If you read my last post you already know that last week I had took a tour to The Doka Coffee Estate and La Paz Waterfalls & Gardens.
On this post I would like to share the second part of my tour - The La Paz waterfall gardens, which is one of the most popular destination near San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. This private ecological park is spread on 70 acre of cloud and rainforest, and it includes: 5 striking waterfalls, frog pond, wild cats, hummingbird, bromeliad gardens and butterfly observatory.
At the entrance there is a beautiful viewpoint to the jungle followed by hiking trails surrounded by forest vegetation, and although I was with a group of people I truly felt the jungle vibes.
The first stop had a large variation of birds flying around. I had the chance to watch colorful Macaws and Toucans flying around. The funny noises they make and the colorful feathers. makes them one of my favorite jungle animals.
Next was the butterfly observatory, which is the largest in world. Seeing so much butterflies in one place made me feel like in Disney movie (LOL). It sure was beautiful seeing them but it was not easy to take a picture of them.
The hummingbird also were tricky to photograph, but at the end I manage to snap few shots.
Here you can see the monkeys area. I used to see monkeys hanging on trees near my house (I know it’s sounds weird but I actually live in a small town surrounded by jungle), so seeing them in a cage made me feel sad; But later I found out that all the animals I saw in the sanctuary were placed there by a governmental agency that protects wildlife, since the animals were not able to fend for themselves in the wild. La Paz raise the young in such a way that they will be able to live in the wild as adults.
After hiking around the gardens for few hours, we had a delicious lunch break.
Moving on with our tour, we got to see some snakes and frogs in a frog pond.
The jungle cats sanctuary probably was the most interesting part for me. I love cats, even the large and wild. I find them very impressive and nobles, so I was really excited to see wild cats like margay ocelots, puma and even a jaguar . And again, I rather see them in the wild, but at least I know that it’s only a sanctuary and that eventually they will be released to protected zones.
The last part of the our tour was a walk at the misty cloud forest trails that lead us to 5 cascading waterfalls.
I have to admit that this ecological park was beyond my expectations. Seeing all these incredible animals in this beautiful forest, was one of the best experiences I have ever had.
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