Two experiences stand out. The first was camping in a primary rainforest on the banks of the Sevegre River, which is Costa Rica’s last major river without a dam. We found the campground by contacting Lotjke, a friend of a mountain biker we had met in northern Costa Rica. Lotjke, who is a South African expat, has an amazing story that is too long to tell here. But suffice to say, after years and years of challenges, he and his family have managed to protect the river and thousands of acres of primary rainforest surrounding it, not only against a dam, but also against locals who make a habit of hunting and logging in primary forests in Costa Rica. Lotjke let us stay in a remote campground in the rainforest, right on the banks of the Sevegre River. He built it for adventure racers. And a few adventure races do use it as an overnight camp. But as far as we could tell, it hadn’t been used by many, if any, overlanders. During the day, we lounged on the banks of the Sevegre River with Roseate Spoonbills, Yellow-throated Yellow-throated Toucans and all sorts of other amazing birds flying overhead. And in the evening, we hunkered down in the rainforest, sleeping as well as we could through crazy thunder, lightning and rain storms. On our third night in the campground, a big cat jumped on top of our camper and proceeded to growl. And no, it was not a Howler Monkey (whose roars we know well). To be honest, it was a bit scary. But reflecting on it now, it’s kind of cool that we knew it was a cat and didn’t completely lose it. The experience left us feeling like perhaps we were finally starting to plug into Costa Rica and its primary forests.

But our most amazing rainforest experience was on the Osa Peninsula. Over 30 years ago, I went to high school with a guy from Florida named Derek. In high school, Derek always dreamed big, and in many areas like music, he was years ahead of peers. After graduating from college, Derek became a hipster in New York City where he created a club and a recording studio. But over 25 years ago, Derek realized he wanted to pursue another vision. And that vision was to create a private coastal rainforest reserve on the remote Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica. Derek bought 2 farms and an area of primary rainforest on both the Pacific and gulf (Golfo Dulce) coast of the Peninsula. He protected the primary rainforest, managed the environmental impact of his herd of Brahaman Cows and started to turn large areas of his fincas into secondary forests. He has also sponsored wildlife projects on his property, including protecting a critical turtle nesting ground on a 3 mile stretch of black sand beach on the Pacific coast of the peninsula. Derek has made a lasting positive impact on the Osa Peninsula despite plenty of intense challenges. And the cool thing about him is that he is still charging forward. His next goal is to create a corridor for animals, including jaguars to move south from Corcovado National Park (the largest coastal primary rainforest in the world) through his (and others’) land to the southeaster part of the Osa Peninsula.

While on the Osa, Derek let us camp on his property. So we set up shop in the middle of a 7 mile stretch of deserted beach adjacent to the beaches of Corcovado National Park. Derek owns the beachfront property (and access) in front of 3 miles of this beach, which is a critical turtle nesting ground. During the day, we hiked along the beach and through the forest, including to an amazing, 1,000 year old Avatar tree. As we were walking, an incredible variety of birds soared overhead and watched us from the trees, including colorful egrets, falcons, hawks and parrots. On the first day, we started to develop a list of our top 10 bird sightings on the trip, including fly overs by pairs of Roseate Spoonbills and Scarlet McCaws on the beach. But after a few days on the Osa Peninsula, we gave up. There were just too many amazing experiences to limit ourselves to a list of the top 10.