By Elizabeth Gagliardi
In Costa Rica it gets dark pretty early, almost always before 6:30 PM. I often found myself getting tired as the sun set and the day’s multiple cups of coffee wore off, feeling ready to head to bed as early as 7:00 some nights. While I was getting ready to go to sleep, though, the rainforest was still very much awake. A few times, I stayed up and ventured into the forest on a night hike to experience the nightlife for myself. The handful of guided night hikes I went on were some of my favorite experiences of my time in Costa Rica. The guides I was lucky enough to hike with in the BEN left me in awe of their knowledge of the forest and ability to uncover secret wonders that my untrained eye would never have spotted. In the Children’s Eternal Rainforest (“BEN”), anything you see on a hike is there naturally, since they never manipulate or feed the animals for visitors. That being said, it’s better not to start a hike with expectations of seeing a specific animal, but in a place as biodiverse as the BEN, you’re bound to see something exciting. Plus, the mystery of not knowing what lies ahead makes any sighting all the more special.
Being in the rainforest at any time of day is an amazing experience, but there’s something extra special about going in at night. On a night hike you’ll have a flashlight, but not relying completely on the sense of sight changes the experience. On one night hike near the San Gerardo field station, our guide stopped and asked everyone to turn off the flashlights just to listen and try to count how many layers of sound we could identify. I lost count around 10. The chorus of different frogs, crickets and birds meshed with falling rain, rustling leaves and the trickling of a stream flowing nearby. The whole thing sounded like one of those nature soundtracks you might hear in a yoga class or put on to help you fall asleep, but more vibrant and so alive. While it’s true that the rainforest is filled with vibrant colors and spectacular sights, the symphony of surrounding sounds can be just as breathtaking when you tune in.
Despite the limited visibility, if you know where to look there’s actually quite a lot to see in the forest at night as well. Personally, trying to find tiny frogs, snakes and other critters in the dark jungle seemed near impossible at first, but night hikes are at a slower pace, allowing time to look around, and after following the guides into the forest, things begin to reveal themselves. The guides that lead night hikes in the BEN are like walking encyclopedias of forest knowledge. They seem to know the place like the back of their hand, and not only do they know frogs’ favorite spots, what kind of spider wove the impressive web on that tree, and where to look for bio-luminescence, but they also take time to explain interesting plant species you may pass by and how every little detail of the forest is interconnected. Every hike I took I learned something new, and I left each with a deeper appreciation for all of the life within the forest. Even the plant life, which at first glance can just seem like a mass of green, is incredibly diverse and full of surprises, like the Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) plant. This plant looks pretty much like all the other green leafy vegetation growing around, but when you look underneath, there are red markings on the underside of its leaves. Not only is this plant beautiful, our guide explained, but the red markings are a survival tool as well. The plant grows at the top of the canopy, and it relies on hummingbirds to pollinate its flowers. Unfortunately for this plant, hummingbirds rarely fly to the top of the canopy. However, they are attracted to the color red, and so the Sangre de Cristo plant evolved to have the red spots on the underside of its leaves where hummingbirds below will spot a flash of red, fly up, and feed on its nectar, pollinating the flower.
While learning about new plants is fascinating, for most people the highlight of a night hike is getting to see the animals species that come out at night. Since BEN doesn’t feed or manipulate animals, what you will see on any given night hike is a total surprise. In my opinion, this element of surprise adds to the fun of the night hike experience, plus this also means that whatever you do see is the real deal. It doesn’t get more authentic than that. On one night hike in Bajo del Tigre, we saw a mot mot on a branch with its head tucked under a wing, fast asleep, as well as countless cool insects (including a ton of walking and flying stick insects), some beautiful moths, a frog, a tarantula, and my favorite of the night – a scorpion. Eduardo, our guide, explained that there are many species of scorpions in the world and many of the ones found in Costa Rica are actually pretty harmless. Their sting will hurt, but won’t kill you (much like getting a bee sting). Just when I thought it couldn’t get much cooler, our guide pulled out a blacklight and held it over the scorpion which glowed under the UV. Why scorpions glow under UV light is not well understood, but it sure was impressive. On another night hike near San Gerardo, our guide picked up some sticks from beside the trail. At first I wondered why we had stopped for a couple of sticks, but he then asked us all to turn off our flashlights and the sticks glowed in the dark! To me, it seemed like magic but of course there is a scientific explanation – bio-luminescent fungus. Even the smallest details in the rainforest are full of incredible surprises.
On that same hike in San Gerardo, we spotted a palm striped pit viper hanging out on a tree branch, a glass frog, and a rufous-eyed rain frog. Many frogs are nocturnal, making them a fan favorite on night hikes. On one night in Pocosol we found eleven different species! I’m certainly no frog expert, but I would bet that I managed to see more different types of frogs in one weekend at Pocosol than I’d seen in my life. While all of the species we saw were exciting in their own right, my favorite by far was the red eyed tree frog. We spotted this breathtaking frog on a bush at the beginning of our night hike, and although I’d seen photos of this species before I was stunned by how bright and beautiful it’s colors were in real life. While there’s no guarantee of seeing a red eyed tree frog or any other species on any given night hike, the possibility alone is well worth going. Every night hike I’ve taken in the BEN has been a unique and magical experience, full of surprises and some truly spectacular species.
If you’ll be visiting the Monteverde area, make sure you find an evening to experience the rainforest after dark! Check out the BEN website here for rates and to make a reservation for a night hike in Bajo del Tigre or to stay at a field station in San Gerardo or Pocosol.
Elizabeth Gagliardi successfully completed an internship with the Monteverde Conservation League and Children’s Eternal Rainforest from June to August 2018. She is a student at Lehigh University.