Ecoventure into Costa Rica
I had been dreaming of returning to the neotropical rainforest from the moment I stepped off the plane in Toronto this past spring.
By Renee Hordyk
The team I met in San Jose was a group of herpetology nerds gathered by Joshua Feltham, who runs the Tropical Field Herpetology Course in which we have all travelled to Costa Rica to participate in. This course is designed for those with prior knowledge and/or experience in reptile and amphibian identification and monitoring. Many of the participants are students furthering the knowledge that Josh’s herpetology courses have supplied them with.
The course takes place at Tirimbina Rain Forest Reserve. 245 Hectares of protected natural space dedicated to ecological research, all funded by ecotourism based out of their main lodge. We stayed at their field station on the other side of the reserve and stayed in bunks with team members. We enjoyed each meal as a group. The field station was surrounded by rainforest, and, in turn, many of its inhabitants.
While sitting and eating our meals we could often hear the Howler monkeys’ banter in nearby trees, the Montezuma oropendola’s infamous and unmistakable song, or the knocking of a Pale-billed woodpecker in a faraway tree trunk.
At night, we found which hole in the sand outside of our bunks inhabited a friendly neighborhood tarantula and watched with excitement and sorrow when certain bugs roamed along the outside or down the hole unknowingly.
Life at the field camp was simple yet constantly stimulating. Time outside of surveys and interactive lectures were spent exploring the area, studying species ID, reading books, sharing stories, playing card games, and making ridiculous jokes that would last the duration of the trip and beyond.
On the first day, the group was randomly divided into surveying teams consisting of 3 or 4 people. Each team would accompany an expert: Josh or Scott and Teresa (brilliant herpetologists who have become experts in ID, monitoring, as well as safety in the field), and a technician (individuals with valuable prior knowledge and experience in the field who can aid in teaching and safety procedures).
Each day, a different section of trail would be used as a transect for surveys, and each transect would be surveyed in the morning and at night. The nerves are always high before each survey, wondering what kind of wildlife you might witness or find along your transect. The feelings are similar when you have a morning or evening off from surveying and you wait with your team at the field station in anticipation of what the other teams will come back and tell you they’ve found.
In between surveys, our days were filled learning as a group. Whether we were hiking the rainforest, or travelling upstream, we were constantly being taught lessons pertaining to herpetology but also about the neotropics, and environmentalism. Joshua Feltham is an incredibly inspiring individual. From the lecture hall to the neotropical rainforest, he has valuable lessons to share about any situation. One motto we’ve all learned from Josh to live by is that no animal, common or rare, deserves to be underappreciated or degraded by the term “just a ______”.
It became a rule throughout our days. It’s not ‘just a’ term, it underappreciates the value of that animal. If we are to spend a vast amount of effort as environmentalists trying to convince others how special our natural world really is, that kind of vocabulary has no place in our mouths. Josh also helped us look at the neotropical rainforest with a better understanding and appreciation, supplying us with a baseline of knowledge and enough time to ourselves to sit and appreciate it.
After a wild final day of white water rafting with the team, I sadly had to say goodbye as they left for the airport and back to Ontario.
With no commitments to school or work, I had decided to stay on longer at the reserve to volunteer with their research and conservation efforts. The team at Tirimbina is outstanding and inspiring, each in their own way. I had the pleasure of working with Tirimbina’s education coordinator Mariela, butterfly specialist Christien, and biologist Emmanuel.
Tirimbina provides free environmental education programs to nearby public schools all funded by their ecotourism efforts. Classes come for morning sessions with Mariela where they are given a lesson about a certain environmental theme, and then go for a walk in the rainforest with certain objectives throughout their hike. This program is an outstanding initiative that will inspire youth to respect nature and maybe even become the environmentalists the future needs
I was also able to contribute to the Lepidoptera Project. This study has been collecting data for over fifteen years! By setting traps in all levels of the rainforest, they’re able to compare canopy and understory communities. They’ve also been collecting larvae of all different species and taking pictures of them at each stage: larvae, cocoon, and butterfly. This helps decipher what species are present at the reserve and aids identifying each stage of life.
Lastly, I had the pleasure of working with Emmanuel on a variety of his projects, including vegetation surveys and bird monitoring. The vegetation surveys included hiking through the rainforest and scanning the understory vegetation for certain palm species. We recorded the presence and stage of fruits and flowers. This kind of data has been collected for 7 years and counting and will help show trends of how much fruit each species is producing per year. Emmanuel is an extremely knowledgeable man on many aspects of the rainforest and the species in it, but I was absolutely in awe of his birding skills.
He can distinguish every bird just by their call, if one is flying overhead and there is just a shadow, he can tell the species by the way it’s flying. Even on dark mornings with very little light, he can distinguish birds just by their silhouette. Emmanuel has been working with Tirimbina for 16 years, and it shows in an inspiring way. As a quite transient individual, I am very inspired to find somewhere in my future that I can become extremely familiar with, along with the fellow inhabitants of the area, just like Emmanuel.
One week surrounded by like-minded individuals, participating in inspiring and adrenaline pumping activities, and creating memories full of laughter and appreciation. Another week surrounded by inspiring role models and those actively making a difference in the ecological field. It wasn’t ‘just a’ trip, or a course, or a learning experience. It was the creation of lifelong memories, it was being pushed outside of my comfort zone, it was personal growth, a change of perspective, and a whole lot more. I am forever thankful for my time in beautiful Costa Rica, and will be sure to make my way back in the future.