As most of you know, I have a thing for Landrovers, specifically Defenders. Those amazing square boxes with the aerodynamics of a 2 ton brick, limited comfort and a selection of freely included rattles that require the installation of a substantial sound system to ensure that they are kept at bay.
One of the saddest days of my life was when, upon leaving South Africa for the second time we had to sell our long wheelbase Defender. We bought this vehicle from a strange dude in Joburg who lived in a fake castle, I kid you not. Apparently his daughter wanted to live in a castle so he built her one! Talk about being spoilt. Anyway, this dude did not care for the vehicle in any way and had treated it really badly over the years. We unfortunately paid the price and over the next 2 years we replaced more parts on the vehicle than Cher has had parts adjusted via her plastic surgeon.....
Steering box, water pump, front diff, clutch cable, batteries, ht leads, brakes, the list goes on. However this vehicle was a limited edition Landy with the BMW 2.8 V6 petrol engine and once I had the BMW racing garage in Joburg make the necessary adjustments we could drop VW Golf GTI's in first and second gear much to their disgust. Needless to say, this vehicle could go absolutely anywhere and we had loads of fun with it doing 4x4 trails all over the country. Fuel consumption, now that's a whole different story!
Sitting outside Casa Tranqulo in Santa Elena in Costa Rica I hear this rough sounding Diesel engine in the distance. I know that sound very well, having heard it many times before in Africa. Around the corner appears this clapped out old Series 3(I think) Landy and stops in front of the hostel. He knows the owner. The dude driving must have thought I was mentally deranged as I leapt up to take pictures and touch the wonderful machine that was clearly held together with cello tape and chewing gum, both of which were coming apart.
What a great vehicle, well color co-ordinated too, still with the original rims, awesome. After allowing my small epiphany he fired up the Landy and disappeared off in a cloud of diesel fumes, probably happy to escape the deranged Gringo hanging off his vehicle. Any country that has Landys can't be all that bad then!
Monteverde cloud forest - wow! Santa Elena cloud forest - wow. The primary and secondary cloud forests here are amazing. The bio-diversity is off the charts. The array of mammals, birds,reptiles and flora is just astounding. I spent 3 days, 6-8 hours a day wandering the forests searching for sloths and Jaguars. Needless to say, these forests are incredibly dense and the chances of finding these secret denizens are very slim. I'm sure I have whiplash from staring up at the huge trees looking for sloths which disguise themselves as moss covered branches. Sloths 1, Forrest 0.
I was however quite lucky and in the Monteverde forest I found howler monkeys, a coati, a strange looking squirrel along with some amazing birds such as a pair of collared redstarts. Google them, they are wonderful little birds. I found them nesting in a small mud hole at the side of the trail. Birds of prey abound and looking up in a clear area you will see turkey vultures, black vultures and numerous hawk species hanging on the thermals or using the persistent breeze to stay aloft. All in all a very pleasant experience and I would definitely recommend a 3-5 day visit to the area. Some of the lodges look very comfortable and have awesome views.
Walking the 6km back out of the Monteverde forest I came across a small coffee shop that had humming bird feeders in place. They were absolutely mobbed by these awesome birds and on numerous occasions I was almost crashed into by them as they attacked the feeders. Excuse the poor quality video, not my strong point.
Unfortunately my hostel was right on the main drag in and out of town so traffic noise from 5am to 10pm was constant. Easily remedied by heading into the cloud forest away from humanity. I did a night forest walk with probably the worlds most incompetent guide. I think he is related to the crazy Panamanian lunch dude who used to yell at everyone. This chap simply did not get the need for walking and talking quietly. He also had the spotting ability of a blind silkworm. The only thing he found for us was a stick dangling from a vine high up in the canopy that he was sure was a monkey tail. Looking through the binoculars it was clear he had spotted a stick! Luckily his clients found a coati and an agouti and later on I found an amazing bat who just kept posing for pictures, no matter how close people got to him. He should have tipped us at the end of the tour.....
Off to Arenal and La Fortuna now to get the volcano and hot spring experience. So much to see and so little time!
Hasta Luego!
One of the saddest days of my life was when, upon leaving South Africa for the second time we had to sell our long wheelbase Defender. We bought this vehicle from a strange dude in Joburg who lived in a fake castle, I kid you not. Apparently his daughter wanted to live in a castle so he built her one! Talk about being spoilt. Anyway, this dude did not care for the vehicle in any way and had treated it really badly over the years. We unfortunately paid the price and over the next 2 years we replaced more parts on the vehicle than Cher has had parts adjusted via her plastic surgeon.....
Steering box, water pump, front diff, clutch cable, batteries, ht leads, brakes, the list goes on. However this vehicle was a limited edition Landy with the BMW 2.8 V6 petrol engine and once I had the BMW racing garage in Joburg make the necessary adjustments we could drop VW Golf GTI's in first and second gear much to their disgust. Needless to say, this vehicle could go absolutely anywhere and we had loads of fun with it doing 4x4 trails all over the country. Fuel consumption, now that's a whole different story!
Sitting outside Casa Tranqulo in Santa Elena in Costa Rica I hear this rough sounding Diesel engine in the distance. I know that sound very well, having heard it many times before in Africa. Around the corner appears this clapped out old Series 3(I think) Landy and stops in front of the hostel. He knows the owner. The dude driving must have thought I was mentally deranged as I leapt up to take pictures and touch the wonderful machine that was clearly held together with cello tape and chewing gum, both of which were coming apart.
Monteverde cloud forest - wow! Santa Elena cloud forest - wow. The primary and secondary cloud forests here are amazing. The bio-diversity is off the charts. The array of mammals, birds,reptiles and flora is just astounding. I spent 3 days, 6-8 hours a day wandering the forests searching for sloths and Jaguars. Needless to say, these forests are incredibly dense and the chances of finding these secret denizens are very slim. I'm sure I have whiplash from staring up at the huge trees looking for sloths which disguise themselves as moss covered branches. Sloths 1, Forrest 0.
Walking the 6km back out of the Monteverde forest I came across a small coffee shop that had humming bird feeders in place. They were absolutely mobbed by these awesome birds and on numerous occasions I was almost crashed into by them as they attacked the feeders. Excuse the poor quality video, not my strong point.
Unfortunately my hostel was right on the main drag in and out of town so traffic noise from 5am to 10pm was constant. Easily remedied by heading into the cloud forest away from humanity. I did a night forest walk with probably the worlds most incompetent guide. I think he is related to the crazy Panamanian lunch dude who used to yell at everyone. This chap simply did not get the need for walking and talking quietly. He also had the spotting ability of a blind silkworm. The only thing he found for us was a stick dangling from a vine high up in the canopy that he was sure was a monkey tail. Looking through the binoculars it was clear he had spotted a stick! Luckily his clients found a coati and an agouti and later on I found an amazing bat who just kept posing for pictures, no matter how close people got to him. He should have tipped us at the end of the tour.....
Off to Arenal and La Fortuna now to get the volcano and hot spring experience. So much to see and so little time!
Hasta Luego!
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