NICARAGUA AND COSTA RICA: Cana Negro Wetlands

Costa Rica - Cana Negro Wetlands

We made the return trip by boat to the border town of San Carlos and completed the border formalities to leave Nicaragua. We then travelled some 10km up the Río Frio by private boat. As we crossed the border, marked simply by a stone, the boatman lowered the Nicaraguan flag and raised the Costa Rican flag. After a further 5km we arrived at the Costa Rican border town of Los Chiles, where more border formalities were necessary. This was an unusual way to enter Costa Rica, most visitors arrive at the international airport of San Jose some 130km away. We were therefore delighted that, as pre-arranged, a representative of the hire car company was waiting for us but amazed that he was undertaking an 11 hour round trip in order to do so. He faced a slow 7 hour return journey by public bus to San Jose. Not surprisingly he wanted a tip, and we thought he deserved it! We then made the relatively short, but slow journey, on unmade roads in poor condition to Cana Negro, our base for the next two nights.

The Cana Negro wildlife refuge, located in the tropical rainforest of Northern Costa Rica, covers nearly 10,000 hectares and consists of a large seasonal lake and surrounding marshlands. During the rainy season the lake fills with the run off from the river Frio, creating a natural environment for resident and migratory birds. The variety of bird life here is astounding. In a 2 hour boat trip I took more than 100 photographs and recorded more than 30 different species of exotic birds, as well as bats, iguanas, caiman and monkeys. However this tally was paltry compared to the 260 species that the party of American ornithologists staying at our hotel had spotted over the last 6 days.