costa rica adventure

Do you remember the movie MEDICINE MAN, starring Sean Connery, and if you do, do you remember the scene where him and the other scientist (his romantic interest, of course) go flying through the treetops of rainforests hanging from harnesses tied to ropes, well, that is what canopying is all about.

This costa rica adventure sport is new both to Costa Rica and to the rest of the world, and if the fact of flying through treetops at 40 meters from the ground seems to you as both an incredibly frightening and exciting idea, just imagine what it must be like to do it among the tree tops (also called canopies, thus the name of the sport) of the tropical rain and cloud forests. The sport originated from rappelling, which is a sport derived from mountain climbing in that it also uses safety climbing harnesses and ropes to displace the person from one inaccessible point to another.

According to our research the technique was developed by scientists in the US to study the canopies of trees in forests there without disturbing the life in the limbs and trunk by having to attach ladders or climbing equipment to the tree. Apparently it was not until a few years ago that scientist were able to study the canopy ecosystems in great depth through the use of this technique, and once it was developed, the rainforest became the optimal target for its use due to its large and complex ecosystems. The technique has been successfully used in the Bilogical station La Selva in Costa Rica for this purpose.

More next week