Before we start this post let us take a moment for an official Backcountry Journey’s Public Service Announcement:

PHOTOGRAPHERS BEWARE! If you travel with us on our Wildlife of Costa Rica Tour you may not return home!

That’s right. But not for any scary reasons, or anything as such.

Its Costa Rica’s “pura vida” that may have you house hunting! After seeing the sights, hearing the sounds and smelling the scents of what this small piece of land in Central America provides the human experience, you just may be looking to relocate.

Pura vida means “pure life,” and it has become the unofficial, official slogan of Costa Rica.

Extending from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea with a width distance of barely 200 miles, Costa Rica is an ever-changing landscape and you never know what you might see or what might be around the next corner. Whether it is volcanos, jungles or the fabulous black sand beaches, the opportunities are endless. Especially when it comes to the crazy critters of Costa Rica, the highlight of Backcountry Journeys Wildlife of Costa Rica Tour.

Each day while on this tour, we’ll set out to explore the wealth of Costa Rica and its wild inhabitants. We’ll spend time in Corcovado National Park as well as the Osa Peninsula, each ripe with interesting animals.

The Osa is the only place in Costa Rica home to all four of the Costa Rican monkey species including the white-headed capuchin, the mantled howler, the endangered Jeffries spider monkey and the Central American squirrel monkey. Aside from monkeys the Osa is home to Coatis, two and three-toed sloths, dart frogs, Hummingbirds, tapirs, crocodiles and jungle cats such as pumas and ocelots.

Rare bird species such as toucans, scarlet macaws and the resplendent quetzal will surely be flying across the jungle canopy.

Corcovado National Park protects within its boundaries 41,788 hectares of shallow lagoons, marsh, mangrove swamps, rivers, wet forest and low-altitude cloud forest, as well as 46 kilometers of sandy beach.

Corcovado is one of Central America’s most unique ecosystems. Within its extensive territory are some 6,000 insects, 500 trees, 367 birds, 140 mammals, 117 amphibians and reptiles, and 40 freshwater fish species.

And that is what this blog post is all about… The critters of Costa Rica!

Talk about burying the lead, right?

There is simply no experience equal to photographing these strange and beautiful creatures, so let us take a closer look at some of these critters so when December comes and we’re down in Costa together creating amazing images, we’ll know what we’re looking at.

Dart Frogs:

The strawberry poison dart frog is a unique creature for many reasons but perhaps mostly because it can morph from red to green to navy blue! These frogs, found all throughout Central America and Puerto Rico, are toxic, but only if they are in the wild because they create their poisons from natural elements found in the jungle.

Cool, no?

Three-Toed Sloth:

Known for being incredibly slow, the three-toed sloth likes to sleep between 16 and 18 hours a day. Even though they are slow, they are very strong swimmers, believe it or not.