Prior to this trip, I had arranged for an excursion to a Harpy Eagle nest before moving to our next destination at the Rock View Lodge in Annai. I convinced one of the others, Peter, to join me. It was about a 1/2 hour drive and then a 1 hour hike to the nest and we patiently waited for the large eagles to return. We could hear them in the distance and waited for nearly 3 hours but they never returned. Apparently the chick was now old enough to venture out further from the nest. I was disappointed but at least we tried.
We arrived at Rock View Lodge in time for lunch and now in the savannah. My thoughts of seeing a jaguar had now passed and I shifted my focus to the giant anteater. Of all the lodges so far, this was the most luxurious and reminded me of the lodges I had stayed in Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania and other lodges I had stayed in across Central and South America. The owner also owned the Atta Lodge which was under renovation when I was there earlier and I know when completed will be just as pleasing to future tourists. As I entered my room, a blue tailed emerald hummingbird was admiring itself in my mirror! But by the time I could retrieve my camera from my bag to capture this image, it flew out the window. What an awesome shot that would have been but I still have the memory! It was so cool!
As I strolled around the grounds, buff-necked ibis were also surveying the grounds as well as numerous species of wrens, flycatchers and tanagers.
While the others relaxed, Peter and I walked about the airstrip with our guide Richard to search for other birds (and maybe a giant anteater?). It was amazing how many species of birds we saw. The best was vermillion flycatcher, fork-tailed flycatcher and a burrowing owl that allowed us to get within 25 feet.
Despite not seeing the Harpy, this was a great day!
Excellent travel advice and service
This is my second experience working with Adventure Life. I’m sold. Jess Heuermann is an experienced traveler and provides a lot of useful information when planning a trip. These are the questions I like to ask at the outset - What’s it like to go here, there, what would you suggest, what do people report, can we add any additional side trips? Jess took the time to answer my questions and seek additional information to share with me. Petchie Colina is outstanding in helping with travel logistics and final preparations. Adventure Life has excellent guides and offers private guides and small group adventures. We enjoyed the opportunity to talk with the guides and drivers to learn more about their countries, cultures and histories. A highlight was having the guides pick local restaurants where we could share meals together. Highly recommend.
Claire Cordon
4 days ago
Our six-day tour in Iceland went smoothly with one exception. We had asked for two rooms each night. Somehow we were booked with one room with three beds. It could not be fixed at the first hotel in Reykjavik because the hotel was fully booked. Once informed of the problem, however, Adventure Life rebooked for two rooms for the remainder of the trip. As an 85-year-old traveler, I appreciated that one could participate at different physical levels at many of the stops. Iceland is a great place to visit but on the expensive side.
Mary Warren
5 days ago
Jess was very easy going and answered all our questions. It’s not easy dealing with 6 people at once but she did an outstanding job!
Diane Foster
1 week ago
Kassandra and the Adventure Life team have been incredible! Kassandra was very knowledgeable and attentive to our asks while making sure we kept within our budget. This was our first experience with a travel agent and we were blown away by the booking/initial exploration service. We will use Adventure Life again.