What to pack for a birding trip in Costa Rica
A birding trip here can start on a ridge where the lodges sit between 2,200 and 2,600 metres and end at sea level where you stop birding by ten because of the heat. So the packing list is really three lists: one for the cold mornings, one for the rain, one for the sun. This page is the clothes and the travel things. The binoculars, the camera and the field guide are on our equipment page.
The cold: the Highlands
San Gerardo de Dota is where most of our birders go for the Resplendent Quetzal, and it is cold. The valley sits at about 2,200 metres, the lodges above it go to 2,600, and the ridge road over Cerro de la Muerte crosses one of the coldest points in the country, where it has gone as low as minus 6 degrees Celsius.
Pack a proper fleece or a warm jacket. You will wear it at dawn on the quetzal walk, standing still under a wild avocado tree, which is colder than walking. Some highland lodges keep fireplaces or heated rooms for exactly this reason. By ten the sun is on the valley floor and the fleece comes off, so layers beat one heavy coat.
Monteverde and the slopes of Poás are cool rather than cold: a light fleece for the evenings is enough there.
The rain: every month, somewhere
On the Caribbean side it rains in every month. The foothills around Rancho Naturalista and Tapantí are wet all year, and so are Sarapiquí and Tortuguero. Pack a rain layer whatever your dates. A shell you can bird in, not an emergency poncho, because you will wear it for hours.
On the Pacific side, December to April is the dry season. The rest of the year is the green season: sunny mornings and afternoon rain, which suits a birding day, since the mornings are the work.
Mud and trails
The trails at Rancho Naturalista have mud and they climb, and the Monteverde trail climbs too. Bring boots you have already walked in. New boots on a wet slope at dawn are how a trip starts with blisters. For the Caribbean trips, the foothills and the refuge walks, we suggest rubber boots as well. In San Gerardo de Dota, shoes that cope with a wet trail are enough, because the quetzal walking is slow.
The heat: lowlands and boat days
Carara, the Tárcoles, the Osa and the dry side of Guanacaste are hot at sea level all year. Light clothes that dry fast, a hat, sun cover and water. The boat days need the same and more of it, because there is no shade on the water: the Tárcoles mangrove, the Tempisque at Palo Verde, the Tortuguero canals and the river at Caño Negro are all birded from a boat.
On the dry side it is sun, not rain, from December to April. Water for the boats and the jeep matters more than the rain layer there.
Travel things
- Your passport and documents. Travel documents are your responsibility, and the Client Agreement we send says so. Check the entry rules for your nationality before you fly.
- A bag you can live out of. On a trip with two nights at each stop you pack every other day. On our three-night routes, three times in a trip.
- A small dry bag for the boat days and the wet zones, for your phone, your documents and anything that hates water.
- Insect repellent and sunscreen.
- A small torch or headlamp for a dawn start and for a night walk where the lodge runs one.
If you are going to Tortuguero or flying from Tambor
Tortuguero has no road: you drive to La Pavona and the lodge's boat does the rest, there and back. On the Nicoya trip the last leg is a small plane from Tambor to San José. Both are reasons to travel light, and if you are unsure what fits, ask us on the form before you pack.
One line to remember
A fleece, a rain layer, boots you have already walked in, sun cover for the boats. Everything else you can sort out in the country, and our team in San José is on call 24/7 while you are here.
For the binoculars, the scope and the camera, see Suggested equipment for birding in Costa Rica.
Tell us your dates and we will tell you what to pack.
A few minutes on the form, and one of our Costa Rica specialists comes back to you personally with a first itinerary, the zones in the right order and what the weather will be doing in each.