Nestled within the Arenal Volcano National Park, Arenal Observatory has been known as one of Costa Rica’s best birding hotspots. The 870-acre property contains two life zones: the tropical rainforest of the Caribbean lowlands and the premontane forests of the Caribbean foothills. The diversity of habitats, ranging from primary and secondary forests to agricultural pastures, creates various niches for birds and other animals to inhabit. We started our morning at the famous watermelon “tree” and it did disappoint.
Hiking in Costa Rica typically starts off on a trail constructed with concrete blocks before becoming the gravel and dirt path that we are more familiar with. This trail at the Arenal Observatory courses through secondary forest and leads to “The Nest”, is a 28 meter (92 feet) observation tower that offers unparalleled canopy-level, 360° panoramic view of Arenal Volcano, Arenal Lake, Cerro Chato, and the Tilarán Mountain Range. The tower sways in the gentle breeze, perfect for folks like Vida who enjoy the occasional bout of motion sickness.
In the afternoon, we decided on an easy hike on a dry January day. Lucky for us the Arenal Volcano Trail was right down the road from the Arenal Observatory. We started out on Sendero Las Coladas and turned right onto Sendero La Ceiba. We wandered through beautiful tropical rainforest with fern, orchids, and bromeliads all along the trail.
Vida even got to touch the Sensitive Plant (Mimosa pudica) and see its drooping act on contact.
At the high point of the circular path, we ascended some metal steps off to the right took us up to a rocky pathway to more metal steps to another rocky pathway with lava rocks to climb over before arriving at a point that had a sign saying, in essence, don’t go beyond this point.
00:00 Intro
00:15 Birding Arenal Observatory
01:20 Hiking Arenal Observatory
04:56 Hiking the Arenal Volcano Trail
06:30 Evening in Fortuna