Cloudbridge Reserve and the search for the Resplendent Quetzal!

Heading up in to the Cordillera de Talamanca mountain range, one is spoilt for choice of which reserve or national park to visit. One project stood out as a fantastic opportunity to stay up in the cloud forest and see the incredible efforts of a reforestation project that in just 23 years has returned 200 hectares of cattle pasture back to the forest.

Well worth a read: https://www.cloudbridge.org

The reserve offers the unique opportunity to stay in a cabin high within the forest. For these budget travellers we opt (of course) for the 2⭐️ accommo which requires guests to hike up hill for 45 mins with everything you need for 2 days and nights. This was Casita Gavilán (no that’s not me in the photo on the web page) but worth a look for the view over the valley which we couldn’t see because they’d grown a bloody tree in the way!

We were greeted by a troop of White-faced Capuchin monkeys who quickly sped off through the trees once they’d accepted we’d hijacked their hammocks, never to be seen again.

A quick un-pack, dinns and off for a self-guided night hike up one of the research trails nervously searching with our head torches for a sighting of an Ocelot, Puma or snakes, including Costa Rica’s most deadly the Fer-de-lance. Depending on which way you see it, but luckily we returned an hour later empty handed!

Waking up to an incredible cacophony of birdsong and a strong Costa Rican coffee (of course) was beautiful, so charged full with our daily bowl of porridge we set off in search of these 400 species of invertebrates! We’d already checked off the Scarlet Macaw, 3 species of Toucan and the Mot-Mot from our must see list, so just the (Guatemalan national bird) Resplendent Quetzal needed to earn our twitchers stripes!

Our full day hike took us through magnificent mountain forests scenery with steep climbs and river crossings with the consistent tease from above. (Now I’m getting a sore neck!)

There’s a few thing to know about tropical mountain cloud forests; the trees are very tall, the undergrowth is very thick so consequently the canopy is essentially out of sight…. which is where all the birds are - somewhere.

We took a very chilly dip in the river, and some incredible photos of butterflies and grasshoppers! A beautiful day had, but it is now known as the elusive resplendent quetzal! Our search continues…


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