Corcovado National Park - final steps for Zulu One

When I boarded the plane bound for Costa Rica I pictured a lush, jungled land; uniformly green, brimming with wildlife and swelteringly hot. Instead, I found something of a melting pot of landscapes - cloudforests, dry forests, mangroves, ashen volcanoes, bustling cities and fields bursting with fresh produce. It wasn't until the end of Phase Three that I discovered the place that I had imagined back in January: deep in the tropical south, Corcovado National Park stretches across the Osa Peninsula, a pristine bastion of biodiversity that left me open-jawed and wide-eyed. For me, it was the absolute highlight of my time in Costa Rica - I saw more wildlife in three days than I've seen in any other place on earth, even miraculously stumbling across a female puma and her cub during an early morning stroll through the jungle.

To spend time in this haven is a privilege: Raleigh works closely with the national park authorities to maintain and improve facilities in these protected pockets and, in return, we are granted access permits to explore the incredible ecosystems within. During my six days with Zulu One, we skirted a coastline that was peppered with shark, crocodile and dolphin; we watched sunsets that ranged from deep golden to dusky pink to blood red; we swam in a crystal-clear rivers and slept in wooden-stilted ranger stations serrenaded by the sounds of the jungle at night. We saw tapir, four different kinds of monkey, anteater, sloth, agouti, spiders, snakes and dozens of insects and butterflies. The vegetation included root buttresses the size of buses, Ceiba trees that towered 100m above the jungle floor, strangler figs, giant palms and thousands more. It was a truely magical experience. With my limited photographic skills, I managed to capture a few of the highlights - click on the image below to take a look at the slideshow. A fantastic book called Osa: Where the rainforest meets the sea by Roy Toft and Trond Larsen (ISBN 978-0-9816028-2-0) does the place much better justice. If you can lay your hands on a copy, it's well worth a read.

Zulu One, Corcovado Trek, Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua Expedition 10B

Now I'll had over the reins to Dan Willis, one of the Zulu One trek team, who'll talk you through the nitty gritty of the last eight days as the team approached Corcovado.

Zulu One

Day 11: April Fools’ Day was appropriate for this day of the trek. The wise PMs had decided that today was our solo day (trekking without them) and that we were being left to our own devices. It was clear that we couldn’t live without them, however, as we bumped into them twice; once when we were heading in the wrong direction and we found them secretly watching us, and secondly when they overtook us in the jungle as we got lost. The previous night, the girls had hidden the boys’ boots, who in turn hid the girls’ shoelaces and placed a few rocks in their bags.And the pranks didn’t stop there: perhaps the best one being the toy scorpion Hugo placed in Claire’s boot.

After completing the nine-hour walk, our aim for today was to push on for two extra hours to reach Los Mogos where we could camp in a community centre. It also eased the pressure on our long walk the following day. After reaching the destination, we headed out to a local restaurant for supper; our meals included T-bone steak, fresh fish and Mexican chicken with crepes and ice cream for pudding.

Day 12: Today’s trek involved a 23km walk along the highway in the sweltering heat. The shimmering tarmac seemed to sap the energy and enthusiasm out of even the most excitable people. We eventually made it to the campsite after our longest day on trek just before a torrential rainstorm engulfed the area, but were treated to the luxury of a hot shower. Shortly after, Ross and Blogger arrived with our final food drop, and to join us for a few days trekking. The arrival of the Raleigh tuck shop and the distribution of personal messages and letters from Fieldbase instantly lifted everyone’s spirits.

Day 13: The day started well with a double-dose of energy bombs and, with Blogger’s seemingly endless enthusiasm, the group were ready and raring to go. Today was another 23km of highways, tracks, and never-ending corners but towards the end of the day we finally entered Corcovado National Park. The park had been the highlight on previous phases due to the incredible biodiversity – and we were all eager t o see the abundance of wildlife after a series of hard days on the road. But in order to get into the heart of the park, we crossed 23 rivers – yes, you did read that correctly – which meant that we all had very waterlogged boots by the time we arrived at the picturesque Los Patos ranger station. Blogger had bought along the ingredients for banoffee pie which went down rather well with the hungry trekkers.

Day 14: Our route card for the day said that we were in for a treat, so Zulu One awoke with great excitement and enthusiasm. We were told to keep our music off and voices down so not to disturb the wildlife, during the trek we saw several peccary (a wild boar), spider monkeys and heard howler monkeys. Throughout the day we were having a race of sorts against a group of American ecologists, after overtaking each other several times and their leader declaring they would beat us, we reached La Sirena Ranger Station before them to grab the prime sleeping location. An inspired group decision was made to add two sticks of salami to the macaroni and cheese for supper; our meal was further enhanced by an American couple who hadn’t finished their meal and gave us fresh salad, pasta, lettuce and watermelon. The comedy moment of the day happened when Mowgli (Juan Carlos a.k.a. “JC Junior”) was having a shower and sizeable gecko took it upon itself to excrete on his head, much to the amusement of several people who saw it happen.

Day 15: This was our rest day on the trek so we rewarded ourselves with a lie in until 8 a.m. due to the 14 hard days of trekking which we had just completed. For the majority of us this meant either catching up on sleep or heading down to the beach to top up our tans. But a select few decided to head back into the rainforest in search for more wildlife. Whilst on their walk they encountered pumas, tapirs, sharks, sting ray, various species of monkey, spiders, dart frogs, iguanas and toucans to name but a few. A few of us collected several coconuts to crack open and enjoy later. In an attempt to entertain ourselves back a the ranger station, we gave ourselves self-set challenges, including establishing whether Carla can fit in a rucksack liner: the answers is YES! And taking part in the crackers challenge whereby you a small pack of crackers as quickly as possible: JCB (our PM) won in just under a minute. Luke, Hugo and I then took on some Costa Ricans at a friendly game of football: we won 7-5 but it is fair to say none of us could have played for much longer.

Day 16: Sam gave us extra incentive to wake up and pack quickly this morning as she declared that the two slowest people would have to carry the rubbish we had accumulated over the last couple of days. The walk was along a beautiful coastal path and at times we were in a race against the tide in order to make our way around the headland. We made it to La Leona Ranger Station just before 2pm and made camp, we spent afternoon contemplating tomorrow’s 30km mission and decided upon an early bed time and an early wake up to help us complete it as quickly as possible.

Day 17: This is our final day of trek and also JC’s birthday giving us two reasons to celebrate upon reaching Bar Esperanza at the end of a 30km slog. We woke up at 3am and were walking just before 4am, the initial 4km was along the beach with only the moonlight to guide us; this was quite a surreal experience as we have become accustomed to walking in the baking midday Costa Rican sunshine. Our first break was after 90mins in which we had walked 5km, we stopped for energy bombs and to call Fieldbase for our daily comms check. It was here that we befriended an excitable yet soft Rottweiler which JC named ‘Beefy’, as he was built like a fridge. Beefy even attempted to follow us, but we were forced to leave him in our wake as we made our way to the beach with only the image of his puppy dog eyes to remember him by. The day seemed to fly by and soon enough we had passed the halfway point and it wasn’t long until a few of us were walking the final kilometer. There was a shared sense of utter elation and relief upon reaching our final destination. We had walked over 280km in 15 days of walking and were the first Corcovado trekking group this expedition to have gone the distance with the full compliment of personnel. We had supper in the local restaurant to celebrate JCB’s birthday and the completion of the trek; and as an extra bonus we are sleeping under the stars tonight with nothing but clear skies to look up to. Congratulations Zulu One… it’s been emotional.

I couldn't agree more Dan. Check back later as we deliver our final farewell message as Expedition 10B wraps up. Until then, this is Blogger, listening out.