Costa Rica: Hidden Treasures

Until recently, the national forests of Costa Rica have enjoyed a certain protection from logging and agricultural transformation. But that is changing. Humans have been moving into or near once sheltered areas in increasing numbers and noise (if not actual deforestation) is always a problem for recordists. This lovely day-to-night collage imparts a sense of the magic and wonder that still remains. Recorded in and around Corcovado in the southwest region of the country, we were able to capture treasures evocative of the time spent exploring the remaining rainforests and mangrove swamps in the area.

COSTA RICA: HIDDEN TREASURES. Of the Central American rainforests that still remain intact, few offer the rich soundscape textures of those located in the southwest region of Costa Rica. This recording was made in the forests and swamps of Corcovado, a partially protected biological region that evokes an unchanged sense of what forest life may have been like as recently as six hundred years ago – a time when humans still learned to dance and sing from the voices of present in their respective habitats. Especially evocative are the nighttime sounds in mangrove swamps of crabs when they release themselves from the aerial roots of trees and fall to the mud below as the tide beneath them recedes.