We spent the afternoon of our first full day on the Nayara Springs property. Actually, Nayara has three resorts that are all connected, Nayara Springs, Nayara Gardens, and Nayara Tented Camp. This makes for a large area to explore. It is also built on the mountain side, so it is extremely hilly. They have golf carts which employees use to drive guests around on property. These come in very handy when it is raining!
We started off by walking one of the short nature trails they have established. This is where we saw our first Sloth on our previous trip. This time there were no Sloths, but we did stumble across an Armadillo!
The Armadillo was a lot smaller than I expected it to be. We finished walking the trail and didn't see much else. There seemed to be a lot less wildlife throughout this trail than our previous visit.
My wife went back to the room to relax a bit while I did one more loop around the property. I went back to where we saw the armadillo and was stopped by several employees in the Yoga studio, which overlooks the path and forest where I was headed. They pointed out a lone Spider Monkey sleeping in the tree. This instantly reminded me of our last trip when an employee in the same yoga studio pointed out the Sloth. After a bit of time taking some photos and videos of the monkey, I moved on.
Sleepy Spider Monkey
I'm glad I did because I came across a Yellow-throated Toucan. It was near the top of the Tented Camp section where they have a garden growing various herbs. My goal for this trip was to get some Toucan photos, so I was very excited.
Besides the Toucans, you could hear the crazy calls of the Orange-chinned parakeets as they were flying everywhere. I was not able to get a picture of these fast little guys. They tend to sit high in tree tops just off the side of Nayara’s property. While I was waiting on the parakeets, I did catch this Vulture landing right in front of me.
After a long day photography wildlife, it was time to unwind and have some dinner. We would be dining at Ayla, which is a Mediterranean inspired restaurant. They even had some live music being setup.
I ordered the Chicken Schnitzel and my wife ordered Lamb Kebab and Batata Harra, which is a crispy potato with garlic, cilantro, and paprika.
We were celebrating our 15th Wedding Anniversary this trip, which Nayara recognized at dinner with a chocolate desert. To our surprise, they also decorated our room and gave us a bottle of Champagne!
We will be heading to Cano Negro Wildlife Reserve in the morning, so it was time to get some sleep.