Monkey ladder

This is a close up of a vine that is called a "monkey ladder." I took this picture while walking on the trail back from the cave entrance in Barra Honda National Park, which has been the subject of my photos during the past week.

My photos of the caves began with the metal, human ladder used to access the cave. I think nature's "monkey ladder" is a more artful design.

Below is a second photo that shows a more distant view of this same vine to give the perspective of how it leads from the ground up to the higher tree branches.


It is easy to see why it is called a monkey ladder. As is common in Costa Rica, during our hike we could hear the low, gutteral calls of howler monkeys.

I am sorry that I do not know the scientific name for the monkey ladder. I could not find it in my reference books.

Stone or coral?

This looks like coral to me, in color, shape and texture. But it is another example of the stone in the Barra Honda cave we explored.

I have written in the past about how Costa Rica, with only 0.03% of the world's land area has 6% of the world's biodiversity. The scenery is also diverse, with beaches, mountains, jungles, cloud forests, plains and valleys, volcanoes, waterfalls, and more. The photos I have posted from Barra Honda during the past week illustrate that Costa Rica is diverse underground as well as above ground.

Tomorrow, we leave our underground explorations and I will show a photo of an unusual plant along the trail in Barra Honda National Park.

August is National Parks Month in Costa Rica, and I hope the photos I have posted from several of the national parks near Tamarindo have helped to show why eco-tourism is a major contributor to the economy of Costa Rica. Costa Rica is now receiving the dividends of decisions to create many of its national parks as recently as the 1970s to preserve a larger percentage of its land than any other country on the planet.

Cave formations in Barra Honda

These are a sample of more of the formations in the cave we explored in Barra Honda National Park.

Here's a little geology lesson. The caves were formed by water seeping into fissures in the limestone. The water mixes with carbon dioxide in the air and soil and forms carbonic acid, which adds a chemical process that interacts with a mineral in the limestone, which dissolves in the water. The dissolving mineral (calcium bicarbonate) drips away with the water and leaves a cavity -- the cave -- where the limestone rock used to be before part of it dissolved away.

I should repeat a disclaimer I made during one of my earlier posts about plants. My scientific training is limited to one college class: Introduction to Biology for Non-Science Majors. The above explanation is from a Costa Rica National Parks Guide book that I have, not based on any personal expertise.

Stone family

This is one of the formations in the cave we explored in Barra Honda National Park. It is referred to as the "family," for obvious reasons.

My guess is that the children of this stone family are feasting their eyes on the walls of this room, which looks like everything is made of ice cream.

Stalagtites

Of the 30 caves in Barra Honda National Park, only one has a large bat population, and we did not go into that one. We went into a cave noted for its striking formations, such as the stalagtites shown above and some much larger formations tht I will show during the next several days.

Yes, stalagtites are the formations that hang down and stalagmites are the formations that rise from the floor.

Entering Barra Honda cave

This photo shows my younger son, Stuart, at the beginning of the climb 52 meters (175 ft.) straight down into the La Trampa cave. Yesterday's photos showed the same ladder from the bottom looking up to the cave entrance. The safety rope clamped to a harness around his waist and held by a park service employee is clearly visible.

Visitors need to arrive at the park by noon to permit enough time to walk up to the cave entrance and to climb down, explore the cave, come back up, and then walk back to the car and drive back down to the park entrance before it gets late in the afternoon.

It is necessary to have a guide to walk visitors up to the cave entrance and escort through the cave. The guides can be hired at the park entrance building at a cost of about $30 USD. That also covers the cost of the employee who sits at the entrance and holds the safety rope to catch you if you slip on the ladder. The guide also supplies you with a hard hat with a light attached to it. Our guide also gave us a bottle of water to drink on the hike back when we finished the water we brought.

Several readers left comments yesterday saying that they would not have climbed down into the cave. I can understand their reluctance. My willingness to go down was due in part to (1) my son wanted to go, so it was something we could do together, (2) I did a fair amount of cave exploring as a youth, when I lived in Missouri, which is sometimes regarded as "the cave state" because its limestone bluffs are laced with caves, (3) I wanted and needed the exercise, and (4) we had a local guide to lead us, every step of the way.

Barra Honda Cave Ladder

This cave entrance is made accessible by a metal ladder that leads from a hole in the roof straight down 52 m. (175 ft.). (To see it, you may need to click on the photo to enlarge it. Another view is below.)
In observance of the worldwide Daily Photo August 1 Theme Day of "metal," I am showing the metal ladder that the Costa Rican park service has constructed to enable visitors to climb in and out of this cave in Barra Honda National Park. Visitors may climb down and explore the cave while escorted by a guide. Another park employee stays above ground with a rope (visible in the above photo) and pulleys that are attached to a harness that visitors must wear while climbing up or down the ladder to prevent a fall if someone slips.

Half of the 40 caves in Barra Honda National Park are still unexplored. What is it like to climb down the ladder and what is there to see inside the cave? You will need to check the photos that I will post during the next several days.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants in the Daily Photo theme day

Barra Honda Trail

This is a hiking trail in Barra Honda National Park. Tomorrow, as part of the worldwide first-day-of-the-month Daily Photo theme day, I will show what is at the end of the trail, which is one of the major attractions of Barra Honda.

I was recently in a bookstore in the U.S. and came across a book entitled "1001 Natural Wonders to See before You Die," and Barra Honda was one of them. After the photos I will post on the next few days, you will be better able to assess for yourself whether you will be satisfied visiting this natural wonder through the convenience of your computer or whether you will visit in person some day.

Barra Honda is located about an hour southeast of Tamarindo. It is just past the town of Nicoya, which is near the bottom of the map on the lower left of this website. As the above photo shows, Barra Honda is forested. This photo does not show that it is also a limestone hill that is 450 m. (1,475 ft.) high. The limestone nature of the hill may give a clue to some people about what lies ahead at the end of this trail, as will be shown tomorrow.

Horse and colt

This pastoral scene of a mother horse and colt was located along the road on a small finca (ranch) just before the entrance to Barra Honda National Park, near Nicoya, southeast of Tamarindo. The Guanacaste province of northwest Costa Rica has a very strong ranching tradition, with lots of horses and cattle.

I will post photos in the future from Barra Honda National Park, which features caves available to be explored with a guide.