COSTA RICA TRAVEL DOCUMENTARY | 4x4 Road Trip

Costa Rica the country rich in magnificent volcanoes picture-perfect beaches and dense jungles follow us on our four-wheel-drive adventure for one of the most biodiverse countries on our planet [Music] upon our arrival at the airport we received a warm welcome from our rental agency and were introduced to our ride for the next four weeks after a thorough rundown we soon found ourselves leaving the city it took us less than two hours to hit the first stretch of bumpy roads in the Costa Rican wilderness once we arrived at our destination we went for a short hike to the bhava volcano walking through a beautiful stretch of mossy forest brought us to the Continental Divide between the Pacific and the Caribbean [Music] after a couple of kilometers we reached a scenic gearing platform overlooking the lagoon of the volcano furthermore we get a good clips of the fast-moving cloud systems around Costa Rica's mountain ranges not long after we headed back to the car we experienced our first tropical rainstorm to Costa Rica it was only a matter of minutes until the roads were flooded early the next morning we visited the poas volcano so we have a big eruption like it two years ago that's why everybody now has to do Sahel matting that's why the other trails there are closed and so it's gonna take you 10 to 15 minutes to get to the point of view it's 700 meters walk as soon you get to the crater you have 20 minutes there when we arrived at the crater we saw nothing but a wall of white but as the clouds were moving incredibly fast we hope to catch at least a glimpse of the crater lake it is always special when you get more than you bargained for when we arrived at the crater lake up or Pantoja is about an hour ago we didn't see anything which is clouds and fog everywhere but within just 40 minutes the entire window opened up and we got to see the entire crater lake and the surrounding landscape and that was just absolutely marvelous driving along winding roads we made our way to outer Palermo or we stumbled into a coffee and cocktail workshop [Music] it took very little convincing to have a stay and learn about traditional Costa Rican coffee brewing [Music] we enjoyed the beautiful scenery for some time before continuing our journey as soon as we drove along a narrow mountain pass the fog moved in obscuring our view nonetheless we spotted a beautiful blue Greek in the middle of the green forest which invited us to a short break not far away a breathtaking waterfall plunges down 90 meters through the jungle cover catarata del Toro is one of Costa Rica's most impressive waterfalls a hiking trail leads down 350 stairs all the way to the bottom of the force [Applause] the surrounding forest is home to a variety of plants and animals such as hummingbirds quails and squirrels one thing we learn very quickly in Costa Rica is that the distances you have to drive look a lot shorter on the map than they I'd reality it takes us hours upon hours to get places because often you can only drive about thirty to 40 kilometres an hour we then explored the northern end of the Central Valley before turning south again driving along a mountain road we spotted a particularly scenic waterfall across the gorge not too long after we had to leave the serenity of the mountains as we needed to navigate through several cities once we left the towns behind we soon found ourselves on a little dirt track scouting for a campsite [Music] good morning from our campsite at the mountain side of volcano urasue it is very quiet here and bitterly cold for Costa Rica maybe five degrees maximum so we just prepared our coffee and we are almost ready to start the day on our way down we caught a glimpse of the picturesque scenery surrounding us a short walk Pradas to the crater of volcano Yasu we then drove to the summit of the volcano where we park the car in one of the most epic spots with an altitude of 3432 meters Costa Rica's highest volcano it also tends to be rather windy in the distance we saw some smoke rising from volcano Torrealba which is currently closed for visitors upon seeing the queue of vehicles waiting to enter the park we were happy to have arrived first thing in the morning heading south we soon came to enjoy the view of the Fertile a rosy Valley which tends to be popular among bicyclists a panty National Park is part of the Arosa Valley and one of the wettest places is an essential part of this rain forest ecosystem and so we gladly accepted the rainfall on our show pipes let's same afternoon we set up camp directly next to the euros a river on a nearby tree we spotted some fascinating insects leafcutter ants can carry up to twenty times their body weight they cut the leaves to serve as breeding ground for fungi which they cultivate in their underground dwellings next to humans leaf cutter ants form the largest and most complex animal societies on earth the paths on which they travel are nothing short of highways the following day we woke up to the sound of the rumbling River while we enjoyed our morning coffee the Sun came up and baths the landscape in a beautiful golden light shortly after leaving the camp we found an intriguing footbridge spending over the euro Z River it was then time for us to leave the Central Valley behind and drive towards the Caribbean Sea arrival at the ocean sparked a considerable amount of joy the picture-perfect beaches were mostly emptied while the Sun illuminated the palm trees we watched the sunset slowly while enjoying our first camp next to the sea a highlight along the Southern Caribbean coast was a visit to cahuita nationalpark we joined up with a local guide to get a better chance of spotting the world camouflaged wildlife anywhere you see an almond tree even nothing required on site is affability you could see a slope okay I can't have practically live in these trees we tagged along for two hours and spotted a wide array of elements perched high up in a tree we saw an iguana enjoying the sunshine further down but very well hidden we spotted several Jesus Christ lizards their name stems from their ability to run up to 40 meters over water a distant relative of a s is the eyelash Viper which he found perched on a crunch a lot easier to spot was this agouti which feasted on a tree nut directly next to the trail later on allowed rustle revealed the location of a group of howler monkeys in the trees above and lastly we met a family of raccoons which made their way across the beach after an exciting morning we set up camp at a tranquil spot next to the ocean will be initiated a little clean we were rewarded with a spectacular sunset and the heavy downpour the next morning we waited for more than one hour when the rain did not show any sign of beta instead of getting soaking wet we decided to strip naked and quickly pack down at him our directivity czar of limited fun in the rain so we decided to try north towards so to get on Tortuguero is a little town surrounded by water and only accessible by boat the boat ride offered as a nice breeze in this hot and humid climate the river was of an unusual brown color due to the many sediments washed away by heavy rain forty minutes later we arrived at our destination Tortuga lodge nestled away at the northern end of the lagoon this Lodge is a true gem a small infinity pool garden trails and hammocks to relax in this place helps everybody to calm down through the more the friendly staff made our stay unforgettable everything like I put a Venus oh my goodness it's a good day I love this day I love my life I like to speak with you butoh yeah yeah whatever there we are currently exploring the private rainforest trails of our last year in total Gera and it has been raining a lot in the last days which means that all the trails are essentially flooded in water and mud and of course it's a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes which are swarming around us the gumboots were a lot of help in keeping our feet dry at least until the water got knee-deep for a couple of minutes on the trails we realized that we were surrounded by hundreds of tiny poison dart frogs let's ride red color the Crocs acts as a warning sign for predators interestingly the frogs do not produce poison themselves but only turn toxic after feeding on certain types of ants in the lodge gardens we also spotted many other animals such as bats a young Chi Minh a massive iguana tiger herons a pale billed woodpecker a Montezuma orop and Ola and many other birds especially striking were the different kinds of to cons such as this collared aracari they can easily be recognized by their bright bills our akari's living groups of up to 15 birds and can often be seen feasting on fruits they're close cousin the black mandible toucan is arguably even more striking impossible to miss with these golden-mantled howler monkeys which were crunching noisily was snacking on their favorite leaves in the garden they are the largest monkeys in the Americas a notoriously famous for their house which can travel up to five kilometres through the rainforest like other monkeys they often move by jumping from branch to branch while one could easily spend days at the lodge we decided to also explore the surrounding area a small load ferried us to the opposite side of the lagoon there we took a path that led us directly over the local airport where small passenger planes land and depart several times a day [Applause] [Music] [Applause] past the airport we came upon the beach which is usually the main attraction of Tortuguero from March until October leatherback and green sea turtles come to this beach to lay their eggs approximately 70 days later baby turtles will hatch into a dangerous world full of predators despite being a major tourist destination the beach was full of garbage the best thing about a beach cleanup is that other people will see you and they will start to feel inspired by what you're doing and then it grows into a community effort of everybody cleaning the beach and that way making it a lot more beautiful and a lot cleaner our efforts were rewarded when we spotted a turtle hatchling crawling to the ocean the next day we headed out early in the morning for a canoe tour the canoe allowed us to silently move into the smaller channels where we observed nature from close range we were lucky enough to spot a group of white-faced Capuchin making their way through the trees these highly intelligent monkeys are very social living in groups of up to 16 animals they are as cheeky as they are cute and are known to steal from inattentive tourists return we experienced a tropical rainstorm at its finest it is just punishing how quickly so much moisture will fall to the ground after three nights in total Garrow it was time to say goodbye for us and so we headed back to the car okay that was a bit of a rough start up there are three nights in Tortuguero our car just did not want to start even though we had it hooked up to two different vehicles but then we let it sit for an additional 10 minutes sister charging on its own and luckily it started again and now we are off to new adventures we then left the Carribean behind and drove through the north of Costa Rica until we arrived at volcano R&I we set up our tent in a beautiful spot directly on the shore of Lake R&R looking onto the volcano of course we did not hesitate to go for a quick swim in the cold Lee [Music] driving south of the lake we check the depth of a river and prudently decided against crossing it instead we went to some hot springs along the roadside where we enjoyed a relaxing waterfall massage while volcano arenal was quite during our visit it has been active many times in the past one of the remnants of a past outbreak is a lava flow from 1968 which can be explored on a hiking trail [Music] una vida for me means like a way of living it's more than just express with a smile or just being nice and in here in Costa Rica is what we do we spread happiness it's basically like that whatever it is it's more than a work it's a way of living equally marvelous other trails of the nearby observatory launched it is not uncommon to meet one of Costa Rica's largest birds the great coração here while the male is completely black the female sports are reddish pattern ah the highlight of our visit was climbing up and 20 meter high watchtower looking on the forest canopy from above allowed us to discover a plethora of birds among those with a black mandible 2 Khan and the keel-billed toucan walking through a quaint rainforest we soon found our way to a scenic waterfall not long after we couldn't help but chuckle upon seeing those rainforest cows searching for a campsite we finally came to test the four-wheel drive capabilities of our vehicle [Music] [Music] we found a beautiful spot at the northern end of Lake R&R and settle down for the night [Music] next part of our journey proved to be rather foggy again while we were stuck in traffic from time to time once we arrived in Tenorio National Park we started our hike to one of Costa Rica's most impressive waterfalls hidden dense jungle the color of the rio celeste the waterfall is nothing short of breathtaking the distinct torquas color of the river is an optical illusion created by sunlight refracting of minerals in the acidic water in a process called mean scattering science aside this river is marvelous to behold us the water pool several other viewpoints invite visitors to stay the hiking trail follows the riverbank until it comes to an end at the confluence of two small creeks at this point the optical illusion arises for the first time [Music] right after the drone crashed into the river I jumped into action luckily it took me less than two minutes to find [Laughter] then continued our journey along steep mountain roads until we reached a breezy plateau with many windmills one of the best places to see volcanic activity in Costa Rica is a rincon de la vieja National Park the park has several pools of boiling water a smoking mini volcano fumaroles in the dense jungle and plenty of bubbling mud majestic forests of the park are home to many animals including parrots and beasts slightly easier to spot our groups of spider monkeys searching for food in the trees above they mostly feed on fruits while sometimes eating leaves spider monkeys are great climbers they use their tail as a fifth limp to stabilize their movements [Music] occasionally they can be seen dangling from a prawns being entirely held up by that tail [Music] spider monkeys are social animals living in groups of up to 40 individuals play fights among young animals are equally as common as losing one another after leaving the national park behind we decided to take a shortcut which of course turned out to be nothing of that kind on the plus side we found this incredibly blue river and didn't hesitate to go for a swim [Music] it was then time for us to venture to the far northwest of Costa Rica we arrived just in time for sunset at the calm Shore of practice early the next morning we woke up glancing over to Nicaragua this area is also a hot spot among sea birds such as pelicans and oyster catchers this is a good stretch of off-roading here in Santa Rosa National Park in the Northwest of Costa Rica we have about a 12 kilometer drive to get to a beach we've covered about eight of them but it gets increasingly bumpy oh and there was just a lizard on the road what dense Costa Rica for you that's Costa Rica the trail was a lot of fun especially with all the mud holes that needed to be crossed [Music] in those instances the journey tends to be just as much fun as the destination driving through dense forests we were happy and is what a white-tailed deer hiding in the bushes at the end of the track we arrived at a completely deserted beach we are just trying to cook lunch in Santa Rosa National Park but it gets increasingly difficult to do so as there is a gang of iguanas spread around us just waiting patiently to catch a little morsel of food people must have been feeding these iguanas in the past as they showed no fear of humans anymore at least the white face capuchins were busy searching for food themselves [Music] after a quick outdoor shower we decided to hand out [Music] [Applause] we then drove south on the Panamericana until we reached an acquire Peninsula at that point we had acquired a taste for the small trails off the beaten path it also included occasionally helping to move fallen trees out of the way [Applause] many small uber crossings later we arrived at an incredible viewpoint as the drone took a little swim in a river three days ago we have dried it in rice now for almost 72 hours let's see if it actually still works a lot of beeping was not a good sign the drone showed battery fault after the first attempt to restart the drone failed due to a battery fault we deep cleanse the battery man's with alcohol and completely rebooted the entire system and now we will try again to see if it works again the moment of truth [Music] we are back in the game while the Nicoya Peninsula has undoubtedly beautiful beaches it is also very touristy at the same time most of the roads are riddled with potholes sensing our dislike for potholes our navigation app sent us on even smaller tracks which did not necessarily help our progress we seem to be taking the wrong track somehow because we keep on ending up on these small little crevel roads where there are several river crossings and a lot of muddy patches so we're just trying to find lunch really but it takes hours to get places at some point it seemed as if we would not be able to move it all anymore eventually after plenty of time spent on minor roads we arrived at a scenic restaurant to enjoy a well-deserved lunch some of the beaches on the decoy a peninsula are also famous for their maritime visitors olive ridley sea turtles regularly come to the beach at austin are to lay their eggs in the dark of the night one nest can contain between 80 to 120 eggs despite being the smallest of all sea turtles they are still of an impressive size female turtles return to the same Beach from where they once hatched to lay their eggs the next morning we went out before the break of day to watch hundreds of turtle hatchlings crawl towards the EM shield upon emerging from underground the baby turtles have a rough path ahead of them the sir truth is that only 1 in 1,000 hatchlings will make it to adulthood we watched in awe as these little fellas instinctively made their way towards the sea it was then time for us to leave the Nicoya Peninsula and drive inland again our navigation app seems to have decided that it will only send us on the smallest possible most winding bumpy and most adventurous roads possible on our way to Monteverde we are taking mountain pass roads where there's barely anyone we have barely seen any other cars driving our way and the roads just keep on getting smaller with views like these we weren't complaining about the roads taken [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] as soon as we arrived we went on a tour of a coffee plantation they will be just picking the red ones right I wish we can say strip them off right but you're not supposed to pick the stems or else you get penalized you're also not supposed to pick the beans and they're not ripen are you ready the takes around 30 minutes to one hour one day thinking that this is some of course we also got to try some fresh coffee after we had learned a lot about coffee we continued to be educated about the cocoa tree because chocolate is the mixture in this case did two ingredients you need the mixer cocoa and vanilla finish all the other ingredients will be random right I feel like I need sugar the sugar is not part of the recipe actually sugar comes from New Guinea though originally people used to do and make certain cocoa vanilla chili pepper cocoa vanilla episode episode is like celery and they have this very weird mixtures with fruits with meat a lot of things nothing to the chocolate that we know today someone thought it was good idea and in sugar to it and it is but sugar wasn't one of the ingredients right after we witnessed several techniques of grinding the cocoa beans vanilla was added to the mix and we started to prepare our own drinks [Music] last but not least we mail our own sugarcane refreshments we are walking through the year Monteverde cloud forest reserve and while the forest is very beautiful very green and mossy cloudy it is borderline criminal to charge $25 per person for walk in the woods the cloud forest lift up to its name as we were engulfed in a sea of fog it is a mysteriously dark green and wet place which nonetheless teams with life now being wanted out of behind we drove down some equally scenic mountain roads [Music] we continued all the way to the coast meeting up with a Pacific Ocean again [Music] settling down at our seashore campsite we decided it was time for a break alas the weather was no fan of our plans to relax and thus send us some very heavy rain within minutes the ground was flooded while our tent accumulated a decent amount of water of course we did not let the rain dampen our spirits the next day we visited Manor Antonio National Park arriving very early in the morning is key if you would like to have a chance at enjoying the beaches and wildlife undisturbed it doesn't take long for the crowds to arrive which will turn the reserve into an amusement park we then left the Pacific coast behind and turned inland as we intended to go on a big hike we are just taking our first steps on the trail to the summit of Mount arepo' which is Costa Rica is highest mountain with an elevation of 3,800 and 20 meters the part at the beginning is really muddy as they have been employing people walking through here and horses which we can see by the amount of their dung on the trail but it's still early in the morning we started at 6 o'clock and we have still plenty of time to get to the Basecamp for today before we will summit majorie Po tomorrow morning not long into the hike we found a tangerine tree the fruit he'd smelled promised us a delicious trail sight snack I had to try it as well we continued our hike steadily climbing uphill through the forest from time to time we also encountered oncoming traffic after we enjoyed beautiful sunshine at the beginning the clouds soon closed in on us after a short lunch break we continued our hike in a slight drizzle we have successfully crossed the 3,000 meter altitude mark and we can definitely feel that the air is a lot thinner up here as our breathing becomes a lot more heavy the trail is still steep we've been on it with brakes for about eight hours now we still have four kilometers to go so hopefully we will reach the hut before nightfall it wasn't long after that the forest cover lifted and we could see more of the surrounding scenery again the clouds moved swiftly along the mountainside while we slowly made progress along the trail [Music] once we discovered the mountains known as Lost crest on us we knew we couldn't be far from the base camp anymore we are just in our last stretch last maybe 200 meters to the final destination for today the base camp it has taken us about 11 hours to reach this and we are really excited but the end of the day we made it and tomorrow we will summit Mont Reaper the next morning we started walking at 2:30 a.m. but Ana soon realized her knee was giving her trouble after bringing her back I continued alone climbing the last metres just before sunrise within minutes of me arriving at the summit the Sun came up and the landscape was bath in a warm light everybody else left soon after as some of them had been sitting at the summit for one hour in the dark that way I could enjoy the view all by myself standing on the summit of mantri 20 meters half an hour ago and it starts to get a little bit very windy who is great into all directions let's see a lot of the surrounding mountains sea legs after a good stay at the peak I decided to head back as well on my way down I could finally enjoy the view of the landscape which had been build and darkness on the way up instead of heading down the same day as most people do we had previously decided to stay a second night I therefore took the chance to also climb Costa Rica second highest mountain in the afternoon with 3812 metres Cerro Ventus Garros is a mere eight metres lower than Cerro cherry Pole the view was equally marvelous and I stayed for over one hour watching the clouds dance [Music] early the next morning we started our descent of the mountain it didn't take long until we were reweld by our old friend the mud little did we know that our relationship with mud would only intensify oh we got ourselves properly stuck here in this very deep mud it did not look as deep and as sticky when we drove in obviously it wasn't the best idea but now we're properly stuck and I was just trying to find somebody to help to pull us out in the meantime I'm digging ourselves out as far as as we can but even in low range we couldn't get ourselves out of here so let's see how this turns out luckily a very friendly Tico came to our rescue [Applause] [Music] several failed attempts later we started to wonder why it turned out that in the heat of the moment I was driving forwards instead of backwards I then literally changed E's and drove out at the next try did that little mishap stop us from pursuing further adventure not even a little bit shortly after we embarked on Ethiopia a ferry crossing over to the OSA Peninsula [Music] taking this route we were treated to some spectacular landscapes [Music] [Music] the road to our planned destination the village called trade babe included several river crossings despite boasting some beautiful beaches we soon noticed that the village wasn't the wild getaway we had hoped for but rather a tourist hotspot we quickly left again crossing several more rivers while heading into the wilderness at the end of the road we arrived at the picture a speech a speech borders directly on the jungle of Corcovado one of the last remaining true wilderness areas in Costa Rica of course we didn't hesitate to jump into the clear water with an abundance of coconuts growing on the palm trees we harvested something to enjoy a refreshing drink we've been headed back crossing all the rivers again on our way to the other side of the OSA Peninsula [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] searching for a campsite we soon found ourselves on small off-road trails leading through the jungle nestled in between palm trees we set up camp and watched some surfers hit the afternoon waves continuing the next morning we encountered several more rivers [Music] thank you very much before long we drove up a hillside is a wonderful ye open ahead of us [Music] we continued until the very far end of the road where the trail simply follows a dry riverbed and while the track was certainly bumpy we truly enjoyed the feeling of remote wilderness in this part of Costa Rica [Music] we realize our time in Costa Rica was slowly coming to an end and so we decided to spend one last night next to the ocean relaxing in our hammock we reminisced on the exciting trip we had had but our trip was not quite over yet we have a truly magical campsite here we have the ocean to this side we have the jungle of Corcovado to this side and right above us in the trees there are some scarlet macaws feasting on some nuts truly magical the scarlet macaw is arguably one of the most beautiful birds of Costa Rica it's bright red yellow and blue blemish clearly distinguish it from the green foliage of the jungle however they can often be heard before they are seen as their raucous homes are audible far and round the OSA Peninsula is one of the few places in Costa Rica where these colorful birds can still be found scarlet macaws eat mostly fruits nuts and seeds they are often seen feeding in pairs or even larger groups this behavior is known as courtship feeding and it is believed to strengthen the bond between mating pairs of course the jungle was also teeming with other animals next to howler monkeys and little parrots we also spotted a white nosed quality the wilderness of Corcovado is furthermore home to Costa Rica's fourth monkey species squirrel monkeys are the smallest and arguably the cutest of the four different kinds however their cuteness makes them especially vulnerable to end up in the pet trade [Music] it was then time for us to leave the OSA Peninsula behind and drive back north towards the Central Valley before long we were back in the mountains driving up to 3000 metres altitude towards the famous Cerro de la muerte mountain pass the views were spectacular where the clouds moving past the mountain peaks [Music] we managed to set up camp just as the Sun vanished behind the mountains [Music] instead of taking the main highway we decided to explore a winding Mountain Road from quetzel National Park the use of landscape were nothing short of breathtaking [Music] al Haas stay here Costa Rica really delivers the goods again we are trying along a very mountainous road with very little fuel left and we arrive at one point where there's simply a hole in the road and there's rope work going on and then I just asked the workers if we can pass because we urgently need to get to the next fuel station and they just simply said well you have to wait one hour so here we are stranded on a very mountainous Road waiting for one hour until we can pass we waited patiently and true enough 45 minutes later the hole was filled and we drove on we continued north on the panamericana driving through plenty of fog before approaching the cities of the Central Valley we had no other option than to drive straight through San Jose spending almost two hours for 40 kilometers and then it was time to let go after four weeks of traveling driving 3,000 kilometers and exploring almost all corners of the country we had to say goodbye to Costa Rica next to all the beautiful landscapes we saw Costa Rica also taught us to smile and face with adversity to push harder when struggling to move forward and to accept that things will inevitably go wrong but we learn that it is those moments that make our best stories were Evita [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Lucas T. Jahn

Views: 1,748,530

Rating: 4.8811517 out of 5

Keywords: Lucas, Jahn, roadtrip, Travel, travelling, adventure, road trip, pura vida, Costa Rica, Vulcan Poas, Irazu, Barva, Catarata del Toro, Orosi Valley, Tapanti National Park, Cahuita National Park, Tortuguero, Tortuga Lodge, Volcano Arenal, Lago Arenal, Tenorio National Park, Rio Celeste, Rincon de la Vieja, Santa Rosa, Nicoya, Playa del Coco, Ostional, Monteverde Cloud Forest, Manuel Antonio, Cerro Chirripo, Osa Peninsula, Drake Bay, Corcovado, Cerro de la Muerte, San José, documentary

Id: jJRvm8jbyEY

Length: 56min 15sec (3375 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 31 2020