I am happy to say we are about to put another successful trip to Costa Rica behind us.  We had some pretty important goals this trip, as John Wortman, Board member of the ZAA, came with us.   We had some pretty ambitious goals, such as a whirlwind trip from the Central Valley to the Caribbean Coast, back up to La Fortuna, and ending again in the capital city of San Jose.

Our trip started out with a visit to a serpentarium on the Caribbean Coast.  As a potential partner of Green Jungle,  Sandro the owner of the serpentarium has quite a bit of experience, at one time being the director of Barcelona Zoo.  Currently they work with Sloths (three-toed, and two-toed), cats (margays, jaguarundies, ocelots, etc.), venomous and non-venomous reptiles, and primates.

After our Trip to the Serpentarium we checked in with our friends at Iguana Verde.  Iguana Verde is a rehab and reintroduction facility for Green Iguanas.  The trip was very productive to the future of our project as well as Iguana Verde’s goals.

After our tour and meet and greet with Iguana Verde, We packed up and drove to Kachabri.  Kachabri is the home of a group of Bribri Indians that live on the land that has been set aside by the government.  We were surprised with a ceremonial drum and dance routine reserved to welcome new visitors, births, and deaths.

As part of the ceremony we were given some chicha, a traditional fermented maize drink.  After a much dancing, singing, and rounds of chicha, we set off to go back to puerto viejo and prepare for the second leg of our journey.

As part of our second leg, we were to drive from Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean Coast (East side), to La Fortuna which is part of the Northern Plains.  This area is dominated by dairy farms and pineapple plantations, and is home to Volcano Arenal as well as La Marina wildlife rescue center.  Juan Jose is second generation owner of the zoo/rehab center, and is currently teaching his three children how to run and operate the zoo while expanding it to include a new mixed species display as well as new cat areas.

Juan Jose and his family have released cats, primates, mammals, and even tapirs into the surrounding wilderness.  In fact, they have released over 200 white tail deer alone.  La Marina has plenty of capacity building projects in need of starting and we are hopeful that we can assist the ZAA in completing some of these projects.

Simon Bolivar zoo was our final stop, and although I was nursing a sick stomach, John B., David, Melissa, and John Wortman visited the zoo and had a private meeting with the director.  Things went well with the Simon Bolivar Zoo, and they are also looking forward to future contact and relations with the ZAA and Project Green Jungle.

Pictures from our December Zoo/Rehab facility tours.

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