/// Wild Tracks - Landscape Photography by Eduardo Gallo

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Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica

March 2013

Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica

Canon 5D MkII & EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, 1.5s f/8 ISO400 @32mm

Google Earth for this photo
MUSIC

Cloud forests represent approximately 1% of the global woodland. Situated in the tropics (below 25 degrees of latitude), these moist evergreen forests are generally immersed in a persistent cloud cover, which adds moisture not only to the canopy but quite often reaches all the way down to the ground itself. Although their altitude varies from 1500 to 12000 feet above sea level, they are usually restricted to a relatively narrow band of altitude on the slopes of higher mountains, which block the wind and assist retaining the clouds in place.

Conditions are quite stable within cloud forests, with a permanent fog that very often blurs the canopy when looking up from the ground, prevents direct sunlight from reaching the forest, and holds the temperature at pleasant levels (generally in the fifties and sixties). Plants take most of their moisture not from the rain but from the fog itself, which condenses on the canopy and then drips down onto the ground below.

I had read about cloud forests and hence knew most of the above facts before travelling to Costa Rica, but was positively surprised once I got there. Very positevely surprised. The cloud forests have a mesmerizing effect; it may be the humidity, the tremendous size of the trees, the fog that permeates everything, the sense of primeval forest, but you just feel right in here, in peace with yourself and with the forest. I would say that you feel part of the forest. But there is something else. I ended up spending quite a few days in the cloud forests of Costa Rica, day hiking in Santa Elena, backpacking machete in hand into a remote cabin in the wilderness surrounding Monte Verde, and climbing all the way up to Cerro Chirripo, where sunrise greets you at 12500 feet with both the Caribbean and the Pacific within direct sight. And I do remember the peace and the serene beauty of the forests. But I remember the music even more. The non stop hypnotizing music that belongs to these forests as much (if not more) as the fog itself. Different volumes, different pitches, different melodies, different artists. Some of which I could see, darting from tree to tree. Many more I could not. In all sizes and colors. From the tiny hummingbirds found everywhere through the sacred quetzals revered by the mayas to the mighty harpy eagles, capable of crushing the skulls of unsuspecting monkeys and dragging them to their nests. A continuous never ending symphony that I can still listen to within my head as if I were there. A marvellous melody that resonates among the trees and the fog, impossible to replicate anywhere else.

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