Did that Monkey in Costa Rica just wink at me? When I was a kid, I used to play monkeys with my best friend Marguerite.
We’d make believe we were running around the forest swinging from trees, scratching ourselves.
Scratching under our arms, making monkey sounds, scratching our noses. Did you ever have fun playing monkeys?
Maybe that’s why I always wanted to watch monkeys doing their thing, in their own habitat and Costa Rica provides you with this experience.
Today, when rafting down the Corbihi River in Costa Rica we came across monkeys high in the trees.
Oh look, the guide said, pointing to a tree just ahead of us. See the monkeys?
Where, where everyone shouted??? Up ahead, he answered.
Oh yeah, I see them called out one of the members of the group.
And then in unison everyone said Yeah, there they are and lifting cameras to faces, everyone was clicking away.
The monkeys were behaving differently than Marguerite and I. They were hanging upside down watching us, watching them as we went rafting past them, our cameras snapping.
Since I was in the front of the raft, trying to protect my camera from the splashing water, my clicking was s l o w to come.
Unfortunately, I missed some of the best #&*$#%
Here are 4 tips for always being prepared for that next shot, whether on land or sea….
- Take the shot…don’t hesitate. You can always hit the delete later.
- Use automatic settings. Depending on your camera, you probably have a number of pre-exposures on your camera. Experiment before the trip.
- Set your camera to automatically take multiple shots, if you have the capacity. You can always delete those that do not come out good.
- 4. Purchase a waterproof camera bag that flips open easily or use a zip lock bag if you are going to be on the water. (B& H is always a good place to purchase anything for photography or electronics www.bhphotovideo.com)
And then, you won’t miss monkeys
or frogs that look like this
.
Isn’t he a beauty!
And there were birds singing to us all the way down the river. The sun was hot, the pineapple was cold and delicious and the river, relatively calm. It was a very peaceful day with lots to see and the monkeys, although a very brief encounter, were so very cute. Marguerite would have loved them.
