Hike in Reserva Biologica by Sam

A morning in the tropical dry forest.

Early on Sunday morning, we got into the car to go hiking on the trails at Lagarta Lodge, which is a private hiking reserve and hotel. As it turned out, the lodge was closed for the rainy season. Instead, we drove along until we saw a path. This took us to Playa Pelada until we came to a trail leading up into the forest.


So off we ventured into the damp and muddy woods.When we where going along the trail, we came to a very, very muddy part. Dad wisely took the way around, but the rest of us went straight through. Me and Maeve freaked out a little and mom got her foot stuck past the ankle! I also didn't like how many insects were biting my legs and arms. Now, I know to wear long sleeves and pants. Eventually we got to the mouth of the Rio Nosara.

Stuck in the muck.

At the entrance to the river, we decided to look around and explore a little. We found what appeared to be a coconut with all the hair off. I threw one at the cliff to find what was inside. It was hollow and had a little bit of mud inside it. We also saw these little insects that kind of looked like a shrimp on the cliff walls (Maeve found out they were beach hoppers). We saw some egrets and a type of heron (we are not sure which kind. Though there wasn't too much, we did notice some garbage that had been washed on shore. We're going to bring a garbage bag with us from now on.

It sort of looks like I'm going bowling.

On the way back, we tried to notice things about the kind of ecosystem we were in (and look at the monkeys and lizards.) It was actually a lot like hiking at Mink Mountain in Thunder Bay but there were fewer mushrooms and lots more wildlife and different kinds of plants.  The Reserva Biologica is a tropical dry forest. Facts about this kind of forest:

• It is one of the rarest habitats in the world.
• The trees (mostly deciduous) usually grow at two different heights - one at 10-20 metres and one twice as high. 
• It is home to fewer species than rain forests. However, you can see more wildlife because there are more open spaces.
• They are very warm all year and receive rain but have long dry periods and droughts.
• Our favouritely  named tree that is in dry forests is the Gumbo Limbo tree which stands out because of its smooth orange and red bark. We haven't seen one yet though.