Kayaking in Costa Rica with Dry Pak
As a way of getting the ball rolling on a series of kayak journeys in the tropics, Cormorant Expedition Team: Esteban Ericksen and Claudio Solis, will engage on an 83 kilometer circumnavigation of Lake Arenal in the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica.
The team will paddle in the name of conservation raising awareness on the importance of preservation of natural resources and sustainable tourism.
Once cattle fields and farm lands, the town of Arenal was literally erased from the map by a series of volcanic eruptions in 1968. With very few survivors and under the constant threat of further volcanic activity the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE) decided to build a dam flooding the area and creating the largest artificial lake of the country. This pioneer hydroelectric project lead the way to clean energy and sustainable development. Lake Arenal not only produces some of the cleanest energy in the country but its residual water is piped across the continental water divide for crop irrigation all over the Guanacaste province.
Costa Rica, known for concentrating dozens of microclimates, challenges tourist and locals alike with rainforest, cloud forest, dry forest, low lands, mountain ranges, rivers, lakes and miles of coastline in both Pacific and Caribbean. With over 4% of the world’s biodiversity packed in only 19,730 square miles, a country just about the size of West Virginia is waiting to be explore.
Cormorant Expedition Team, with the support of Dry Pak products, will be on the search of all sorts of species at Lake Arenal starting this October.
You never know what’s waiting around the corner says kayaker Claudio Solis.
On prior trips we have been able to spot all sorts of animals; from howler monkeys hanging from their prehensile tails at the edge of the water to snowy egrets, tiger herons, 3 different kinds of toucans, ospreys, kingfishers, cormorants and Neotropical river otters.
It’s hard to stay focused on paddling and reading maps when the anhingas are diving for fish next to your kayak and breathtaking views of mountain tops surrounds you from every angle.
As part of the journey the team will be putting together a list of birds as well as other wildlife species in order to compile enough material to share with children of local schools and promote outdoor activities and conservation of natural resources.
Stay tuned on Kayaking in Costa Rica with Dry Pak as more updates and photos of the team’s official launching day coming up soon.
