We arrived at the 'Bellavista' lodge early on Monday morning after a long dirt track road drive. The reserve was bought in the 80's by an English guy who re-planted hectares of natural forest hence attracting the local wildlife especially the hummingbirds.
Our accommodation was incredible we had the whole second floor!
With our own balcony.
It was the first time on our trip that it felt like a honeymoon destination.
There was also an amazing viewing lodge/dining room that was windows from top to bottom.
The whole lodge was built in the tree tops as this photo from our balcony shows.
The difference between a Cloud-forest and the Rain-forest we visited last week is that you can always see the sky in the cloud forest and that as a Cloud-forest is at higher altitude the clouds roll in most afternoons.
The forest is full of lots of interesting birds & plants. This ancient plant is older than Fern making it older than the dinosaurs!
Kenny has become so obsessed with taking photos of everything, he took over 400 over the 3 days we were here.
Many of the plants have medicinal properties, the red sap from this tree is an antiseptic.
They suitably call it 'Dragon Blood'.
The incredible landscape was covered entirely with trees lending a beautiful view in all directions.
Which the lodge had set up view points for us to relax at.
It was important to the owner that the lodge was as Eco-friendly as possible and did not, in anyway, detract from the natural beauty. You may be able to just about spot it amongst the trees here?
There was lots of walking in order to spot the wildlife, we saw over 50 different species of bird including Toucan.
They were very difficult to spot but I became a real birdy while I was there. I had the binoculars and Kenny took more photos!
Here is one of the Toucan's favorite meals - the earth worm - HUGE!!!!
The evenings were so peaceful, with no light pollution at all.
The meals included were fabulous and even on the way to dinner the wildlife followed!
With its own bar this place was heaven, we were surprised and delighted that the owner had brought with him a little bit of Yorkshire with this 'Black Sheep Brewery' bar towel from Masham.
We had a fantastic time here and did not want to leave. The nature was wonderful and the accommodation & food made it perfect but the real stars were the hummingbirds, which were everywhere!!! So I will finish with a selection of the many hummingbird shots taken a few paces from our room door!
Just incredible!
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