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DARTFROG)Frog-spotting, like bird-watching, takes patience
and perseverance. It’s an intimate view of nature, full
of disappointment as well as discovery.
Your chances are best when conditions are worst.
We picked July, the middle of the rainy season, when
clouds swallow mountains whole. After several days,
suitcases take on an aroma dubbed “jungle funk.”
It’s not essential to have a guide, but recommended,
especially if your frog-finding skills are rusty. Starkey,
a Sacramento native with a giant salamander tattooed
on his arm, has lifelong expertise in scanning leaves,
stems, and the edges of ponds.
Our trip had started on the outskirts of San José at
Hotel Bougainvillea. Several small ponds in its 10-acre
gardens were built specifically as breeding habitat for
endangered species such as Forrer’s leopard frog and
the brilliant forest frog.that offer zip-lining, mountain biking, kayaking, and
birding. But the nation is now discovering the value
of this much smaller—and more threatened—natural
asset. Lodges are building frog-friendly ponds; parks
are leading frog-finding tours. Even the busy urban
San José airport has a new frog-patterned carpet.
As the world gets hotter and drier, frogs’ future is
in peril. Amphibians have survived the past four great
extinctions, from ice ages to a meteor collision. But
something is happening today that is causing amphib-
ians to disappear at alarming rates.
An estimated 200 frog species have already gone
extinct, and hundreds more may be on their way out.
They’re experiencing death by a thousand cuts, suc-
cumbing to a lethal cocktail of factors that include
pollution, climate change, and habitat loss and deg-
radation. All of these factors can weaken the immune
system of amphibians, and now a fungus is dealing
the final blow.
Costa Rica has already lost its fabled golden toad—and it fears for other species. Once frogs that eat insects
are gone, an ecosystem loses its delicate balance.
It is not enough to lament their loss, says Save the
Frogs founder Kerry Kriger. Frog-focused travel, he
reasons, could strengthen the amphibian-human
connection and spur advocacy to conserve some of
the world’s most beautiful and charismatic creatures.
It is an addictive game, chasing eyes that glow like
jewels in the dark. We have lists, like birders. We have
our own jargon. We keep odd hours, swat mosquitoes,
and wear closed-toed shoes to prevent snakebites.
We get a kick out of
Costa Rican frogs,
including (clockwise from
far left) an glass frog,
whose skin is translucent;
a red-eyed tree frog,
which startles predators
when it abruptly opens
its eyes; a strawberry
poison dart frog; and a
masked tree frog, which
can change color.