman’s Two-toed Sloth rustling in the trees.
Grand Cayman
For a once-in-a-lifetime experience take a boat out to the sandbars at Stingray City and swim with the friendly southern stingrays. A perfect soft adventure activity, you will be able to swim, play and feed the sting rays – and don’t forget to take plenty of photos to show off!
Offering a new site for each day of the year, the Cayman Islands has 365 dive locations and experiences across Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman including spots like the well-known Kittiwake, a former US submarine rescue ship sunk off the shores of Seven Mile Beach where you can see an abundance of breathtaking and colorful sea life.
Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve, Belize
This unique sanctuary in southern Belize covers an area of about 150 square miles of tropical forest, and is the world’s only Jaguar Preserve.
A visit to the Jaguar Preserve may likely provide you with signs of recent Jaguar activity, but it is highly unlikely that an actual Jaguar sighting will occur. These wonderful animals are masters of stealth and their very existence is based on their seeing, but not being seen.
Cockscomb is also renowned for its bird populations and boasts up to 300 recorded species. These include Macaw, the Great Curossow and Keel-billed Toucan.
What will you see at Cockscomb? Probably not jaguars. They are there of course, but the chances of seeing one is about seventeen thousand to one. Having said that, people do occasionally catch glimpses of these stealthy carnivores, but much more likely, especially in the rainy season, is finding the paw marks along the muddier stretches of the trails.
Sending you the Island Breeze and Coconut Trees,
Leah Dugan
Haynie Travel Service
Member of Frosch Travel Network
812-477-8833 ext. 317