Hitherto we have been on the Eastern side of Costa Rica, on the so-called Caribbean slope. The country is divided, pretty much down the middle, by a volcanic mountain chain, to the west of which is the Pacific slope. Today,…

Against my expectations, I actually kept the pillow in place and managed some sleep in my single bed with its makeshift headboard. This morning we discovered the attraction of staying in Santo Domingo. At Mr. Leader’s traditionally early hour, we…

Today we moved on from Iguanitas Lodge. It had a parting gift for me before we hit the road, though. One of Costa Rica’s nine species of Rubyspot damselflies was posing advantageously in the garden. This is a very clean…

The lodge in question is the Laguna del Lagarto Eco Lodge as favoured by the American author of the Costa Rican Field Guide to Dragonflies and Damselflies. As is usual, our leader keeps a constant lookout on the sides of…

This morning we bad farewell to La Selva. Before we could leave, though, Mr. Leader had to pack up his moth trap. Well, I call it a trap but it isn’t a trap in the conventional sense. What it is…

La Selva lies about 3kms south of Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui which is where Mr. Leader found an interesting sounding restaurant. It sounded interesting to him because it was beside a river. Other than the fact that we went once…

La Selva Biological Research Station covers 1600 hectares of lowland tropical rainforest and recovering habitat. It has accommodation for a limited capacity of 180 overnight guests. We are three of them and are staying in some of the lodges that the…

La Selva is one of the most famous wildlife locations in Costa Rica. Amazingly our leader had not visited before. However, such is the detail of his research that he had locations and species in mind We set off to…

La Selva is probably one of the best known places in Costa Rica; it is a biological research station. It was to be our home for four nights after our first night at Hotel Villa Zurqui in the northern outskirts…

This must be classed as a bucket list trip; I’m off to Costa Rica, which I’ve long wanted to visit, with a couple of dragonfly hunting buddies. My route takes me on KLM from Heathrow Terminal 4 through Amsterdam then…