La Selva

My guide with a bird's nest in his hand

Poison dart frog

Huge spider

Bird that didn't move

Our home for the night

We started off our trip for our last weekend at La Selva Biological Station on Thursday.
La Selva is situated at the joining together of two major rivers in the Caribbean lowlands of northern Costa Rica. It comprises 3,900 acres of tropical wet forests and disturbed lands. The Station is bordered on the south by Braulio Carrillo National Park (closest national park to San Jose). The station is a protected area as well where biologists/researchers study the animals and plants and hope to increase the biodiversity of Costa Rica by keeping a large part of Costa Rica protected. They figure out how plants and animals behave in their surroundings. While we were there I went on three nature hikes, one of them was at night without a guide! I learned a lot more about the rainforest and its animals and plants while I was there by Roberto and my guide from La Selva.
We saw a lot of poison dart frogs that were red, monkeys that put on a show for us, and wild pigs with their babies called peccaries (?) that were really tame.
We learned about the plants that live on other plants (Epiphytes) and strangler fig trees (trees that grow around other trees until they cover the whole three and it dies from lack of sunlight).
La Selva has four major tropical life zones and protects a large portion of Costa Rica’s biodiversity including more than half of the 886 species of birds, home to 1850 species of vascular plant flora, thousands of mammals, reptiles, insects and amphibians.
There are two equipped laboratories at La Sleva. La Selva can sleep 80 people in six-person eco-dormitory rooms and cabins (we got to sleep in the turtle cabins). There is a huge bridge that connects the two parts of La Selva. La Selva is one of the world's premier sites at which to conduct ecosystem research according to the Organization of Tropical Studies website.
La Selva's combination of protected ecosystems and laboratory facilities is unique. There is an extensive trail system of more than 50 kilometers, which provides access to a wide range of different biodiversities. The entire property has been topographically surveyed and there are markers ever 50 meters, so, it´s hard to get lost.