Costa Rica Trip Extensions

More excitement coming your way from Backcountry Journeys as we formally announce two brand new trip extensions, this time for our Wildlife of Costa Rica tours. 

We travel to Costa Rica multiple times annually for a seven day photography tour during the best time of year for wildlife photography. Today, we announce a fantastic opportunity to extend your time in this lovely Central American country by joining us for four days and three nights leading up to your Wildlife of Costa Rica tour on our Quetzel Extension, or for five days and four nights immediately following your Wildlife of Costa Rica tour on our Tortuguero Extension. You can also do both, maxing out your Costa Rican experience! 

If you choose to join our Quetzal Extension, you will spend three days and two nights high in the Talamanca Mountains in search of the most beautiful bird in the world, the Resplendent Quetzal. This revered bird lives in these cloud forests located high above the jungle and beaches of the Osa Peninsula where we will be during the Wildlife of Costa Rica tour. These extra days will be your chance to capture images of this strikingly beautiful bird that attracts so many people from all across the globe. 

Immediately following our Wildlife of Costa Rica tour (with the exception of December) we will offer a chance to extend your time in Costa Rica by six days and five nights as we head off to Costa Rica’s northern Caribbean coast. Here we will find the wondrous river systems of Tortuguero. 

Nearby Tortuguero’ National Park is a dense jungle maze of winding canals where we’ll spend our days floating the network of canals, rivers, and lagoons in search of wildlife. 

Over 400 species of birds have been documented among the sixty species of mammals that call Tortuguero National Park home. We’ll be on the look out for three of Costa Rica’s four monkey species: spider, capuchin, and howler, as well as  sloth, river otter, manatee, and even the (very) elusive jaguar, puma, ocelot are also possibilities. 

This is one of the rainiest parts of Costa Rica, which contributes to its rich biodiversity, but is also why we will not offer this tour following our December tour dates (which is the start of the rainy season here). 

If you are like most people, you’ve come a long way to get to Costa Rica and you want to see, and photograph, its diverse regions. Because of this we have added these two Extensions as a way to extend your time and see both the Carribbean and Pacific coasts, as well as the cloud forests of the Talamanca Mountains. A complete Costa Rican vacation in our minds! 

Quetzal Extension
This extension includes three days and two nights of bird photography and instruction led by an experienced professional photographer, based out of comfortable accommodations located high in the mountains of Costa Rica. Each day we’ll search for the Quetzal, and other birds, while learning how to expertly capture stunning images. We are offering this trip immediately preceding any of our Wildlife of Costa Rica trip dates.

If you are already set to join us for an upcoming Wildlife of Costa Rica tour, and would like to participate in the Quetzal Extension, please send an email to adventure@backcountryjourneys.com and request that we add it to your reservation. If you have not yet booked Wildlife of Costa Rica, you can now simply add the Quetzal Extension while making your online reservation. 

Tortuguero Extension
If you are joining us for Wildlife of Costa Rica and would like to participate in the Tortuguero Extension that follows your tour, please call us at (928) 478-1521, or send an email to adventure@backcountryjourneys.com to request that we add it to your reservation. If you have not yet booked a Wildlife of Costa Rica tour, you can now simply add the Tortuguero Extension while making your online reservation. 

These Extensions are available even if you are not joining the main Wildlife of Costa Rica tour. Say you are already heading to Costa Rica with other plans, yet you are looking for more and these Extensions are Perfect! You can certainly book one, or both, as a standalone tours. 

We hope to see you soon in Costa Rica!

Kenton Krueger

Kenton Krueger grew up and spent the first 33 years of his life in the corn country of Omaha, Nebraska. After studying at the University of Nebraska Omaha’s Aviation Institute, he “conned” his way into the newsroom at the award-winning Omaha World-Herald, where for 3+ years he wrote news articles and photographed on a variety of topics such as community events, travel, and even mixed martial arts. Yet something was missing. While on backpacking trips to Grand Teton and Grand Canyon National Parks in the mid-2000’s he was quick to realize that the wild lands of the western United States stoked a fire in his heart as nothing else could. This realization led to a relocation to Flagstaff, Arizona, where he hasn’t looked back. He has spent the past several years guiding backpackers, hikers and photographers into the wild places of the American West such as Havasu Falls, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Yosemite National Parks as well as in the Grand Staircase Escalante in southern Utah, and internationally in Costa Rica. In addition to backpacking and camping, his adventures include rock climbing, exploring the slot canyons of southern Utah and mountain biking. Kenton looks forward to utilizing his years of guiding experience, combined with his passion and experience behind the lens, to provide memorable and unforgettable experiences at the wild places we will visit together.