The high season is definitely here, and January was an excellent month for us here at Cloudbridge! For over a decade, Cloudbridge has been hosting student groups from the Gatton Academy for Science and Mathematics, who always enjoy their visit to the Cloud Forest. In addition to these groups, we were also happy to receive forestry students from Quebec and other educational groups! As you all know, helping people learn about the complexity and beauty of the Cloud Forest is at the heart of what we do here at Cloudbridge, and for us it is great to be able to host these student groups.
We would also like to express a special thank you to Mariana and her son Richard, who did an excellent job feeding the Gatton groups with delicious meals. If you would like to try her delicious cooking, and see another beautiful forest trail in the Chirripó area, we highly recommend the project Sendero Los Gigantes!
An exciting development that is happening at our welcome center is that the extremely talented Martha Espinoza is painting a beautiful mural for us, based on the wildlife that is actually found at Cloudbridge. Fun fact: the images she is using as models come from our instagram page! Doña Martha also collaborates with many of the souvenirs that we sell at Cloudbridge, and we are very thankful to her for sharing her talent.
This month we were also happy to receive board members Valerie Brown and Ken Kuehn, along with their friend Greg. Thank you for a great visit!
New staff and collaborations
Hi all! my name is Blanca and I’m the new Director of Science, Education and Research at Cloudbridge Nature Reserve. I just arrived to the reserve a month ago but I’m loving every second in this little paradise that I can now call home. About my background, I arrived to the reserve after living in Costa Rica for almost three years now. I have experienced the extreme heat and humidity of the rainforest but also it’s beautiful beaches and abundant wildlife while I worked and lived in a rescue center in Quepos. Then I discovered the seasonality of the dry forest with it’s disappearing rivers and landscape changes when I had the opportunity to study the Capuchin monkey population in Santa Rosa National Park. Now I’m learning that there’s also a cold part of Costa Rica in it’s mountany cloud forest. With abundant water, deep green forest and more wildlife species than I could dream of. I can’t wait to get to know this new part, this new ecosystem and this new home that Cloudbridge is offering me.
We’re excited to announce a new partnership between The Wild Cat Imaging Project and Cloudbridge Nature Reserve to upgrade and expand the Cloudbridge Camera Trap Project. This initiative will document all mammal species in the reserve, providing valuable data for conservation efforts.
Our collaboration will focus on:
– Upgrading and expanding the camera network for better coverage and data quality.
– Implementing standardized data collection to support long-term research.
– Enhancing community engagement through outreach and education.
This project will provide critical insights into mammal populations, helping to guide conservation strategies. Stay tuned for updates and exciting wildlife captures on our social media channels!
Pics from around the reserve
Suggested Reading
- The beginning of 2025 has been quite devastating for many around the world who are feeling the effects of pollution and climate change. The fires that raged through heavily populated parts of Southern California in early January served as an incentive to revisit this publication from some years earlier.
- Given the ever more visible impacts of the climate crisis, it is very upsetting to know that in many governments around the world, citizens trying to make their concerns heard and acknowledged are silenced and in some cases incarcerated. This account, by a British Just Stop Oil activist, describes how non-violent actions of protest are somehow punished more than the violence of the actions that are being protested.
- As per usual, we like to finish on a note of positivity and hope, in this case highlighting the ingenious ice stupas being used to make fresh water available throughout the year for farmers in the Himalayas.