Hacienda Barú

Hacienda Barú is an ecotourism lodge near Dominical on the central Pacific coast. It has wonderful swamp forest, beach, and mangrove habitats

top image: taken by Henry Fandel

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on the way to Hacienda Barú, we stopped at the Tárcoles River to see the crocodiles that hang out near the bridge

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Hacienda Barú: a great place to see iconic tropical birds like the Yellow-throated toucan

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butterfly in the garden at Hacienda Barú

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we found many curved brown seed pods from Enterolobium cyclocarpum trees, also known as oreja de elefante (elephant ear)

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Professor Shepherd with a cacao pod (not quite ripe, unfortunately)

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the only poison dart frogs (Dendrobatidae) found on the trip were seen by those who climbed the hill back from the ocean to go zip lining

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a 3-toed sloth seen near the entrance road

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a caiman living in a swamp a little ways down the beach from Hacienda Barú...

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...in another nearby swamp, not thinking much about caimans, we went to look at the mangrove forest

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hanging out on a Red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) prop root

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back to the dining area after a hard day of field biology

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bartender's POV: 17 tequila shots

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on night walks to the beach, we saw herbivorous halloween crabs (Gecarcinus quadratus) out foraging

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the beach at Hacienda Barú was magical: no lights or buildings, bioluminescent critters sparkling in the waves at night

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