Today we drove 7.5 kilometers north up a network of very steep unmade roads to Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve. Thank goodness for the satnav. The inhabitants, friendly though they are, want to restrict independent travel by making it as difficult and uncomfortable as possible.
The reserve was a revelation. Run by a local private organisation it charged a reasonable entrance fee and maintained a thoughtfully designed series of trails to a very high standard. It really showed how poor the national parks service is by comparison.
Tall forest trees grow on valley sides with their crowns and trunks covered by epiphytes of one sort or another. The additional weight eventually becomes too great and often the whole top of a tree topples off and falls to the ground. This produces a temporary clearing where new plants race for the sunshine. We heard a loud crack followed by a crash as we walked, but the vegetation was so dense we couldn't tell where the collapse had occurred.
The understory is composed of tree ferns, bamboos, plantains and a host of other tropical plants. The temperature was chilly enough to wear two jumpers, and everything was moist and fecund. You felt that if you stood still, you would soon become covered in moss and lichen.
We walked slowly for almost five hours, stopping often to admire the foliage or peer through binoculars at small, fast moving, nondescript birds who flitted through the canopy a hundred feet above us.
It was a really pleasant day.
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