Our day at Corcovado National Park - Sirena Entrance

We finally found some free time to visit Corcovado National Park exploring the area of the Sirena entrance.

This is the most remote entrance into the park from Drake Bay and Sierpe and because of this, the wildlife is abundant. This is also the place where you can camp at the rangers’ station as well as possibly see a Jaguar or a Baird’s Tapir, the largest land mammal in Costa Rica.

Ranger Station at Sirena, Corcovado National Park. Camping is permitted with reservations.

The trip to Sirena from Drake Bay is just over an hour by boat south along the coastline. From the Corcovado San Pedrillo entrance, Sirena is about a 45 minute boat ride farther down the coast. Be prepared to leave early in the morning as it’s best to start exploring the park by 7:30 am.

When we arrived there were already several groups from other lodges at the park. There are generally fewer people that travel to this remote entrance than San Pedrillo. Our guide Consuela chose not to follow the other groups (great choice) and we started into the park further down the beach. We were rewarded with a juvenile tapir siting. The animal was lying in a large mud puddle just off the trail. We cautiously approached and took turns taking pictures at a very close proximity of the animal. Yeah, our first tapir siting and we only just started the tour.

A Baird’s Tapir taking a mud bath.

We hiked around to where the mouth of a river meets the ocean. This is an interesting place. During high tide you can see the tips of bull sharks going up stream into the brackish (slightly salty) lagoon where crocodiles are swimming. This is no place for a quick dip in the stream. It was low tide when we arrived but to our surprise we saw two shark tips that had surfaced in the mouth of the stream. We also saw a croc swimming in the lagoon.

During high tide Bull Sharks swim up this stream and into the lagoon (behind us) to feed.

As we started inland towards the trail we heard a loud splash back in the stream. Another tapir! An adult female had jumped into the water and was swimming towards us. Another close encounter with the wildlife. This tapir swam in the same stream with the sharks and the croc, yikes!

A Baird’s Tapir taking a swim in the shark and croc infested lagoon....yikes!

Our second attempt to get into the park on the trail was quickly cut short as we heard something big coming down the hill across the trail in front of us. A third tapir, a male walked right in front of us and down to the water. We got side tracked from the trail a second time as we followed the tapir snapping shots as fast as we could without disturbing the animal.

one of Kendra Bauer's twelve radio collared tapirs which are purportedly less shy around humans.

For more information on The Baird's Tapir Project of Costa Rica go to savetapirs.org.

We finally made it to the trail head into the park after all the tapir excitement. Those of us in back got a glimpse of a Great Curassow (a large turkey-like bird) shuffling along the ground. We saw a pair of Jacamar birds and a Lineated Woodpecker shortly after that.

Our guide said this is a Jacamar but in the book it's green not blue. Anyone know what this bird is?

We also saw groups of four different types of monkeys: Howler, Spider, Squirrel and White-faced Capuchin monkeys. The squirrel monkeys came overhead in a large troop of about 15 - 20 including a few tiny young ones, the size of my palm, riding on their mothers’ backs.

A very long-legged and -tailed Spider Monkey. These guys are swingers, on the branches that is.

My favorite monkey, the darling Squirrel Monkey. So cute and polite, unlike the audacious Howler.

Hello Mr. Grumpy. I got peed on by one of these Howlers. Just a tad territorial I must say.

We also stumbled across five Coatis, a Three-toed Sloth, a little orange and green snake, a couple of Agoutis, a pair of Scarlet Macaws flying overhead, two Great Tinamous, a Common Black Hawk, two Bare-throated Tiger Herons and several Crested Guans.

Profile of a White-nosed Coati. These guys forage on the ground a lot but are also adept climbers.

Here's the bum of the Coati with its long raccoon-like tail.

A little orange and green snake.

More of a little orange and green snake.

Crested Guan - a large turkey-like bird that spends most of its time hanging out in the trees.

Scarlet Macaw munching on a nut from a beach almond tree.

Bare-throated Tiger Heron - no shortage of neck on this guy.

The first male Great Curassow we heard before we saw it. We stopped in the middle of the trail when we heard a deep, resonant humming noise. We could not figure out where it was coming from until Consuela showed us. The big bird was right above our heads in a tree. It had spotted us first and was warning its companions to get the flock out of there. The low hum sound, almost like a growl, had us convinced there might be a jaguar in the woods, no such luck.

On the way back from the lodge we got a quick tour of some amazing coastline. This is one of the few places on earth where the jungle meets the ocean. This prehistoric backdrop makes for some amazing photos. There where also several seabirds about including Brown Boobys and Magnificent Frigatebirds.

Sea caves up the coast from Sirena.

Amazing how the rainforest grows right up to the sea.

Magnificant Frigatebirds chilling on the rocks.


A great ending to an awesome day!

All in all, the trip exceeded our expectations and we can’t wait to go back. Although the odds aren’t great, we still want to see a jaguar! Consuela has been a Corcovado guide for 18 years and has only seen jaguars twice. Who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky and beat the odds someday ;-)

Dan and Holly Pesta
Owners, Sábalo Lodge

P.S. A big thanks to Chris Cottrell for letting us use a lot of his shots from the same Sirena tour that day. It's only fair, he had a much better camera than us (ha ha).

<< Back to Activities page.

 

| Home | Tours | Blog | Activities | Location | Reservations | Photos | FAQs | Vision | Links | Qs? |

©Copyright 2009. All Rights Reserved