The Costa Rican Bird Route Challenge is the official opening event of the Costa Rican Bird Route, the first birding trail in Costa Rica. The 13 site birding trail includes 6 new private reserves along with world famous birding areas such as La Selva Biological Station, Selva Verde Lodge, and Laguna Lagarto Lodge.
The Challenge, which will be held Feb. 21-27th, 2009, is a contest to see which team of bird watchers can observe the most number of birds in the Bird Route over a period of three days. Each team will consist of six people, two of which will be local guides. The remaining four slots are for you and your teammates. There will be a total of six teams racing through the Costa Rican Bird Route in search of the most number of birds possible. Each team will be equipped with either two 4 wheel drive vehicles or a single 4 wheel drive van.
The Challenge itself is being run to raise funds for improving infrastructure at new biological reserves, and to raise awareness about the Costa Rican Bird Route. Each team is required to raise a minimum of $500 to help support the development of bird tourism at the new private reserves. The winning team will receive a plaque, as well international recognition as the winners of the first Costa Rican Bird Route Challenge.
Upon arrival for the Challenge you will meet your Costa Rican guides and will participate in an opening ceremony and dinner at the famed Bougainvillea Hotel outside of San Jose. The following day each team will have a travel day to get to their starting location and will be assigned three sites within the route. Each team will have three Big Days of counting, one at each of the assigned sites. The fourth day each group will have the morning to bird at their final site, and then all groups will meet back at the Bougainvillea by mid afternoon with their final counts. On the evening of the 20th everyone will participate in the grand awards banquet where the winning team and sites will be announced.
You can start your own team or join an existing team for just $1100. Rainforest Biodiversity Group is offering this trip at cost. This price of this trip includes 6 nights lodging (2 at Bougainvillea, 2 at a Bird Route Portal Site, 2 at a Bird Route Remote Site), all transportation during the trip including transfer to and from the airport, 2 local bird guides, all meals for the trip including the two banquets, a Costa Rican Bird Route Challenge T-shirt and a complimentary Bird Route Map and Guide. This DOES NOT include flight, airport taxes, snacks, tips or donations.
There is a down payment of $250 /person to reserve a spot in the Challenge due by Nov. 1. As mentioned, each team, as part of the cost of the tour, is required to raise $500 per team as a donation to support new reserves within the Route. This is in addition to stated cost of the trip.
The official list for the Costa Rican Bird Route is 520 species. How many will you be able to see?
To reserve your space, visit http://www.costaricanbirdroute.com or contact Raquel Gomez at Raquel@costaricanbirdroute.com. The Costa Rican Bird Route is a project of Rainforest Biodiversity Group.
