My wife and I stayed at the beautifully located Observatory Lodge at the bottom of the Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica. On our first morning we woke up around 5am to screams of howler monkeys and ventured into the jungle following one of the easily accessible trails leading to a waterfall. On our way back to the lodge a small wildcat jumped out of the bushes scaring us both. I yelled "Oh my God! Ocelot!!!!" (I actually yelled something else, a good old polish word starting with a "k"...). At first he just ran ahead of us and quickly dissapeared around a corner. We thought that was the last time we saw it but we were wrong. He turned around and slowly trotted back towards us. We totally didn't know what to expect. In one hand I had my camera ready to take pictures in the other I was holding my tripod for... defence:) just in case... The cat approached us, then quickly climbed on a tree, jumping from one branch to another like a monkey. He was unbelievably agile using his tail and strong, fatty front paws to keep his balance. It felt like he was showing off! Eventually he jumped off and ran back into thick bushes. We thought it was over and he was gone for good and we kept walking back to the lodge, still in awe... Suddenly we've heard a loud noise, something was running fast, very fast. Because of all the noise Karolina thought it was a jaguar :) But... it was our little fellow who longed for more company. Now, he got really close showing a lot of interest in us. However, at the same time he was acting like he didn't care about our presence...He wasn't looking at us at all chewing on some grass and playing with dried leaves. Finally we had to move on leaving the cat behind and got back to the lodge. We checked in the guide and realized that it wasn`t an ocelot but a margay, a small cat living in the canopy of Central and South American jungle.
Quick Facts about Margay:
Natural Habitat: rainforests of Central and South America
Size:
Food:
Trivia:
You can read more about this animal here.
Quick Facts about Margay:
Natural Habitat: rainforests of Central and South America
Size:
Food:
Trivia:
You can read more about this animal here.
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