Day 1, Arrival/San Jose

 

Arrival to Costa Rica. Meet our representative at the Juan Santamaría International Airport and transfer to your hotel near the capital city of San José, where Foto Verde Tours’ Greg Basco will be awaiting your arrival. Those who arrive early can take the afternoon to photograph the beautiful orchids and other tropical flowers in the hotel’s expansive gardens. The hotel has free wireless Internet throughout the grounds and in the rooms.

 

Day 2, Atlantic Rainforest

 

After an early breakfast, we check out and head to our first destination, a rainforest lodge where Greg has worked to set up a feeder that offers unparalleled opportunities to photograph keel-billed toucans, chestnut-mandibled toucans, and brown-hooded parrots among many other birds. We arrive at the lodge for lunch and set in immediately to photograph at the feeders! This evening, Greg and Greg will give a presentation on fill-flash for bird and wildlife photography.

 

Day 3, Atlantic Rainforest

 

Today we will divide the group with half using the restaurant feeders for toucans, oropendolas, parrots, and aracari and the other half visiting the lodge manager's house where Foto Verde Tours has worked with the lodge manager to set up two blinds – one for honeycreepers (including the Green Honeycreeper, Red-legged Honeycreeper, Shining Honeycreeper, and Blue Dacnis) and one for a multiple-flash hummingbird setup where you will have the opportunity to photograph lowland hummingbird species including Crowned Woodnymph, White-necked Jacobin, Green-breasted Mango, Scaly-breasted Hummingbird, and Long-billed Hermit.

 

Day 4, Atlantic Rainforest

 

Today we take time to do macro photography of cool frogs and snakes. A highlight is the amazing Red-eyed Tree Frog! We’ll again split the group in two. When you’re not doing macro, we’ll have a setup back at the lodge for honeycreepers in flight. And in the evening, we have a very special treat – bat photography in a pavilion that Foto Verde Tours has set up in the forest right behind the lodge!

 

Day 5, Caño Negro

 

After breakfast, we have our last highlight from this area – the King Vulture. After our vulture session, we check out and head to our next destination, the wetlands of the Caño Negro National Wildlife Refuge. We arrive to our charming lodge in the late afternoon with time to check in and relax a bit before we head out to photograph the sunset.

Day 6, Caño Negro

 

Early this morning, we head to an observation tower to photograph the sunrise over the wetlands. It’s fantastic! Afterward, we explore the lagoons and canals on our private boats to photograph herons, kingfishers, caiman, and parrots among other birds. We return to our lodge for lunch and then head out again in the afternoon on our private boats for more bird photography. We enjoy a relaxing dinner after this busy day.

 

Day 7, Cloud Forest

 

After breakfast, we travel toward the higher cloud forests of the northern Central Volcanic Mountain Range. Our lodge is located in one of the most biodiverse areas of the country, nestled in a picturesque valley at approximately 4,500 feet above sea level. With its rushing mountain streams, cool air, and orchid and moss-festooned trees, the area is akin to a tropical Colorado. En route, we stop at a local farm where Foto Verde Tours has laid the groundwork to set up photo opportunities of the wild, free-flying Great Green and Scarlet Macaws that inhabit the owner's large farm property. We arrive to our lodge in late afternoon, with time to settle in and enjoy a relaxing dinner after this busy day. 

Day 8, Cloud Forest

 

After breakfast today, we set in immediately to begin photographing hummingbirds at our multi-flash setups right on the lodge grounds. We will concentrate on the Violet Sabrewing (Costa Rica’s largest species), Green hermit, Purple-throated Mountain Gem, and Green-crowned Brilliant. Greg and Paulo will run the setups and provide attractive native flowers to ensure that you capture some fantastic hummingbird images. When not on the setups, you can relax and download images, shoot the Black Guan, Silver-throated Tanagers, Agouti, and Coatimundi that frequent the lodge grounds. And you can explore the cloud forest trails for macro and landscape photography. There are some great rushing cloud forest stream images to be made only minutes from the lodge restaurant.

 

Day 9, Cloud Forest

 

After breakfast, we visit a nearby waterfall, which is 110 meters high and offers beautiful photographic opportunities of the waterfall itself and the surrounding cloud forest. There are some absolutely world-class landscape and lush tropical foliage images to be made here. In addition, we have permission to set up our multiple-flash here to take advantage of some very interesting small hummingbird species such as Black-bellied Hummingbird, Coppery-headed Emerald, and Green Thorntail and others such as the endemic White-bellied Mountain Gem and the perennial favorite, the Green Hermit. We'll shoot throughout the day, alternating our time between the setups, perched hummingbirds, and landscape photography.

 

Day 10,  Elfin Forest

 

After an early breakfast today, we head to the Talamanca Mountain Range and one of our favorite lodges where Foto Verde Tours has worked to set up a private photography area for hummingbirds, tanagers, and finches. We arrive to our family-owned lodge for lunch and set out to look for the Resplendent Quetzal, the Holy Grail for neotropical bird photographers. The lodge owner and his family have started a project to work with local farmers in the area to monitor and protect the Quetzal, and this network exponentially raises our probability of getting a good photographic look at this beautiful species.

Day 11, Elfin Forest

 

We head out early this morning for more Quetzal photography. We then head over to a nearby valley for lunch at our favorite restaurant in Costa Rica. We then finish the day with a great surprise – a visit to a new feeder area run by a good friend of ours. From a private deck, we'll set up perches to photograph flame-colored tanagers and acorn woodpeckers and, if we're lucky, maybe even golden-browed chlorophonia and emerald toucanets. We return to our lodge this evening for a relaxing dinner after this busy day.

Day 12, Back to San Jose

 

After breakast this morning we have time for our last hummingbird photos and also a session for photo captioning and post-processing. We depart late morning and stop for a bite to eat on the way back to the capital city. We'll enjoy a farewell dinner at the hotel restaurant this evening.

 

Day 13, Airport

Private transfer to the airport for your flight home.