Wildlife photos – Costa Rica

I’m sure there was lots more wildlife to see had I expended a bit more energy, but I was at Dreams Las Mareas for relaxation. These photos were taken on one morning hike, a number of meanderings through the grounds on my way from breakfast to the beach or late afternoon strolls and some when a random animal just showed up. I’m not counting the group of young folk from Texas.

If I was looking for more opportunities, I would definitely check with fellow travellers, hotel staff or the helpful locals on the beach who would love to sell you a tour. One caveat however, is that I saw a number of posts on the FB groups saying something like: “The monkeys always show up at building “X” every day at 7:20″. In my experience, they never did keep to a schedule, and when I stayed on the balcony at a certain time because the monkeys were there at that time before – they never showed. Possibly I wasn’t patient enough. Having said that, I probably would have got pictures of howler monkeys if I had staked out the trees on the road by the hotel entrance. But I didn’t, mostly because I forgot what time someone said.

I also saw pelicans fishing in the bay, but as I was in the middle of doing yoga at the time (and I didn’t have an extreme telephoto) – no photos. So here’s a selection of what I was able to capture. These are the most natural settings, I have lots more pictures of the monkeys and Jays mooching inside the resort. All Identifications are tentative, feel free to correct me!

You’ll enjoy these photos more if you view them on a big screen; start off by clicking on any image.