The Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary was established in 1986 to protect the jaguar and is considered the most important jaguar reserve in the world. We headed to the sanctuary mid-morning, knowing that we were unlikely to see the nocturnal jaguars.

Okay, who drew this jaguar!  His face scares me!  Cross between a jaguar and a monkey.

We had hoped to do the Tiger Fern Trail at the reserve, a strenuous climb to a great view of the surrounding country side, then down to a waterfall for a swim with a return along the same route. We, however, had had to sneak Piper into the reserve, and it was very hot, and we didn’t feel right about leaving her in the camper for so long. We have found that if we put the thermal heat reflector shields in the windows of the camper and run the fans in the ceiling vents, that in the shade the camper stays quite cool inside. But this was the hottest that we had tried it, so we opted for a shorter trail to a waterfall.

About 10 meters into the trail I saw a small red snake scurry into the bushes. I am not a big fan of snakes, so the rest of the way to the waterfall my eyes were constantly on the ground. It is amazing how many roots and vines can look like snakes.

The waterfall was a bit of a let down compared to the others we had visited, but it was nice to have a swim. Back at the parking lot, we were greeted by a happy and cool dog, and we were able to get her back into the truck for the ride out of the reserve without getting caught.

We took a quick swim here.  We did get to see a huge blue morpho butterfly here, so that was an added bonus!

On the ride out of the reserve, we saw this guy!

This boa was about 5 feet long, maybe 2.5 to 3 inches in diameter.

When we first saw the boa he was in a coil. Amy and I jumped out of the truck for pictures, but as soon as the snake moved his head one inch, I was back in the truck. Amy was worried that he was going to get hit by a vehicle but we were unsure of how to move him off of the road (“cause, you know, I wasn’t going to go pick him up or anything).   Eventually Derek moved the truck ahead a bit and he started making his way to the side of the road and up and over the bank back into the jungle.