Osa Wildlife Sanctuary

We woke up early this morning because we had a tour of the Osa Wildlife Sanctuary scheduled for 9am and the boat would take 45 minutes to get there. We couldn’t drive because apparently, there’s no road, so boat was the only option. Apparently the usual person to make this trip is gone for the month of October, so we talked to Nelson, the waiter in the bar who agreed to take us on somebody else’s boat for a reasonable price. We ate our tuna fish sandwiches (might have cooked something but we ran out of propane last night and nobody has any for sale), and headed out to the dock, which was less of a “dock” per-se, and more of somebody’s backyard who happens to also have a dock in said backyard.

Despite being very bumpy, the boat ride was also very pretty, with jungle, trees, beaches, palms, and gorgeous water every inch of the way. The weather was nice, the breeze of the boat was just the right thing to cool us off as we made our way toward the remote beach where the sanctuary was housed.

We got to the beach and there was no dock, so they put the butt end of the boat onto the beach and we hopped off into the shallows, totally rowboat from a pirate ship style. we were greeted with with a bright-eyed volunteer named Marie who took us off the beach and into the treeline, chattering all the while. This woman was obviously hired for her knowledge, eagerness to spread that knowledge, and ability to relay that knowledge in a non-stop fashion. For about 90 minutes, she told us about parrots, weasels, toucans, pigs, skinks, cormorants, capuchin monkeys, squirrel monkeys, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, sloths, trees, honey bears, crocodiles, and many many more things both great and horrible that always encircle wildlife refuges.

The first animal we saw was a red macaw who was blind in one eye and had misshapen wings due to poor care. Sadly, the parrot didn’t have an eyepatch, even though I’m sure it would have appreciated the irony and rocked it. It looked friendly enough, but apparently had 700 lbs/sq in. of pressure in its beak and an obvious desire to “remove our fingers at the knuckle.” We didn’t offer to shake hands or feed it peanuts.

We were shown a little owl, a fresh rescue from a few days before, that someone had taken a machete to its wing. It may never fly again, but they’re hopeful. It seemed cute, but their little skulls are so full of eyes that there’s not much room for brains, so that whole owl wisdom thing, probably a myth.

We moved on to the tayra enclosure, something that looked like a cross between a cat and a weasel. It was supposedly the “runt of the litter” which means these things must get really big. Why someone would want a pet giant weasel cat, I’m not sure, but there’s a market for them somewhere. We got to feed it Craisins through the bars of its cage and it rubbed against our fingers like a happy cat. Now that I’ve written down “giant weasel cat,” I kinda want one.

Next, we found out that toucans are the assholes of the bird kingdom, occasionally killing the female birds in other nests to eat their eggs, then, waiting around to kill the male for no reason–ostensibly boredom. If you’re not careful, they like to go for your eyes with their razor-sharp serrated bills, and we were told numerous stories about people almost or actually losing eyes to toucans. There was a much finer mesh around the toucan cage to prevent accidental ocular proximity problems.

We learned that, like honey badgers, honey bears don’t give a crap. They hung out in their little house and didn’t want anything to do with the guide’s figs. They looked down on us from on high, made little squeaky noises at each other, and just stayed out of reach. She had to feed them with a date on a stick.

Costa Rica is home to a specific type of pig that is also not very friendly, but quite food oriented. The pig enclosure had no doors–that’s how unfriendly they were. The food was given to them via a bucket on a rope, so that nobody would have to enter the enclosure. They had sharp teeth, little wiggly noses and they play an important part in rainforest ecology. By creating mud wallows, they ensure that water stays during the dry season, which increases the number of frogs in the area. Without the pigs, no frogs. People still find these pigs tasty–their nickname is the “poor man’s tamale,” as they are often hunted and eaten. Eli wanted to pet them, and she might have gotten away with a little snout rub, but those teeth were pretty ominous.

In addition to being a refuge full of cages with interesting animals in them, the atmosphere seemed to be welcoming to wild animals as well. We saw a huge rat-like thing, a bunch of weird bristle-headed birds, skinks, and even some wild monkeys who were guarding the other monkey cage to kill anybody who escaped.

The monkeys in the cage were white-faced capuchin monkeys, all rescued from being pets of one type or another. The pet lifestyle wasn’t good to them, and we had some of their stories related to us–sad and terrible. They seemed to be doing pretty well in their new home, however, but there was little to no chance of them ever returning to the wild.

We got to feed a family of sloths, who are as slow moving as advertised, but were far more interested  in being fed by us than even the guide expected. They have wet noses like dogs, fur that grows moss, and they can regenerate their skin and hair if they’ve only been partially eaten. The musculature of sloths makes it much easier for them to grip something than to open their claws, and scientists have found sloths still hanging from trees weeks after they die. These non-dead sloths were actually quite cute, and seemed totally down to be petted, but we were asked not to. I think the guides pet them too much and ruin it for the rest of us. After the sloths began moving en masse toward us, the guide got a little freaked out and decided we better bid them adieu and made a hasty retreat.

Finally, we were taken to a clearing where we asked a bunch of questions and were greeted by the owner of the refuge, Carol, who introduced us to a spider monkey named Sweetie. Sweetie was quite happy to be scratched by us, grabbing our hands and pointing where she wanted to be scratched. Who knows if she was actually itchy or if she just wanted the attention, but either way, Eli got to hold a monkey on her lap and scratch it to her heart’s content.

The guides spent the time we were in the refuge fishing. They were mildly successful and brought home dinner! Morgan wants to try fishing while we’re here.

Once we got the boat started (a challenge in itself), the ride back was significantly less choppy and we enjoyed the nice weather and beautiful views all the way back to Zancudo. When we got back, the tide had gone out and many of the boats in the harbor were sitting in the mud and silt of the mangrove forest. Tonight, we’re off to see if we can catch the sunset, and maybe we’ll even order a pizza. Until then, we have PBJs to tide us over.