We spent our meal times talking to two doctors (Bill and Michael - Michael had already gone to bed at picture taking time), one from the USA and one from Canada - they were friends that met at medical college and always travelled together at least once a year. Bill wore this fancy shirt to attract hummingbirds.
pretty big boa constrictor
The walk back to Carate was mostly along the beach which was quite hard work and hot even though we set off at 4am
Funky crab
Even though the tapirs were really amazing, they were not the highlight of the trip, the best wildlife sighting came less than half an hour from the end of the trail. We were lucky enough to see a tamadua (aboreal anteater) on the side of the trail eating a coconut (perhaps he was bored of ants!). It was amazing and was only a few feet from us - again my camera told me it was full which was great timing!
We thought things couldn't get any better and then we saw another one this time with a baby! It was so cute. It had to hang on tight while the mum trundled about the forest floor, up and under branches and even up the trunk of a palm tree. While the mum was busy eating a coconut the baby took the opportunity to relax and turned its head to one side and closed its eyes for a quick nap.
The baby looks as though it's draped over the mums back but its actually clinging on really tightly.
20 mins from the end there was a great spot in the river for swimming, unlike the sea it was nice and cool which made it really refreshing
After Carate ranger station we had another 3km to walk on the boiling hot beach (I am sure it was more like 5km!). This poor horse has to pull a cart of toilet rolls along the beach in the midday sun, the umbrella was just for the man, I think the horse should be allowed to have one too.
As we walked along the beach the boundary of the National Park could clearly be seen as once the park ended houses began, however there wasn't as much development as you would expect considering the beautiful beach and view. On the way we decided that vast stretches of coastline the world over had been spared the scourge of tourists and associated development purely because the sea wasn't suitable for swimming in, several tourists had drowned here recently. Dangerous sea with rip tides, undertows and the worlds most ferocious shark the bull shark has saved this bit of coast.
The end of the trail, still smiling..... little did Ralph know that he would be bringing a good number of ticks back with him to the hotel
Roger our guide was hyperactive, even though we were feeling sunbaked and tired Roger was birding all the way home (about 2 hours in a taxi) and we stopped for birds all the way, this is a southern lapwing.
scarlet macaw
rude gecko pic
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