Costa Rica 2007: Heliconias Lodge

Heliconias Lodge - 10th October 2007

Heliconias Lodge ( http://keytocostarica.com/guanacaste.htm )

Not to be confused with the Heliconia Hotel in Monteverde. We spend most of a day here with Carlos. It is reached from the town of Bijagua just on the Caribbean side of the Guanacaste Cordillera. There is a circular trail that starts by the lodge and goes through virgin rainforest. We saw a number of Caribbean forest species here. Although we didn’t see any, we were told that Tody Motmots frequent the ravines. We had a very good lunch here; they also have rooms.

Carlos Jiménez

Carlos was our bird guide for the day at Heliconias Lodge. He proved to be an excellent birder and knew all many bird calls, an important attribute in rain forest! Carlos lives in the Liberia area at Coco Beach, speaks very good English and is available for hire. He is highly recommended. You can contact him at ticomonklet@yahoo.com

You can also visit his website at http://www.ecoexplorercr.com/

Heliconias Lodge

A lodge high in the mountains with excellent trails through the rainforest.
The photo shows the gardens surrounding the lodge.

Heliconias Lodge

The restaurant area with good viewing over the gardens. This was just as well as it rained hard at times during the day.

Heliconias Lodge

Dave Parmenter, Dave Ferguson and Mike Collard waiting for lunch and enjoying some birding while sheltering from the rain.

Canopy Walk - Heliconias

There were three walkways across deep ravines which allowed a good view of the canopy. One was supported half way across by a huge tree (above). This photo is approximately 30 metres above ground level and is not for anyone suffering from vertigo!