Amazing Wildlife

Lago Sandoval * Canopy Walk * Night hike

We woke early this morning, 5:00 a.m., so that we could be ready by 6:00 a.m. for our boat ride and hike to Lago Sandoval. It was beautiful on the river this morning. Not a soul around and silent as can be. It was amazingly cool, and we kept our jackets on throughout the hike until we were in full sun on the lake. Our guide Leon is great. He’s thoughtful and likes to hang back from the others so that we have a quiet, intimate experience with nature.

On our 2-mile hike to Lake Sandoval we saw huge trees and leaf cutter aunts busy at work carrying the leaves back and forth. The trail is popular, but because of our early start, we didn’t see anyone along the way. The nature preserve built a wooden boardwalk to protect the pathway and to help out the hikers during the rainy season.

Once at the lake we boarded our long canoe with 2 other guess and our guide to scour the shoreline in search of wildlife. It didn’t take long for us to spot our first caiman and then we saw one after another until we lost track. Most were on the shoreline, but we did see one huge one in the middle of the water.

As we slowly meandered around the perimeter of the lake we were amazed at the wildlife. We first saw monkeys, then a laundry list of birds. A couple of different ibis birds with long beaks and several camimoran birds actively swimming and diving for food. We even saw one come up with a snake and eat it! After these birds are done swimming, they have to sun themselves on the shore with their wings spread out to dry their feathers before they can fly again.

Our guide took us back to the lodge via a 3-mile nature walk through the jungle (aka rain forest). It was awesome - at one point we saw a tree that was crawling with monkeys. It was like our own private monkey exhibit in nature. They were playing, jumping, and running around the canopy.

After lunch today we traveled 25 minutes down river to a series of hanging bridges. We climbed a 120 ft tower where we could see over the top of the canopy and out to the river. On our way up we spotted a mamma sloth in the tree with her baby. It was amazing to watch her hang onto the tree with her long claws, then incredibly enough she started to climb higher into the tree. It was amazing to watch her long arms reach up and grab the branches and the baby tightly hang on. We sat and watched her for several minutes. Afterwards we enjoyed our walk along several hanging bridges 80 feet above the jungle floor. Only one person could cross the hanging bridge at a time, we were assured that they were inspected at least twice a year.

Out guide, Leon is amazing. He’s thoughtful, reflective, and respectful of nature. He listens and looks and then gives us an opportunity to do so as well. This evening we went on a night nature walk in search of creepy insects. We found several scary and poisonous spiders and a long green caterpillar. At one point we turned off our flashlights and the dark was consuming, like being in a cave. We could not see the hands in front of our faces. We capped off our evening walk in an open area where we could see the stars - they were magnificent. The southern cross was amazing.