Costa Rica - Part 1
Welcome to the Jungle
Recent rainy days have me reflecting on my time in the rainforests of Costa Rica.
Nowhere is more dynamic and vital than the jungle - it hums with life and a continuous cacophony of howls and trills through day into night. Tropical rainforests are the most biologically diverse terrestrial ecosystems in the world, home to more than half the species of flora and fauna on our planet.
What struck me most was the enormity and scale of these jungle plants, the big, broad leaves and towering young trees and their contrast to the delicate, petiolate leaves found in our quaint English hedgerows.
With daily rainfall (an average of 200 inches per year), pants thrive; they have all the right conditions for growth. Most of what we see is the new growth of secondary forests, where life has been regenerated or restored in natural succession after human disturbances.
These rich mutualistic ecosystems mean trees are covered in plant life, offering growing places of other flora, fauna and animals to flourish and thrive... with reciprocal benefits.
Like many countries near the Equator, Costa Rica experiences little seasonal variation. As the sun strikes the same angle, their hours of day and night are relatively equal throughout the year, meaning they have a temperate climate with microclimates. As one of our guides said, “We don’t have seasons here, only wet and wetter!”
This seemed astonishing, yet something I never stopped to question before as a young traveller, first visiting Costa Rica some 15 years ago! I now live in harmony with Nature, following the cyclical rhythms, attuning to the seasons and wisdom of the land back home... yet here, there are no thresholds from one season into the next; there is no time for pause and replenishment, the jungle continues to grow, well watered and supported in a reciprocal relationship and the dynamic mutualistic cycle of life.
“All of our flourishing is mutual” - Robin Wall Kimmerer