Nature
Definition
Let’s define nature as everything around us not made by mankind. Nature in Costa Rica can be overwhelming. Drive a few miles and everything changes. So, let’s try to share our love for this country and especially this place by showing you a little bit of what you can experience in Catarata Del Toro. But best will be to come over and explore it yourself :).
Soils
Rock formations
Trees
Flowers
Birds
Mammals
Snakes
Insects
Click on a link or scroll down.
Soils
We are living on volcanic soils and the active crater Poás is only 6 kilometers away. Soils are fertile and covered with dense forest. But close to the waterfall all that is quite different, as the water is partly coming from the slopes of the Poás volcano and is acid. For that reason, you will find, close to the waterfall, big plants, called the ‘poor men umbrella’, with their leaves burned.
Rock formations
Just a few words about columnar jointing in basalt that you can observe right behind the waterfall: columnar jointing forms in lava flows in most cases, and is somewhat a rather rare feature. Columns are straight and regular (but sometimes curved) with 4 to 7 faces (check the steps along the steep track going down to the water fall!). It is commonly interpreted as resulting from rapid cooling from the top downward, most likely in the presence of water. Below the columnar jointing unit is a different, more altered (orange color is due to the presence of clay minerals that forms during alteration) unit with bombs and scoriae. Unlike columnar jointing, which result from effusion of basaltic lava, such feature results from a more an explosive event that occurred prior to eruption of columnar basalt.
Trees
All over the place you will find magnificent trees and do not forget to look up once and a while! It can be breathtaking.
Flowers
Most flowers we have planted are there just to attract the hummingbirds and the forest produces a wide range of wild flowers itself.
Birds
Birds are a very important part of the project. We just want to show you two pictures here, but go for more information and photos to Birds and Garden.
Mammals
Not so easy to spot as but we have a few walking around, under which: howler monkeys, anteater, opossum, coati, ocelot and also the jaguarundi. It is always nice to meet one.
Snakes
Probably 99% of our clients will never see one, but we can assure you that they are there. Once and a while a snake visits our open-air restaurant in broad daylight! If you are so lucky to encounter one, we assure you that it is always a big surprise.
Insects
After living so many years in Costa Rica we are surprised on a regular base by all the new insects we discover. Some have head lights or are silver- or gold colored. Your imagination is too small to picture the diversity, and that only in our little place. Just a few examples:
Summary
As you can understand that it will be impossible to show everything from every subject here. We just wanted to get your attention and that if you have a special interest in one or more subjects shown here, please make sure you have enough time and do not forget your camera. For now: thank you for your time and interest, we appreciate it and hopefully see you soon.