Costa Rica – Coast to Cloud Forest Photo Tour 2026

Today is set aside as an arrival day in San José, and after arrival at Juan Santamaría International Airport (IATA: SJO), you will be transferred to your hotel where you overnight. 

An exciting day awaits, as you fly to the southwest of Costa Rica to Drake Bay, located on the northwestern edge of the legendary Osa Peninsula.  Drake Bay is named after the famed 16th-century English explorer and privateer, Sir Francis Drake, who is believed to have landed here in 1579 here during his circumnavigation of the globe which took place between 1577 and 1580, becoming the first Englishman to complete the feat of sailing around the world (second to Magellan’s crew!).  Heading to our wonderful lodge, you will have lunch (keeping a lookout for the resident wildlife, such as Scarlet Macaws and the resident troops of capuchin monkeys) before embarking on a boat excursion to photograph dolphins and whales. The spectacular, clear waters off the peninsula are home to Pantropical Spotted and Bottlenose dolphins and sometimes huge aggregations of Spinner Dolphins that can number in their hundreds (sometimes even thousands). We will also have chances to see Humpback Whales from both northern and southern hemispheres. 

You have an early departure this morning, as you catch a boat that heads deep into Corcovado National Park to Sirena Station. The boat ride takes between 60 and 90 minutes (depending on sea conditions) followed by a walk of around 10 minutes to the station (a dry bag is useful once again).  Corcovado National Park is a paradise for wildlife photographers and nature enthusiasts! Sirena Station (a park research and ranger outpost), located deep within Corcovado National Park on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, is one of the most biodiverse and remote destinations in the country. Known as the “heart of Corcovado”, this station offers unparalleled access to primary rainforest teeming with wildlife.  Aside from the many species of frog (including the iconic Red-eyed Tree Frog) and reptile, the surrounding forest are home to all four species of Costa Rican monkeys (howler, spider, white-faced capuchin, and squirrel monkeys), sloths and anteaters and peccaries. It is one of the best places in the world to photograph Baird’s Tapir, and this will be a major target! Although rarely encountered, the rainforests are home to 2 species of big cat, namely Jaguar and Puma. Great Curassow, a huge terrestrial bird, stalk the undergrowth, macaws squawk overhead, and monkeys chatter in the canopy – Corcovado simply brims with life and it is an incredible place to visit! Lagoons are equally well endowed with predators, with American Crocodile and Bull Shark both seen in and around the river systems. 

A day of contrasts awaits as you depart from Osa Peninsula’s sea level to the welcome, cool climes of the cloud forest at 2,200 metres / 7,200 feet! The journey is around 6 hours, and depending on time of arrival, you will photograph around the lodge in the afternoon. 

An early start will have you visiting an area frequented by the incredible Resplendent Quetzal, one of the most spectacular of all the world’s birds!  The quetzals are trogons (found in Africa, Asia and the America’s), with the interesting name “quetzal” derived from the Nahuatl (Aztec) word quetzalli, meaning "precious" or "beautiful." Resplendent Quetzals are found from Mexico to Panama, with Costa Rica being one of the best places to photograph this icon of the cloudforest. Your trip is timed to fall in their breeding season when they are particularly active, as birds visit their nesting cavities in tree holes. With tails of up to 1 metre in length, shining emerald green back and deep scarlet lower chest and belly, the males are remarkable creatures, made all the more important as seed dispersers (they feed primarily on wild avocados) and their presence being an indicator of cloudforest in good condition!  In pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Maya and Aztec, the Resplendent Quetzal held deep spiritual and symbolic significance. Revered as a sacred creature, it was closely linked to the feathered serpent deity Quetzalcoatl, a central figure in both cultures’ cosmology. Due to its divine status, killing a quetzal was strictly forbidden.  However, these birds were sometimes captured alive so that their striking emerald-green tail feathers—symbols of power and nobility—could be carefully harvested for ceremonial use, particularly in royal headdresses, before the birds were respectfully released back into the wild. Once the light conditions become more difficult, you will go and setup to photograph hummingbirds, before later in the day going back to photograph quetzals. 

As you descend from the highlands to Sarapiqui you will make a stop for lunch in a very interesting place with lots of birds. You have a local expert that after lunch, will take the group into the forest to look for roosting owls and Honduran White Bats. This completely frugivorous bat species is distinguished by its unique, white fur (only found in 6 species of bat worldwide!). It exhibits remarkable behavioral adaptations, creating "tent" shelters beneath which they roost by precisely modifying the ribs of understory plant leaves with their teeth (giving it the alternative name of Caribbean White Tent-making Bat).  After working with the local expert for the afternoon, you will depart, driving the roughly 30 minutes to your accommodations.  Selva Verde Lodge & Rainforest Reserve is a renowned eco-lodge situated in the Sarapiquí region of Costa Rica. Established in 1985 by the Holbrook family, the lodge was created to protect the rainforest and wildlife of the Sarapiquí area. The 500-acre reserve is located in Chilamate, a key location along the Costa Rican Bird Route, and its towering Almendro trees are among the few remaining habitats of the endangered Great Green Macaw. As one of Costa Rica's pioneering ecolodges, Selva Verde is committed to a sustainable future for Sarapiquí and proudly carries Costa Rica's Certification for Sustainable Tourism. 

One of the highlights today will be taking special care to set up for macro photography of some of Costa Rica’s amazing frogs, and some snakes too. Being a tropical nation, Costa Rica is home to many species of frogs however its location close to South America’s speciose rainforests and its altitudinal gradients both towards the Pacific and Atlantic make it the most frog-diverse place in all of middle America! Included in there are some of the large, spectacular tree frogs, peculiar, semi-transparent glass frogs and of course colourful poison dart frogs.  These forests are also home to other creatures, and it is a good idea for you to carry longer lenses in case the local toucans or sloths come into view! These forests are also home to other creatures, and it is a good idea for you to carry longer lenses in case the local toucans, sloths, primates, or coatis come into view! 

After breakfast, you depart from the Sarapiqui area, aiming to get to Boca Tapada for lunch. Next on the agenda is to set up and photograph toucans and honeycreepers, both amazingly colourful rainforest species. Although toucans are well associated with the neotropics, honeycreepers, being part of the larger tanager group, are an equally spectacular group, displaying a sensational number and combination of colours. A cursory glance of tropical rainforest will reveal little more than an overwhelming wall of green, some browns and lots of shadows, but it is on closer inspection that the hidden colours of the forest amount to some of the most arresting in the entire natural world!  Under the cover of darkness, you will set up to photograph bats that are attracted to flowers that they pollinate. Although they are not nearly as visible as nearly all the other mammals found in the region, they are numerically the most abundant, and with over 100 species found in Costa Rica, also the most speciose mammal group in the country. 

Today, you to set out to photograph another symbol of the wild in the Neotropics, namely the impressive King Vulture. With a wingspan of 2 metres, this massive scavenger is more like the African and Asian vultures in that it is very much more reliant on eyesight to find carcasses than its neighbours (The yellow headed vulture and Turkey vultures), which use an extraordinary sense of smell to locate rotting flesh! Other options are available today to photograph hummingbirds and honeycreepers, and once again bats in the evening.

Today, you head further north as you head to Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge. This is one of Costa Rica’s most ecologically significant wetlands and a vital hub for biodiversity in northern Costa Rica, near the Nicaraguan border. Encompassing over 10,000 hectares, the refuge protects a dynamic system of seasonal wetlands, marshes, rivers, and lagoons, centered around the Frío River and the shallow Caño Negro Lake, which expands during the rainy season to create a rich aquatic habitat. Designated as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance, Caño Negro is especially renowned for its role as a critical stopover and nesting site for migratory waterbirds. Species such as the Jabiru stork—the largest stork in the Americas, along with wood storks, roseate spoonbills, anhingas, black-bellied whistling ducks, and various egrets and herons are commonly seen here. It is also one of the best places in Costa Rica to observe kingfishers, snail kites, and the elusive agami heron.  Beyond birds, the refuge supports an impressive array of wildlife including caimans, emerald basilisks, river turtles, and mammals such as jaguars, ocelots, and howler monkeys, though the latter are more elusive due to the aquatic terrain.  Accessible primarily by boat, Caño Negro offers exceptional opportunities for wildlife photography, the dry season when you visit being the best (January to April) when water levels drop and animals congregate in higher densities. It is managed by SINAC (Costa Rica’s National System of Conservation Areas) and remains a cornerstone of wetland conservation and sustainable ecotourism in Central America.   

You have a full day of boating focusing our photographic attentions on herons, flycatchers, caimans, Black-collared Hawk, kingfishers and monkeys of Caño Negro! It promises to be an amazing way to spend your penultimate full day in Costa Rica.   

Although mostly a travel day, you may stop to photograph en route back to San José, before checking in at your hotel close to the airport where you will overnight.

Today is a departure day, as this remarkable exploration of some of Costa Rica’s finest natural history photographic areas sadly draws to a close!