At night, all cats are gray, or A nightmare in the Jungle

After we have already seen so many animals in Costa Rica, we are greedy for more and so we book a night walk through the jungle to see the nocturnal animals.

I think to myself that we will take a relaxed guided tour on paved paths in Manuel Antonio National Park and see nocturnal animals like frogs, bats, etc.

But I didn't count on our guide. We start shortly before sunset towards Manuel Antonio National Park. However, we don't drive all the way there, but start our tour at a pond. First, we see a toucan. It looks great. Then the guide explains the plan for the evening. Sounds promising and interesting. He has flashlights with him and we start. At the pond, we don't see anything except a few birds.

We continue hiking on paved paths with street lighting and use our flashlights to look into the trees, because most of the frogs actually live in the trees.

We see some very interesting specimens. Suddenly we come across what seems to be an impenetrable thicket and the guide heads into this thicket. I think to myself, he can't be serious, before the jungle has already swallowed us. It is pitch dark here. No paved paths, nothing. The guide goes in search of the animals of the jungle, sometimes running so far ahead that I wonder if he's crazy to leave us here. But he always returns to us and shows us frogs, a sloth, and small creepy crawlies. I'm a bit nervous and constantly shining my flashlight around. I constantly have these stupid spider webs on my face, and I don't want to imagine what kind of monster spun these webs.

Then the guide happily says, now we are entering the area where there are many tarantulas. What? Tarantulas? I want to get out of here. I hold on tightly to my flashlight and then, damn it, the battery is dead. I'm in the jungle with thousands of tarantulas and no light.

Thankfully, the guide still has a spare flashlight for me. He says he has found a tarantula, but first he wants to show us another animal. Great, it's a baby venomous snake. This species spits the venom at its enemy. I don't even want to know where its 2-meter-long mother is.

Now the guide and Matthias head towards the hole where the tarantula is sitting. I don't want to go there, damn it. No chance, the men are staring at the damn creature like it's a gold nugget.

"Ines, take a look," they say. Nooooo, I don't want to. But before I have to spend another 3 hours in this jungle, I take a look. Oh my god. Thankfully, my stomach is empty, otherwise, I would have thrown up. A huge tarantula is sitting in its hole, waiting for its prey. I hope it's not me. Not far from the spider hole is a small stream. Stream, moist, caimans, I think. The guide wants to show us a special type of frog that has almost transparent skin. Great. To see this frog, we have to pass by the tarantula hole and go to the river, which is certainly infested with caimans. The guide searches for this frog for what feels like two years. I'm getting angry. People, I want to get out of here.

Ah, he has found the frog. I look at the frog through binoculars. It looks great, now let's get out of here. Oh no, Matthias is circling the tree on which the frog is sitting to take a photo. I'm standing not far from the tarantula hole, the venomous snake and the caimans are surely not far either, and I curse to myself.

To make matters worse, Matthias shines his flashlight in my face and complains that I'm always blinding him with my flashlight. Huh, what? You're the one blinding me right now, I think.

So after seeing the frog and clarifying the issue with the blinding, we continue. Past the tarantula hole, past the den of the monster snake, we continue. The guide finds a few very nice frogs and finally I see the light of civilization. I am completely drenched in sweat and incredibly relieved when we return to our car.

We saw many nocturnal animals. I could have done without some of them. But nothing happened and we arrive safely at our apartment.

On the balcony of our apartment, we want to end the evening in a cozy way. We look at the balcony wall, oh my god. There's actually a scorpion sitting there. Great, not even here are we safe from the monsters.

I decide that the next night walk will definitely take place without me.

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