Costa Rica – Photography Wildlife Tour

Costa Rica

Costa Rica is another of those places that has not quite made it to the top of my “to do” list. How wrong I have been in not going there earlier. It is an amazing country with lush green countryside, incredible scenery, beautiful birds and, of course, stunning Frogs. The two main subjects that lured me to Costa Rica were the Sloths and the Frogs. I enjoyed several encounters with Sloths and spent several hours with various Frogs during my visits there 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016. The itinerary has been slightly modified each year in order to maximise your photo opportunities. Each year I try to replace the least productive places with somewhere better. The day photographing the reptiles have, unanimously, been everyone’s favourite part of this tour. I have now doubled our time there to four sessions.

Natural Encounters and Set-Up Photography

There has always been one thing that has prevented me from visiting Costa Rica earlier in my life. That has been the result of looking at other peoples’ photographs and making my decision based on seeing those photographs. The problem with those photographs was that they often had a very small subject high in the trees with lots of bright patches surrounding them. By placing you in the correct photographic position, these poor vantage points can virtually be eliminated. During my “recce” I visited numerous professional set-up situations for both the birds and mammals of Costa Rica. I have added the very best of these to our natural itinerary to ensure that you return with the amazing top quality photographs that the majority of photography trips miss out on.

Carefully planned Itinerary

Your Itinerary has been planned to the last detail with the sole purpose of maximizing your opportunities to take top quality photographs. We will visit places where our wildlife subjects will most likely be at any given time. There are, however, never any absolute guarantees with wildlife. Many of our birds will be photographed when they come in to feeders where local people love to attract the various species. We will also spend a number of evenings doing night photography in order to give you a chance to see some subjects that are not seen in daylight hours. We will then round off the itinerary with set-ups that will enable you to photograph seldom-seen subjects in natural looking habitats from close quarters. Top quality set-ups are not cheap. This Costa Rica Tour may be more expensive than other tours, but I do not believe that any other photo tour to Costa Rica is currently available that has been similarly designed with the client’s quality of photographs as the number one criteria. All entry fees to all venues indicated on this webpage/itinerary are included in the cost of this tour. The vast majority of the set-ups are under cover and the occasional rain shower will have no adverse effect.

Top Quality Naturalist and Guide

During my “recce” I came across an amazing guide in Costa Rica. He can spot animals and birds that most people would pass by. His animal and birdcalls are almost indistinguishable from the real thing. Birds will come down to investigate those calls and, in turn, will present themselves for us to photograph them. Monkeys also behaved in a similar fashion. They were clearly annoyed that “an intruder” was on their patch, and came close to investigate. What make this guide unique is that he is also a very accomplished photographer. This means that he knows exactly where we want the subject to give us the best photographic opportunity. His skills at finding subjects after dark for our night photography sessions are incredible. Needless to say, I have secured his services throughout the trip. This will make my job much easier.

Resplendent Quetzals

Probably the most stunningly beautiful bird that we will photograph on this trip we be the Resplendent Quetzal. The Wild Avocado trees that have its favourite fruit are very few and far between. We will wait adjacent to one of these trees for the Quetzals to arrive. First light and last light are their favourite times. Their colours are stunning and their two longest tail feathers of the male Quetzals are up to 30 inches long. It is sometimes difficult not to chop these off in your photographs. These birds are only found in small pockets of Costa Rica and good pictures of these subjects are highly prized. we have managed to photograph these birds every year to date.

Hummingbirds

These tiny, fast moving subjects are fascinating just to watch, let alone photograph. There are a number of different techniques used to photograph hummingbirds. Each one works better than other options in different situations. All will be explained on the trip. Hummingbirds are present at most of our locations throughout the trip and there will also be some great chances to photograph these subjects during your “down-time” in the middle of the day. They feed from wild flowers and also from plastic feeders filled with sugar-water. The trick here is to press the shutter button just before their beak enters the feeder. We will also do set-ups with a single flower sprayed with sugar-water. Look at the relevant pictures in the gallery to see the results of the Hummingbirds feeding from a Fuchsia.

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Click here to see the Costa Rica Photo Gallery

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Frogs

Frogs will the one subject that most people instantly think of when Costa Rica is mentioned. The picture that everyone has in their mind is that of the Green Tree Frog –the green one with yellow and blue sides and those huge orange eyes. We will have several sessions with these beautiful creatures, and practice makes perfect. After each new session you will see your results improve. You cannot help but to take home some absolutely stunning photographs of these guys. We will also have several encounters with the black and green Poison Dart Frog. This guy is extremely difficult to get a really sharp photograph of. I think that his slimy skin confuses the camera. Manual focus may be the best option here. The Glass Frog has a transparent stomach-wall and you can see through this and watch its heart beating. Quite incredible. There are a number of other Frogs that we will photograph, but the most striking of these is the Blue Jeans Dart Frog. It is no bigger than the fingernail on your little finger. Macro lenses are required here. We should find most of these subjects in the wild and will certainly cover them in our set-up sessions on a number of occasions.

Sloth

All our sloth sightings will be “in the wild”, so there are no 100% guarantees here. There are two specific places that we will visit where sloths are always present. We will visit these places on three occasions in total, and there is always the possibility of seeing sloths elsewhere. The one thing that we do not have control of is where the sloth is positioned in the trees. Sleeping sloths in the tops of trees are not difficult to find. Obviously the best photographs are taken when the sloth is lower down. What is in our favour is that sloths always climb down the trees to poop on the ground. This means that they do not spend all their time high up in the trees. It is either side of their poop time that we will be trying to catch.

Savegre

Our itinerary begins with a journey to the Talamanca Mountains, which lie southeast of Costa Rica. Our destination, Savegre is approximately 7000 feet above sea level and it is noticeably cooler than the rest of Costa Rica (down to 6 degrees at night). We will target the Resplendent Quetzal and Hummingbirds at this location. There will be plenty of free time in the middle of the day for photographing in the hotel’s extensive grounds. Hummingbirds are usually the main targets. We will also do some set-ups here attracting hummingbirds to a single Fuchsia head. You will surrounded on all sides by towering mountains, which are bedecked with trees often disappearing into the clouds above. A true rainforest. We will also spend an afternoon in a bird garden that attracts a whole raft of different birds. It is a great introduction to Costa Rican birdlife and the frequent visits of the Acorn Woodpeckers are one of the highlights here.

Tortuguero

Tortuguero is a National Park that is basically a large forest that stands in a few feet of water. The only access is by boat along rivers or man-made canals. We will photograph from both the canals and the rivers depending on what species we are targeting that day. What is unique here is that most of our subjects will be at water level, so no problems with bright backgrounds here. The wildlife on the canals have become very accustomed to the boats that we will use, so it is quite easy to get very close to some of the subjects. Some subjects are a little more wary on the rivers, but this is where you will find the highly sought after Tiger Heron and the Royal Terns. We will also target Basilisk Lizards, Turtles, three species of Monkeys, Bats, Caiman, Herons, Jacanas, Kingfishers and any other creature that makes a great photograph. We will spend time doing some macro after dark one evening, looking for the frogs, insects and snakes that hide themselves away during daylight hours. Full tuition on the various techniques required will be given in San Jose prior to our departure. We will also visit a beach where Turtles have laid their eggs and hope to catch sight of baby turtles emerging from their nests. I was lucky enough to witness this special event in 2013, 2014 & 2015. In 2016 we were privileged to see two nests emerge.

Saraquipi

Saraquipi is an area of gentle slopes and lush green vegetation. Here you will have the opportunity to photograph from the hotel’s extensive grounds, but most of your time will be taken up photographing from the privately owned, more productive private feeding sites that have been set up specifically for either bird or frog photography. Each one has something quite different to offer. Some birds will be the same, but some will be quite unique to that site. These are the places where some of your very best top quality photographs of birds and frogs will be taken. Our guide will also take us to places where he will find subjects such as beetles, insects, snakes and the like for us to practice our macro photography on. An “after dark session” will also be included. It is at Saraquipi that we will definitely be able to photograph the beautiful Collared Anacari –the most striking of the three Toucan species we will find during our tour.

Arenal

Arenal Observatory Lodge is set between the Guanacaste and Tilaran Mountain ranges. It is beautiful countryside and the hotel nestles just below the Arenal Volcano. If cloud permits, you will have a beautiful view of this from the hotels restaurant balcony. You may choose to use this vantage point for photographing birds visiting the adjacent feeders during your limited free time slots. The hotel grounds are massive and afford some great opportunities for “in the wild” photography. Our guide will take you to the most productive places. The main reason for our visit here will be the four half-day sessions that I have arranged to do set-up photography of Frogs, Snakes, Lizards, Tarantulas and Scorpions. These four sessions will provide you with some photographs that are almost impossible to get in the wild. Some of the snakes are deadly poisonous and are only safe to photograph under controlled conditions. Each one will be placed in simulated natural surroundings typical to that species. This will give you a really authentic look to your photos. There will also be an optional visit to a Butterfly farm during one of these sessions. We should also be able to find the White Nosed Coati in this area.

Photographic Tuition

Accomplished photographer, John Wright of Photographers will accompany you throughout this trip on Safari. General photographic advice will be offered on an extra day incorporated into this tour prior to leaving San Jose. Specialist techniques involving flash, macro and night photography will be discussed and put into practice in the hotel’s 8 acre gardens. Clients have found this extra day an invaluable insight into what lies ahead. John will also offer specific advice for macro and late evening photo sessions as they happen. When time permits he will spend time, on a one-to-one basis during the day, with each client to check the settings and techniques used.  Tour-specific photo advice and a recommended kit list will also be supplied well before departure.

Click here to view details of the Costs Rica Add-on

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