I’d wanted to go to Costa Rica for several years after speaking to other photographers. Some of the trips I’ve done focus heavily on a single species and I wanted a chance to go and photograph lots of stuff. On top of that I love hummingbirds and I wanted a chance to see if I could get decent photos of them.
The Trip
We flew into San Jose (Costa Rica) and had 2 nights in an airport hotel before heading off to 4 separate areas of Costa Rica. These were Rancho Naturalista (Turrialba), Paraiso Quetzal Lodge (Parc Nacional Los Quetzales), La Laguna del Lagarto Eco-Lodge (Alajuela), Bosque de Paz Reserva Biologica (Parc Nacional Juan Castro Blanco). We then returned directly to London.
Our group consisted of our 2 photography guides (Ellie Rothnie and Stan Takela) and 6 other guests (Andy, Chris, John, Audrey, Bill and Mary). It was really fun group and it helped it feel more like a holiday for us.
Airport Hotel
You might not expect the airport hotel to warrant many words but the photography started there. We saw all sorts of small birds in the vegetation around the hotel. I don’t think any of the photos made it in to my final cut but it can sometimes take a little while to really switch into the photography mindset and it was nice to do that and start getting up early before we even got to our first real lodge.
Rancho Naturalista
A lovely lodge with very pretty grounds that we didn’t leave during our stay. The main building had an upstairs area with hummingbird feeders that attracted a variety of birds. Various food was placed in the garden to pull in other types of birds and mammals. This was our first real experience of the crazy colours and sounds of the wildlife in costa rica. I’d never heard a bird sound like a firework until here. We did pop down to a house nearby for a brief period to try and get Snowcap hummingbirds but we gave up and accepted a ride back up the steep hill to the main lodge. Food was very tasty and it would be a lodge that I would happily return to.
Paraiso Quetzal Lodge
We had thought Costa Rica would be a hot and humid experience and even though some of the areas are higher up I didn’t expect such a drastic change. Our room was down a considerable winding slope from the main lodge and was a little wooden hut with a small electrical heater inside and about 5000 blankets for the bed. That unfortunately was not overkill and we needed all of them. The gardens were lovely and food was pretty tasty. You could photograph all sorts of birds just around the lodge but we were primarily there for the Quetzals. We originally had 2 mornings of Quetzal hunting booked but it became a single all-day trip after we struggled to find them until mid-morning (and our breakfast got packaged up and collected for us). We went back to the same spot after lunch and eventually got some shots of them out in the open. That was one of the most memorable bits of the trip as our patience paid off and the birds were absolutely stunning to behold. We did a little bit of hummingbird photography here with a flash setup but it wasn’t working too well and when I finally came to edit my photos I almost entirely preferred the natural shots to anything involving a flash.
La Laguna del Lagarto Eco-Lodge
I recall we took a very long and bumpy road to this lodge and our bodies felt it. It was all worth it though as this was like the brochure version of Costa Rica. We finally had toucans in front of us and they were glorious. The lodge had several perches near their main covered deck so I was able to do a lot of very comfortable photography of tropical birds. There were still hummingbirds here but far fewer. Whilst at this lodge we spent a morning photographing King Vulture which was fantastic and then we also had some bat photography after sunset and a macro session for frogs and snakes. Over half of my final images came from this region. I might not have liked the insect bites but the photography was fantastic.
Bosque de Paz Reserva Biologica
Our final stop was a lovely little place that turned out to also be high up and pretty cold. This time it came with some spectacular hummingbirds though, the Violet Sabrewing. These immediately became my main focus. Various other birds visited but mostly this stop was about trying to get hummingbird shots at the feeders and also in the very pretty garden. The food here was especially good and it was a very relaxing end to our trip.
Overall Thoughts
Costa Rica was an easy country to enjoy. The food was really good with an abundance of rice and beans which happen to be 2 of my favourite things. The wildlife was abundant and photogenic and everyone was very friendly. If I get the opportunity to go back and stay at some other lodges then I would definitely consider it along with stronger insect repellant.