Yesterday afternoon we tried out ziplining at Selvatura Adventure Park, which claims to have one of the longest cables in Costa Rica and to be the only one truly immersed in virgin forest. It was the first time for everyone and we all had a blast!
They have 15 cables and 18 viewing platforms, traversing over three kilometres of forest, the longest at 1000m long! The shorter zip lines could be ridden solo and we were instructed to cross our feet and hold our knees up. Because she was too small to go alone, Gwynne rode with one of the guides while the rest of us went solo. We each wore gloves with a thick pad that served as a brake. On the longer zip lines, two had to ride together with the rear person wrapping their legs around the one in front and responsible for braking.
It was sheer exhilaration to soar high over the forest canopy, the cable whizzing by above us and the trees zooming past below. Once we even caught a glimpse of distant Lake Arenal, far to the north. Following a bit of drizzle on the 1km span we were advised that the reduced friction would cause us to go extra fast, likely in excess of 80kph! Indeed, it was so fast that I had some difficulty braking as my hand would fly off the cable every time I tried to apply it. Luckily, the operator at the bottom has a means of braking as well, but it sure made for an exciting, sudden ending!
Before we did the last big zip line, we had the option to try the giant “Tarzan Swing” which all of us decided to do. Although I’ve never tried either, I imagine the sensation of dropping off the 30ft high platform is a bit like bungee-jumping or sky-diving would feel like. Your stomach feels like it goes up into your throat for a few seconds before the rope takes the weight and you swing out high above the forest floor. I was super impressed with both the girls for doing it: Solana for volunteering first and Gwynne for being right behind her big sister. We all loved it! Here are some videos of our experience:
The next day (Tue. Oct. 4th) we returned to Selvatura to check out their Reptile park and got a chance to see some Costa Rican snakes, lizards and frogs up close. It seems Costa Ricans have a healthy respect for snakes and for good reason: there are 162 snake species in the country and 22 of them are venomous. We learned about the two types of snake venom: neurotoxin and hemotoxin. Neurotoxin is the more deadly since it destroys nerve tissues and therefore acts very quickly. Hemotoxin destroys red blood cells, disrupts clotting and causes organ degeneration but is slower acting. We learned that the thing to do in case of a snake bite is simple: get to the hospital within 4 hours! Anti-venoms exist and are widely available in Costa Rica for all snakes except the Yellow-bellied Sea Snake (whose bite is fortunately very rare).
We got a look at the most dangerous Costa Rican snake: the Fer-de-Lance (or Terciopelo Viper – means “Velvet Viper”). “Fer-de-lance” is French for Spearhead. While it is not the most venomous snake in Costa Rica (ranks 2nd to the Neo-tropical Rattlesnake), its extremely aggressive nature makes it the most dangerous, accounting for 50% of all snake attacks in the country. The Eyelash Viper is named for its superciliary scales above the eyes that look like lashes. Boa constrictors are the largest snake in Costa Rica but are non-venomous and not a threat to humans, the largest ones taking small monkeys as their largest prey. Neo-tropical Rattlesnakes are considered the most venomous snake in Costa Rica because they can inject both hemo- and neurotoxin in a single bite. We learned a cool mnemonic for telling the difference between the real Costal Rican Coral Snake and its non-venomous look-a-likes: “red touch yellow: kills a fellow; red touch black: friend of Jack”. One very cool lizard is the Plumed Basilisk or Jesus Christ Lizard, so named because of its ability to run on water.
Snakes aren’t the only poisonous creatures in Costa Rica. There are also many species of poisonous frogs who can be potentially lethal if handled because they emit poison through their skin. One example we saw at Selvatura was the Blue-Jeans Frog (or Strawberry Poison Dart Frog), named for its blue legs. The frog’s bright colours warn off predators because the colours signal the toxicity for which the Poison-dart is named. The most lethal animal toxin known belongs to a frog related to the Blue-jeans (Phyllobates terribilis – Golden Poison Frog found in Columbia); poison from a single individual of that species can kill twenty thousand mice or ten adult humans. Needless to say, brightly coloured relatives like the Blue-jeans have few predators. Another example we saw is the Green-and-Black Poison Dart Frog. Gwynne has put together a nice chart comparing the species counts between Canada and Costa Rica. For amphibians the score is Canada 47, Costa Rica 174!
- blue jeans frog
- boa constrictor
- canopy tour
- cloud forest
- eyelash viper
- fer-de-lance
- golden poison frog
- green-and-black poison dart frog
- hemotoxin
- jesus christ lizard
- lake arenal
- monteverde
- neotropical rattlesnake
- neurotoxin
- phyllobates terribilis
- plumed basilisk
- reptile park
- santa elena
- santa elena cloud forest
- selvatura adventure park
- strawberry poison dart frog
- tarzan swing
- terciopelo
- zip line
Nice job on the Tarzan swing 🙂 Tell Gwynne I screamed on that one too! Did you do the ‘superman’ on the last long zipline? Riven wants to know if you saw a ‘blue jeans’ frog? Red with blue legs. These were her favourite.
Hi Donya. No, we didn’t go superman-style on the last run. It looked super fun, but cost extra so maybe next time. Did you guys do it? Tell Riven we loved the blue jeans frogs too and saw tons of them in the wild at Selva Verde/Sarapiqui. We learned to recognize their call because they were calling non-stop around our room. They are super cute!