Costa Rica - Osa Peninsula - Puerto Jimenez

Well sadly we had to leave our beloved perezosos and all the good friends we had made at the sanctuary. This was a real wrench after 4 weeks, but we have some great pictures and lovely memories.

We headed west for a few days to the Osa Peninsula, which is a less densely popluated area of Costa Rica, and relatively unspoilt.

The main town is Puerto Jimenez on the east side of the Peninsula. The choices are to travel by road (8 hrs) or fly by light aircraft (1hour), so bearing in mind we had 3 days we chose the aircraft route. Fortunately because the road was actually washed away by storms recently and access was by plane only.

Look there we are flying in now.....

We arrived to a heavy rainstorm which always puts a dampener on any first impression.

Puerto Jimenez , with the tide in and after the heavy rain

But we had good accommodation and very helpful hosts (thank you Chris at Cabinas Jimenez).

We took out the free kayaks for a paddle around the mangroves, saw some Turnstones, a Whimbrel and a Willet, and then headed out into the Golfo Dulce to try and spot some dolphins, but no luck on that score.

Siobhan out in the Golfo Dulce, we were looking for dolphins....

But we did see some birds in the mangroves

On our second day we hired a local guide recommended by Chris, Andreas. We intended to go to Cabo Matapalo, the point at the end of the peninsula. They have all 4 Costa Rican species of monkey here in one place ( Howler, capuchin, Squirrel and  spider). However having crossed two rivers already the third had actually washed the road away. Bearing in mind the threat of rain we decided to drive back and visit some other sites that Andy knew of. He was a very good guide both in spotting the birds and recognising them. We saw some rarities, King vulture ( three of) and Roseate Spoonbills ( three of) as well as a selection of Orioles and even one visitor that Andy did not recognise. About 40 species spotted including scarlet macaws.   

Puerto Jimenez harbour with the tide out (two tides per day)

We took the kayaks out once more but still no dolphins, nevertheless the exercise and a bit of sunshine did us good. We were well rested in PJ and will be going back to the Osa Peninsula some time in the future. For now though we are happy with our taster.

View From the plan on the way back to San Jose...

Costa Rica - Puerto Viejo - Sloth Sanctuary - The Juveniles

You've seen the adults and the babies so here are the missing Juvvies...

Sidney working up to wrapping his towel on his head

David, on his shelf...

Vinnie who only goes on his shelf for one reason... food

Lilo, doesn't like big meals

Benji, likes to savour his meals in his own time

Fozzy (lighter) and Rajah (darker) share a enclosure but not their food

Doogie Too where are you... under the towel usuually, but not in this shot

Sophia (lighter) and BamBam (darker), quiet as mice

Lionel and Scooter, the comedy duo take it in turns to come to te front of the enclosure

Lily, she's a faster mover than you think

Casper and Camilla, love their beans not so keen on berros

Tori,Santie,Sheela,and Pandora, the girls on the block..

Luna, who loves her beans and can't wait at feed time

Mocha and Hershey, they are just lovely....

Spencer (darker) and Miss Vicky (the Blond) like everything

Priscilla and Savanna, never complain

Mani, Almendra ( with the dark nose) and Primo, who is under both, really don't like carrots)

Malaza, who likes all food to be hand fed to her

Spiderman Einstein, he's tough so don't let his finger sucking fool you...

Skye, (Janelles favourite) and a real cutie

And of course not forgetting the "wildies", due to be released...so are only fed Almond leaves.

The Perezosa with no name, better known as "Mommie"

...and Lydia who loves Malaza, cos her plate is always full and in Lydias reach

Sloth Sanctuary - The Babies

The star of the show - Athena

I thought you would all like to see some piccies of the babies. Since we have been at the sanctuary 8 babies have been brought in (5 two toed and 3 three toed). Consequently 3 juveniles have graduated from the nightly move to the incubators (Stephanie, Mateo and Cosmo).

Alex is a three toed sloth who arrived at the sanctuary a few days ago. A local man brought him only 3 weeks after bringing in Jo Jo another three toed sloth.

Alex

Next is Apollo, a young toe toed sloth.

Apollo eating an almond leaf.

Athena is 5 months old and cute as a button. Everyone loves her to bits. She loves her walks as she likes to hold onto bamboo.

Athena in pooh position - when a sloth has a big belly it means they need to poo.

Beatrice is a two toed sloth. She is extremely nervous, especially of sudden noises, she grips really tight and it makes you wonder how she managed to fall off her mother.

Darren and Beatrice have a cuddle. Guess who's who...

Cosmo has good 'maternal instincts' for a male sloth. He looked after 3 other sloths for a short time (Apollo, Athena and Ella) before he got too big and graduated. He now resides with Stephanie and Mateo.

Cosmo up a tree; Mateo is the darker sloth on the jungle gym.

Dora is also nervous and likes to cling like a limpet.

The look of love...

At feeding time whoever finishes first gets a chance to steal from the slower sloths.

Ready - Wookie on his mark

Wookie getting a headstart

Steady - Dora and Wookie have the advantage

Carrots, beans and sweet potato - yummm

Go - Dora, Wookie and Alfie in a race for the finish

Notice Wookie eyeing up Alfie's dinner.

Ella is one of the younger sloths. She likes her walks but unfortunately within a couple of minutes she has a wee and a poo, afterwhich she needs weighing.

Dinner time for Ella - she's eating almond leaves

Jo Jo arrived at the sanctuary early October. He was being kept as a pet and was extremely stressed when he was brought in. Paul has been working with him and Jo Jo is now less stressed.

Look at me I'm scary and frightened.

Laylo and Wall-E share the same enclosure within the exhibition area. Laylo loves walks and so when no visitors are around Laylo and Wall-E go for walkies. At first Laylo was named Layla as he did not have the back markings of a male until he was 2 years old. Jo Jo is about 7 months old and already has male markings. For this reason many of the the baby sloths are given gender neutral names.

Paul with Laylo

Siobhan with Wall-E

 

Madison is another two toed sloth who also likes to go on forest walks.

Madison and Eva

Sammy and Sunshine share the same enclosure and have to be walked at the same time. You can read about their story on the sanctuary website. They are three toed sloths, Bradypus variegatus (or affectionately known as Brady's).

Sammy and Sunshine like to be together...

Shilo is very young, she arrived during our stay and she was estimated to be about 7-10 days old. The staff knew she was so young as she had the skin folds of a newborn.

Shilo about 12 days old.

Tiny Myte arrived during our stay. He is smaller than Athena. Just before we left the sanctuary, Tiny Myte was put in the same enclosure as Athena. Bradys are very sociable compared with the toe toed sloths. Also Cosmo, Apollo and Ella kept stealing Athena's Cecropia leaves.

Tiny Myte fits in your hand.

Next are Ubu and Pucca. Ubu is disabled and has physiotherapy every day to strengthen his leg muscles. His enclosure mate is Pucca, who arrived during our stay. Pucca is young but doing well so far.

Ubu (top) and Pucca (bottom) below bars...

Another baby arrived just a few days before we left the sanctuary, Cheyenne. Unfortunately Cheyenne is very sick and the staff don't know if he'll survive.

Here are some random pictures of some of the babies.

Cosmo and Mateo protecting their dinners.

Ubu post physio...

Xenia and Karol feeding Athena.