Fiery Arenal Volcano Of Costa Rica

By Frank Scott

With luggage and camera gear packed in the van by 8 in the morning my new friends and I on my photography tour are off to our first destination, promising to be an outstanding adventure. The excitement is high with everyone getting to know each other and talking cameras and pictures on this their first day.

We are on our way to Arenal, an active volcano in Costa Rica, but there are a few stops along the way. First, we stop in Sarchi, famous for its tropical furniture, where magnificent, brightly decorated ox carts are made in an eighty plus year old water powered factory. From there, we drive to the little mountain town of Zarcero where the focal point is the old wooden church with its much-photographed double row of topiaries leading to its entrance. You can fill your camera's memory card just at these two places with the colours and patterns in Sarchi and the fantastic shapes of the topiaries in Zarcero.

The roads in Costa Rica are famous, not only for the magnificent land which they traverse but for their condition. Our driver, Luis, knows that we will encounter many potholes so he is cautious and as a result we are passed by most everything on two or four wheels. Many drivers here, from the ubiquitous taxistas to truck drivers, think they are Formula One drivers. Indeed, reportedly there is a bus driver whose passengers frequently find religion on his overland route.

After our planned stops and lunch in La Fortuna we are now just a few miles from our lodge at Arenal. As we leave the main highway we find ourselves on a road that is one continuous pothole. It is January and the rainy season has just ended so most roads are in poor condition but what is unique about this road is that it was constructed from crushed lava rock.

Rounding a curve we see a clearing beside a tropical river and there is the perfect cone shape of Arenal Volcano! Those who have never seen a volcano are stunned at the sight.

We see that the peak of the cone is shrouded in puffy little white clouds against a cerulean sky. The sight is picture perfect and we stop and everyone quickly descends from the van in the process of attaching cameras to tripods. Some of us wade into the tropical river to capture the incredible image from a different perspective and others are shooting from the riverbank.

Who is to say how dangerous being this close to an active volcano can be? Fortunately, Arenal is very predictable and today is closely monitored so there is a very low risk of a serious, catastrophic, unexpected eruption. Only 1 km away from the base of the volcano and 2 km to the top of the cone is the lodge where we stay and without a doubt any activity attracts the attention of everyone.

While unpacking and getting settled in, Arenal speaks. It is a great roar, smoke and gas billowing many hundreds of feet into the sky and the sound of the rocks tumbling down the slopes. After the eruption, the Mantled Howler monkeys are extremely vocal but we do not know if they are protesting the roar of the eruption or just answering back.

We all sit in the lodge dining room enjoying our dinner as the volcano erupts again. I had told everyone that there are photo opportunities in Costa Rica but no one imagined anything like this could happen, certainly not while you are eating dinner. And this was only the first day of the photo tour!

The next two nights are without much sleep since we find comfortable chairs in the common area of the lodge just outside our rooms and we mount our cameras on tripods attaching cable releases. Since I had already been to Arenal many times I had chosen to use an 80-200mm lens set at 80mm and an aperture of f8, the camera shutter set at "B" for time exposure.

The activity of the small flare-ups at the cone and the lava flowing down the opposite side makes me think that a time exposure of more than 20 minutes could produce an ugly yellow blob of light and if there are no eruptions after this time I will close the shutter and start another exposure. In using a cable release the exposures are perfectly sharp and Arenal cooperates by putting on quite a display while we are there.

Arenal is the first adventure in Costa Rica for my photo group. With another eight days of photography everybody is looking forward to the next destination that is going to be just as exciting.

About the Author:

Frank Scott lives in sunny Costa Rica where he is a professional Costa Rica Photographer offering unique ecophotography tours. Some of his work can be seen in Costa Rica Vacations, a very popular travel guide to this unique country.

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