Nat Hab has spent more than 30 years scouting Costa Rica’s Pacific and Caribbean coastlines, rain forests, cloud forests, national parks and wildlife refuges for nature encounters off the standard tourist track. Many travelers return home with stunning pictures of their Central American adventures, and we’re sharing some of our favorite shots of birds and sloths below. One featured photographer, Will Bracken, recalls how helpful his Expedition Leader was with identifying exotic birds, while another traveler, Edward Mann, recounts, “There it all was first hand—the pungent odor of an ocelot, the colorful vision of an eyelash viper, an alert agouti, a venomous millipede and the rain in the rain forest. In Costa Rica, the rain forest is only one of the systems we explored. We also wandered through the cloud forest with its resplendent quetzals, exquisite hummingbirds and so much more to see and photograph.”
Fiery-throated hummingbird © Doug & Tish Beach
Two-toed sloth © Bruce White
Resplendent quetzal © Eric Lutkin
Red-fronted parrot © Will Bracken
Red-capped manakin © Eric Lutkin
Three-toed sloth © Eric Lutkin
Blue-throated Toucanet © Will Bracken
Three-toed sloth © Will Bracken
Parakeet with a grub © Will Bracken
Collared aracari © Edward Mann
Three-toed sloth © Will Bracken
Snowy-bellied hummingbird © Doug & Tish Beach
Scarlet macaw © Will Bracken
White-throated hummingbird © Edward Mann
Visit secluded ecolodges, private sanctuaries and biological reserves filled with sloths, scarlet macaws and much more. Join our small-group expedition to explore remote places you’re unlikely to get to on your own and encounter Costa Rica in a whole different way.
