Peak season Photo: Helgen K, Pinto C, Kays R, Helgen L, Tsuchiya M, Quinn A, Wilson D, Maldonado J · CC BY 3.0 ↗ Olingo Cloud Forest Canopy — Costa Rica
The olingo and its newly-described relative the olinguito — the first new carnivore species described in the Western Hemisphere since 1978 — inhabit the cloud forest canopies of Costa Rica and Panama at elevations from 1,500 to 2,500 metres, and are among the most rarely observed mammals in Central America. Night spotlighting walks in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve produce olingo sightings in the canopy of flowering trees that the animals visit for nectar, the golden-brown body and long tail moving through the wet moss-covered branches in torchlight. The discovery of the olinguito in 2013 — hiding in museum collections misidentified as an olingo for 100 years — is a reminder that the cloud forest canopy remains one of the least-explored ecological spaces in the Americas.
About this spectacle
In the misty canopy of Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, after dark, torchlight catches a flash of golden-brown fur moving through moss-covered branches — an olingo, or possibly the rarely seen olinguito, the first new carnivore described in the Western Hemisphere in decades. Night spotlighting walks reveal these small procyonids slipping between flowering trees at 1,500 to 2,500 metres elevation, their long tails curling around branches as they lap nectar in the fog. The forest itself heightens the experience: the constant drip of cloud moisture, the call of unseen birds, the smell of wet epiphytes. Because these animals are rarely observed and move quickly through the upper canopy, sightings are brief and unpredictable, making each glimpse feel genuinely rare. The knowledge that the olinguito hid undetected — misidentified in museum drawers for a century — adds a layer of wonder to every sighting: what else moves through this fog-wrapped canopy, still unnamed?
When to go
Jan — Dec
Getting there
Nearest airport: SJO. Nearest city: San José.
Booking options
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