shaytravels

where is central and south america is the best place to see poison dart frogs and other amphibians?

MichelleY

We saw some in Costa Rica.

MY

volcanogirl

Another vote for Costa Rica.

shillmac

You'd love the nighttime frog tour at La Paz waterfalls!

steph270

have seen them last 2 trips to costa rica

volcanogirl

shay, the Peace Lodge that shillmac references has a ranarium and will even let you hold them. We got wonderful pictures there. Also saw a wild one at Bosque del Cabo on the Osa.

sumi

We just returned from the Osa penninsula in Costa Rica and saw a pond full of too-cool-to-be-real frogs at Bosque del Cabo during an evening hike, not to mention snakes and spiders as big as my hand...

By the way, during the guided walk, Philip could hear a red-eyed tree frog calling but couldn't find it. Halfway during dinner, he came to find my son and told him he'd found it and took him back to the pond. We ended up getting a little private tour. It was very cool.

shaytravels

The Osa penensila sounds great. I have been to Costa Rica before, I flew into San Jose. There were so many species I wanted to see, but was never able to find.I know Osa is a good 200 miles from san jose. What would be the best way to get there for non spanish speekers? Particularly the la paz area?

volcanogirl

If you want to go to the Osa, you just fly to San Jose and then take either Sansa or NatureAir to Puerto Jimenez; any lodge where you stay should come to the "airport" and pick you up. The airport is really just a gravel runway by the graveyard, so I use the term loosely. We stayed at Bosque del Cabo and loved it.

If you're talking about the La Paz Waterfall Gardens, it's in the opposite direction - about an hour northish of San Jose. The Peace Lodge is a popular hotel there.

gannetmusic

For 'wild' poison dart frogs there are several options. Closer to San Jose than the Osa is the Sarapiqui region , about a 2 hour drive from San Jose airport. The La Selva Biological Station is a great place to find poison dart frogs [and loads of other creatures.] We've seen several poison dart frogs [of two species] on the grounds of both La Quinta de Sarapiqui Lodge and Selva Verde Lodge in the Sarapiqui area..

I DON'T suggest the 'ranarium" at La Paz. It would be a shame to travel all the way to CR to view frogs in an artificial environment.

The 'neatest' poison dart frog we've seen was at Villa Lapas in the Cebtral Pacific area. It was an absolutely stunning emerald green and black colour.

I'm sure the Osa . as noted above would be another great choice. and the Osa does have an endemic species , the Golfo Dulce Poison Dart Frog.

Cheers,

Jerry [In Toronto and waiting for the 8 additional inches of snow forecast for this evening....].

volcanogirl

I think shillmac's suggestion was a good one; even though it's a ranarium, it feels like a very natural environment. The frogs are all loose and swimming in the water, hopping on leaves, out in the open. You travel through in the dark with a tiny flashlight to make the observation as natural as possible. We really enjoyed it. The woman who guided us through gave us a lot of information about their life cycles, reproduction, eating habits and that sort of thing. It was a good educational experience.

tully

Agree with Jerry there are many in & around Selva Verde/La Selva area. I literally was almost tripping over them during my stay at Selva Verde. Lots of them seem around the grounds at Bosque del Cabo, in the Osa as well.

volcanogirl

tully and Jerry, are there certain times of day that are better for spotting them in the wild? We've only seen one, and it was just in the leaf litter, and we almost missed it. Have the ones you've come across been on trees or down below? Maybe I've been too distracted by monkeys!

tully

vg - that's so weird, around BdC and Selva Verde I stopped really taking notice of them as there were just so many they became kind of blase, lol. I can't really think of specific time I saw them more than others. I guess just to say to make sure to scan the sides of the trails and such, walking slowly and looking for any movement. Or go to Selva Verde, they're all over the sidewalks there and like to hang out at the pool, and in it!

gannetmusic

We've seen them during the day.

Some of the other amphibians seem to be more nocturnal and much easier to see on a night tour.

Yes, the 'monkey factor' can be a problem....lol. We're biders and have to frequently remind ourselves to 'look down'......

Probably the easiest /most we've seen was along the little river trail at La Quinta. There were good numbers of Strawberry poison dart frogs along that trail on a couple of visits.

Jerry

hipvirgochick

When we visited Mundo Aventuras butterfly garden after the canopy tour, there were a ton of them in there. The guide keeped seeming surprised to see them, but there were quite a few. Do they eat butterflies? Yikes!

hipvirgochick

Oops! Sorry, that was in Arenal area. If you want to do a nocturnal walk, I think most areas offer them, you just have to ask.

volcanogirl

I definitely think the monkey factor is in play for us; we'll have to remind ourselves to look down on occasion! In 4 days at BdC, we saw one, but that one thrilled us.

shaytravels

Wow, I'm glad to have gotten such great responces! It looks like everyone is big fans of the frogs in CR How about the south american countries? Any good sightings down that way?