Casa del Cabo

Back we went on our Lodge boat and into the car for two hours to little Puerto Jimenez  and the final hours' drive to Casa del Cabo which we were apprehensive about as we knew it was sometimes impassable and always challenging. And we had no insurance for driving across rivers..an occupational hazard there. Obviously we did end up driving across one but it was ok, the very narrow bridges more of a challenge.

We'd booked a " garden cabin room without walls " a half mile from the  Lodge itself, reached through a walk along a narrow rope bridge  and  the bush. It's distinguishing feature is that the cabin has literally  no walls and was open to the jungle.. and there's nobody else within half a mile..apart from amazing night noises and  the morning cacophony of howler monkeys.The only nervous moment was on the first night walking back after our  dinner at the lodge, pitch black apart from our head torches and picking up the gleaming eyes of the wild pigs, tusks and all, in between us and our cabin.We found out later that they're used to the guests...

The usual dawn start for the  local Titi trail with a guided good leg stretching walk through the bush.

Our local hairy friends ..

We then spent most of the day in and around the cabin...in the wild..a good moment when was Nic played some music to accompany his pilates session and set off the  local howler monkey troops all around us.

Late afternoon we went off birding..and finished off the day with a view of the setting sun over the sea.

Our second night in the cabin, with a nighttime walk back from the lodge, featuring snakes, including a Ferdinand, ( potentially very unpleasant ) spiders and bats , was our last, as our final two nights were in  a rather more splendid cabin with a sea view close to the Lodge itself.

We then did the Golf Dulce hike, unguided, a long steamy hike through the bush. Saw some giant bullfrogs, some very attractive green/black frogs ( poisonous to the touch apparently ) a troop of capuchin monkeys that were great fun and loads of macaws.

We finished the day off with another birding tour : just so much to see...

It was very luxurious in the lodge, great food and wine and all very sociable too. Which didn't help next morning's dawn start for a stroll around the Lodge gardens, brekkers and then the Pacifio walk down to the coast and a bit of a dip though the rollers make it too dangerous to have a proper swim. As we came back up we saw the owners house, which he rents out in the season, magnificent views, would be wonderful  to stay there...

On our final day we went off tree climbing, one of the Lodge's more unusual activities, which involves clambering up the interior of a giant hollowed out Ficus, and then hand abseiling down.We had the rest of the day to explore, walk and bird tour, eat, drink, ( guava sours having become the cocktail of choice, ) enjoy our lodge cabin, and gaze out at the star fields, simply one of the best places we have ever stayed.