We had a great trip! 2015 Nicaragua Trip Report and Mammal List.
And again in 2016: 2016 Nicaragua Mammal Extravaganza final.
Nicaragua is poised beside some of the best-known Neotropical destinations: Costa Rica, Panama, and Belize. In this country there is just as much wildlife, excellent parks and private reserves, and far less ecotourism.
Our trip is designed to seek out mammals, first and foremost. We will visit specific areas where we have had luck finding uncommon to rare species. Although we cannot promise sightings of all the larger species, we are confident we will see numerous opossums, carnivores, rodents and bats, many of which are never seen on typical eco-tours. We will spend almost every night out spotlighting by vehicle, boat, or on foot. 
We start in the dry Pacific lowlands, making our way south, with stops at a turtle beach. This area is great for three species of skunk (Hooded, Spotted and Striped Hog-nosed), woolly and gray four-eyed opossum, Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth, Kinkajou and more. Birding is excellent as well.
We take a privately chartered boat across Lake Nicaragua to the remote Los Guatuzos National Park, and later we travel by river to Refugio Bartola, a lovely reserve bordering Indio-Maiz national Park. Here we have had luck in the past seeing numerous uncommon-to-rare bat species, and the elusive Water Opossum. Reptiles and amphibians are abundant too, in this wet lowland forest.
From Bartola we head north to the cloud forest and the delightful El Jaguar Reserve. Home to the endemic Richmond’s Squirrel and a number of other mammals, this area is excellent for birding. One morning, we visit nearby pine forest to search out migrants and some resident birds only found here.
Throughout the tour we will be accompanied by José Gabriel Martínez, who is a first rate biologist/naturalist and is, in my opinion, unsurpassed in his ability to catch mammals and herps by hand (unharmed).
Please join me and José Gabriel on this Nicaragua adventure!
Cost: $3,950.00 US( double occupancy, from Managua)
Dates: Feb 5-18, 2015
Group Size: 6-8 passengers
For my report on mammals seen on the last trip please go to 2014 Nicaragua trip report March 15
