Monteverde Cloud Forest

ForestsPuntarenas,Costa Rica

A Costa Rican ridge inside the cloud rather than under it, crossed on hanging bridges through 500 orchid species, and home to the resplendent quetzal.

September·Quiet month

Sep–Oct

October is the rainiest month, with rain on well over half the days and multi-day Caribbean systems. The reserve stays open, but much of the town cuts back or closes, tour operators included, and heavy rain can shut trail sections. Crowds vanish.

Year-round Cloud clings to the ridge most days of the year, feeding the moss, ferns and roughly 500 orchids that pad every branch; hummingbirds work the feeders and the forest drips through the dry months.

Monteverde is a ridge in Costa Rica that sits inside the cloud rather than under it, and it does not wait for rain. Moss, ferns and hanging epiphytes comb droplets out of the passing wind, and the water drips off them to the ground. The fine, wind-driven mist has a local name, pelo de gato, cat's hair, and this horizontal rain keeps the streams running through months when nothing falls from the sky. The trail carries you onto a suspension bridge slung across a ravine, and the canopy arrives at eye level. Orchids, bromeliads and mosses grow on bare branches that normally sit far above your head. That rigging has a history. In 1979 a biologist strung cables between rainforest trees so ecologists could work in a canopy they could barely reach; in the 1990s it became a paying ride. The reserve on the far flank of these mountains was paid for by schoolchildren and is now bigger than Monteverde itself, the country's largest private reserve. Guides find the resplendent quetzal by call, then swing a scope onto a branch: a male, iridescent green, two tail streamers trailing past his body. The place to look is around fruiting wild avocado: the small green aguacatillo they pluck in mid-hover and swallow whole is the reason they are here at all. On the same trails a collared redstart flits a metre ahead of you, using you as a beater to kick insects out of the leaf litter. Costa Ricans call it the friend of man. At the feeders by the gate a dozen hummingbird species fight over sugar water at arm's length, and you hear the wingbeats first. An hour of climbing ends on the continental divide. The Caribbean wind comes over the ridge carrying its cloud and hits you full in the face, the trees stunted and bent downwind, one slope draining to the Pacific and the other back east. The golden toad lived in this forest and nowhere else. It was last seen in 1989, and has been the emblem for what happens when the cloud lifts ever since.

Worth knowing

Good to know

Be at the gate for the 7am opening — the first two hours are when the forest feeds and calls, and the trails stay quiet until the mid-morning groups arrive from Santa Elena.
Hire a naturalist guide, then walk the same trail again on your own — guides carry scopes and know which trunks hold nests, but the second, slower lap is when you start finding things yourself.
Entry runs on timed slots and the reserve limits how many people are inside at once — book online in the busy months and turn up early for your slot.
Trails are mud and slick roots even in the dry months — closed-toe shoes with real grip beat sandals, and a rain jacket beats an umbrella under constantly dripping branches.

Things to do

1
Cross the canopy on a hanging bridge
The reserve's trail carries you onto a suspension bridge slung across a ravine, and the canopy arrives at eye level. Orchids, bromeliads and mosses grow on bare branches normally far above your head, with nothing but green below. Longer bridge circuits run through the private parks along the same ridge.
2
Spot the resplendent quetzal
Guides find them by call, then swing a scope onto a branch, and there he is: a male, iridescent green, two tail streamers trailing far past his body. Look for pairs around fruiting wild avocado trees — the aguacatillo fruit they pluck in mid-hover, and swallow whole, is the reason they are here at all. On the same trails a collared redstart, found only in the highlands of Costa Rica and Panama, may flit a metre ahead of you the whole way. You are a beater, kicking insects out of the leaf litter, which is why Costa Ricans call it el amigo del hombre.
3
Watch hummingbirds spar at the feeders
At the feeders by the gate a dozen species fight over sugar water at arm's length, from the violet sabrewing — big, purple and bad-tempered — to the coppery-headed emerald, which lives nowhere but Costa Rica. You hear the wingbeats before you see the birds.
4
Meet the kinkajous after dark
On a night walk the forest changes cast. Kinkajous and olingos crash through the fruiting trees overhead, birds sleep in plain sight on low branches, and tarantulas sit at the mouths of their burrows. A guide's torch beam picks out eyes you would never have known were watching.
5
Stand on the continental divide at La Ventana
An hour of climbing ends at a wooden platform called La Ventana, the window, planted on the line where Costa Rica drains two ways. Caribbean wind comes over the ridge carrying its cloud and hits you full in the face; the trees up here are stunted and bent downwind. The Pacific slope falls away on one side, the Caribbean on the other.

Watch

Nearby

21 km