In Search of Quetzals & Other Creatures

A journey to Costa Rica – April 2023

Part 1: The planning for the trip.

Shortly after returning from my three-month trip to the Windward island of St Lucia to visit relatives in the West Indies I received a surprise email from a man I had been following for his excellent macro photography for years – Greg Basco of Deep Green Photography.  He had now formed a new company running tours to Latin America under the banner of FotoVerde Tours. It was short notice but did I want to join this tour: Art of Biodiversity Pacific, April 11 to 21, 2024 (fotoverdetours.com) (Note this is the 2024 tour as mine has just finished).  This country has been on my bucket list for years and I was supposed to have been here in 2020 but for COVID and a thieving Canadian Tour Guide cost me $7K USD when no-one could fly.

Being nervous I rang Greg expressing my concern of a repeat but he assured me that his company did not operate like that and if things could go wrong their would-be full refunds or rebooking – my choice.  I was happy with that but now had to put my skates on as I would need to leave in 5 weeks.

There were gear decisions to make as bio-diversity photography covered night-time macro with flash, landscapes, birds, monkeys, sloths and especially the quetzal.  I had done some reading and seen photos of this magnificent bird and could not wait to photograph one.  I should have also researched a little more as at the end of my trip the wheels fell off but more of that later.  We are just getting too the exciting bits.

My friend Neville had been to Costa Rica a few years before and said he loved it and the birds were fantastic and when I asked should I go he said absolutely.  To fly that far is a big commitment in costs as to transport a lot of camera gear I would need to travel business class so I would have a hefty luggage allowance plus the trip costs were in US dollars, which at the time is very strong against the Australian Peso. 

At the end of (sort of) COVID flying restrictions all airlines, especially QANTAS, are gouging their passengers to recover their losses from the past two years.  To go to the West Indies they charged me twice as much as I had paid four years ago and I was not about to repeat that exercise.  Sanity may return to our airline QANTAS now that their super expensive, loud mouthed CEO has departed – I can only hope so.

In years past I discovered a company called AlphaFlightGuru (Alpha Flight Guru | Business Class Flights, Business Class Travel) who sold discounted first and business class flights around the globe.  My understanding of their business model is that they purchase/reclaim business traveller points from companies then turn them into discount tickets on your behalf.  Over the past twelve years I have used them a number of times with no issues.  Even easier these days they have an online booking system that makes it easier to choose flights – just make sure you check the seat class on each leg.  Sadly, it does not work for my brother in St Lucia WI as British Airways has exclusive rights for flights from the UK to his home so no competition to challenge the prices.

For my trip to Costa Rica I first tried QANTAS Business Class and was quoted $23,000 + for return tickets.  I then tried AlphaFlightGuru and with an extra stop in Houston managed a price of $12,800 (All these in Aussie Dollars).  Why business you ask – well apart from the comfort, extra leg room and service you get extremely generous luggage allowances.  For this trip my allowance is 2 suitcases (23kg each) plus my backpack and I would need every gram.  To do the photography I wanted to do I had packed nearly 35kg of camera gear in two bags (I will put the gear list just below) plus a backpack containing all the camera lithium batteries, battery packs & torches plus my 600mm lens, laptop & iPad.  So, I was fairly weighed down with gear.

After a couple of phone calls to Greg (Basco) I now had a better idea on what to pack.  In the end I used most of the gear.  There was no opportunity to use the 65mm macro so that could have stayed home as well as the twin macro flashes and the RRS (Really Right Stuff) macro rail.  That would have saved 2 kilograms.  Also only used once the monopod & RRS MH-01 monopod head so could have been left saving another 2 kilograms.  Lessons learned that I need to pare down what I am carrying for the future.

Now that I had my list it was time to prioritise tasks like paying for the trip.  Time to raid my super fund and transfer some money.  This only took 5 business days which wasn’t too bad.  With cash burning a hole in my pocket next was the bank to pay FotoVerde Tours the balance.  Over the past few years, the banking industry has changed dramatically as more and more bricks & mortars branches are closing down.  I miss those days when I could go and talk with the people I actually bank with.  I have been with the same ANZ branch since I moved to Wodonga over 30 years ago and have friends still working there.  However, the bank these days no longer offer foreign currencies nor do they do international transfers.

I should say that I did embrace online banking many years ago as that was convenient for me especially in my business role where I travelled for work so I could pay bills whilst overseas.  That is something none of us can escape as those little messages from our creditors follow us everywhere.

Once I had the tours banking details I logged on and contacted foreign transfers and filled out the form to transfer funds in US dollars until the whole process halted at the final button. What!!!!!!!!!!!!!  A message popped up saying please ring this number which I obliged.  The operator apologised but the bank wanted to do a final check before they transferred the funds and would that be Ok.  The fee was $7.  In future I will just ring and save my typing fingers as it took 15 minutes to fill out a complex form which eventually did not work.

Once the payment had been acknowledged and I was part of the tour now time to book the flights.  I have done a number of photographic holidays now and learning from experience I always add days to the front and back to cover any contingencies.  In this case I knew the 26 -hour flying time & wait times between flights from Wodonga to San Jose would knock me around physically so planned an overnight in Sydney then arrive 4 days before the tour start and 2 days at the end plus another overnight in Sydney before the last leg back to Wodonga.  Hopefully, this would see me relaxed once I returned home.  The extra 6 nights I had asked the tour guides to book in the same hotel that we started and ended with – they were happy to oblige.

I had already selected my routes and connections but then had a shock that the Aussie dollar had free fell nearly 7% in the four days since I checked whilst awaiting funds.  So, another $1000 AUD gone west thanks to that stupid Russian swine invading the Ukraine.  My understanding of global politics and economy would fill a thimble but simplistically seems to be driven by greed and stupid politicians and we all end up footing the bill.  Please don’t get me started on our local politicians who, to me, are oxygen thieves feeding at the public trough.

All now booked, time for the most important travel documents that related to my trip – a new ETSA pass to transit the US & travel insurance.  The ETSA was relatively simple and only cost $21 for a 2 year pass.  For travel insurance I did some research and Allianz was the company for my donation.  I chose the Ultimate Package as it was only $90 extra – (please note my choices as you will see later). My passport was up to date with 2 years left before renewal – many countries will not allow entry if you are under 6 months left on your current passport.

The date chosen to leave was the 11th April and the tour would start on the 15th April.  I had already accumulated a flight refund from a previous trip not taken with QANTAS so booked that to Sydney & paid a $50 premium for the extra suitcase.  Booked a one night stay at the Novotel near Sydney airport on the outward leg and the inward leg.  All bookings now complete.  My cousin Greg would be looking after my Prado and my neighbours would be looking after my house in my absence.  My thanks to them all for being so generous of their time and effort.

Time for visits to other family members to share details on my trip.  Three weeks to departure and time to start getting excited.  More research on where the tour was going to take me in this wonderful new country I had never visited before.

Costa Rica is a rugged, rainforested Central American country with coastlines on the Caribbean and Pacific. Though its capital, San Jose, is home to cultural institutions like the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum, Costa Rica is known for its beaches, volcanoes, and biodiversity. Roughly a quarter of its area is made up of protected jungle, teeming with wildlife including spider monkeys and quetzal birds.  It is home to a population slightly over 5 million people and the main language is Spanish.  A very important fact that I found later is that the country is ranked 36th in the world by the World Health Organization, above the United States, Cuba, and New Zealand. Meanwhile, the United Nations places healthcare in Costa Rica within the top 20 in the world. Expats frequently cite it as a major factor in their decision to relocate to here.  This point will become extremely important later in this story. Another notable fact about this country is that they have some of the finest coffee in the world. Now I am a tea drinker whose favorite tipple is Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Proper Strong Black Tea but I am being swayed to Costa Rican coffee. A strange story about the tea I drink as you cannot buy it in the UK, It is manufactured in Dubai for the Australian market. A very curious fact.

Countdown has begun and it is time to get excited.  Went through the itinerary a number of times to find out what I should be looking out for.  It is a bit of a lottery to travel on these photography tours as wildlife can be very unpredictable and there is no guarantee of their cooperation.  I would see what was on offer and hopefully get some nice shots, my fellow photographers would be nice and the tour guides would be fantastic at their jobs.

One thing I need to learn when I get home is to set my blog page up correctly.  When I wrote the Turning Diesel Into Memories two years ago now I thought OK that is now done and I may not write another story.  So even though paying for the WordPress service it was sitting idle.  At this stage these next few posts may look a bit odd sitting next to my last blog. So be it until I learn how to set this up properly so, please forgive me.

So, until tomorrow when I will publish the next part. Please feel free to critique and send me comments on Facebook or Messenger – note you will be competing with my mother as she was my first English teacher!!!!!.  Until tomorrow.  Part 2 will be the first 5 days of the trip.

5 Comments on “In Search of Quetzals & Other Creatures

  1. Well I may well be biased as I am your mother, but apart from enjoying the blog, I think it is very useful for any bird photographer who would like to visit Costa Rica. Well done David!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. I’m impressed with your organisational skills. I can’t believe you took so much stuff. Did the travel insurance cover all the equipment? Were you nervous that it might not arrive with you?

    Like

  3. Love your mum’s comment Dave..l cant believe all the details you have to plan and all that heavy luggage..l am happy that Greg ran a wonderful tour service .. love the bird photo…it seems you meet lovely people on your travels..glad you did your homework as you needed some assistance insurance wise this trip..take it easy..x loved reading this blog especially..

    Like

  4. Wooly, as always your attention to detail, meticulous planning and your long stated philosophy of “belt and braces” meant that you mostly well prepared. Not all contingencies can be anticipated so I look forward to your next blog.

    Like

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: