X-Ray 1 - Coast to Coast

Fieldbase duo Emma and Vanessa drove out to greet the Xray 1 trekkers as they emerged from the jungle of Barbilla National Park. Created in 1998, Barbilla is one of the country's least visited national parks and is home to the Cabecar, the second largest indigenous group in Costa Rica.

An annual rainfall of 140-180 inches keeps the park wet and verdant and allows a great amount of biological diversity to flourish here. Several of the species that can be found in Barbilla are endangered, such as the puma, jaguar, ocelot, tapir, and several birds of prey. Rare avian species such as the tolomuco and sun heron can also be found here.

Xray 1 were lucky enough to spend 3 days trekking in this remote and beautiful area. By day, they trekked through dense jungle and thick mud and at night stayed in indigenous communities. There were a number of river crossings to contend with, although the group were lucky to avoid much rain in what is one of the wettest areas of Costa Rica.

When we arrived to greet the group they were trekking up their last long hill of the day. They were a muddy but smiling bunch and those smiles only got bigger when we presented them with our home made banana cake!

The next few days will take the trekkers through typical rural Costa Rica so whilst the jungle mud may let up, the hills certainly will not...

Here are some of the sights of the last few days...

The Golden Orb Spider

The view as they emerge from the jungle