Costa Rica – A Nature Paradise 2025 - Steve Gettle Nature Photography

Costa Rica – A Nature Paradise 2025

Photography Tour

Get ready for an adventure in Costa Rica, where the amazing wildlife will have your memory cards bursting with incredible photos! Designed for all skill levels, you will have plenty of opportunities to play with your photography and pick up new tricks along the way. We’ll help you dive into macro with poison dart frogs, make images of bats and hummingbirds in flight using high-speed flash, and capture the action of stunning birds like the Resplendent Quetzal, macaws, toucans, tanagers, not to mention sloths, monkeys, and other mammals we meet!

Trip Details

Welcome to Costa Rica, a true haven for nature photographers! This stunning destination is bursting with incredible wildlife, offering you a wonderful opportunity to capture extraordinary images. Our Costa Rica photo tour is all about expanding your photography experiences while having a blast.

What makes this tour one-of-a-kind is the way we’ve crafted this adventure to totally immerse you in a photographer’s paradise while giving you lots of opportunities to practice old techniques and play with new ones.

We’ll be doing it all: portraits of birds and other wildlife on gorgeous perches, macro in both natural light and with flash, high-speed flash photography of hummingbirds and bats, fill-flash for birds, and more.

In addition, we stay at lodges and take you to locations that are designed for and by photographers. You will not waste a moment with bad situations.

Special Field Trips and Situations Designed for Nature Photographers

To really experience Costa Rica, it’s essential to explore its diverse elevations and habitats. Having led this trip for over a decade we have locked in our hot spots featuring tried-and-true lodges that are subject-rich and cater to working with photographers! Additionally, each lodge stay includes at least one field trip for even more remarkable photographic opportunities.

We will take you from the mountain cloud forests to lowland jungles to rainforests of Arenal volcano. We will shoot around our lodges in situations designed for photographers and take you on field trips custom designed for photography that get us close to unusual and magnificent species. You’ll shoot from bird blinds designed for photographers, enjoy macro with a diversity of species and gorgeous backgrounds, capture action using our custom high-speed flash equipment, and enjoy being in the midst of amazing wildlife that range from birds to amphibians, reptiles, mammals and more. This trip is packed with unique opportunities designed specifically for nature photographers!

An Abundance of Wildlife

Costa Rica is home to over 800 bird species and you’ll have the chance to photograph everything from vibrant hummingbirds and the magnificent Resplendent Quetzal to colorful toucans, macaws, and brilliantly hued honeycreepers and tanagers. Each day promises countless opportunities to capture stunning images that will enhance your portfolio.

But the excitement doesn’t stop with birds! We’ll also get up close and personal with a range of fascinating insects, lizards, snakes, and the vividly colored poison dart frogs.

And what about sloths? Yes – of course we will look for sloths! We will be staying in an area known for them, not to mention the incredible array of monkeys and other mammals that call this lush land home!

Advanced Equipment for Stunning Images
To elevate your photography experience, we’ll also provide a high-speed flash system for you to use while photographing hummingbirds in flight. This state-of-the-art equipment will enable you to truly freeze the action and capture breathtaking images that are impossible to achieve without specialized tools. Prepare to be amazed by the stunning photographs you’ll take home!

Join Us for an Amazing Adventure
Our Costa Rica photo tour promises not only to enhance your photography skills but also to provide a personalized adventure throughout this magnificent country. Immerse yourself in diverse ecosystems, stunning scenery, and rich wildlife as you develop your photography in an inspiring environment.

Two photography instructors

Our tour is designed for photographers of all skill levels. You’ll have two instructors, Steve and Nicole, by your side throughout, to advise as you capture images of a lifetime.

*Non-Photographer spots are available for this trip at a slight discount. This is a great trip for a photographer to share with a spouse/friend who enjoys nature and having a great adventure. We actually have a number of non-photographers who love nature join our trips because we are not only fun to travel with but also spend time with wildlife, watching and enjoying the behaviors and activity.

Fitness Level: Easy/Moderate. You will be photographing from blinds in special reserves as well as locations around our lodges. The walking trails are flat and you can go at your own pace.

Tour Information

Starts

Mar 20 2025

Ends

Mar 31 2025

Leaders

Steve and Nicole

Price

$6450

Deposit

$1500

Participants

8 participants

Availability

Full - Registration for 2026 open now

Booking Info

Deposit of $1,500 due with your registration

Payment #2 of $3,500 due October 15, 2024

Final Payment of $1,450 due January 5, 2025

* Pricing based on double occupancy

* Single supplement (if available) add $1100

* Non-Photographer Spouse/Friend discount of $600 (if available)

Tour Highlights

Practice or learn a wide variety of photographic techniques – from macro to portraits to action and flight – you’ll have a chance to do it all with a wide range of gorgeous subjects.
Specialized High-speed multi-flash system – Just plug in to our system and capture otherwise unseen images of hummingbirds in flight.
Lodges and field trips designed for photographers – We honed our itinerary to get you into the best unspoiled locations with situations designed specifically for photographers. Capture beautiful wildlife with gorgeous backgrounds.
An Abundance of Wildlife – The diversity of wildlife that you will photograph on this trip is astounding – with hundreds of species of birds, a wide range of frogs and reptiles and a vast diversity of mammals that include monkeys and sloths, you will be in subject rich locations throughout.
Two Photography Instructors – This trip is designed for photographers of all skill levels. Steve and Nicole are on hand throughout to assist you with your photography as you create stunning images

Arrival and Departure Information

Arrival day: Fly into San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO), arriving by March 20. You will be greeted by our dedicated driver and longtime friend, Hugo, and transferred to Hotel Bougainvillea where we are staying for our first night.

Note: Please wait for our email alerting you as to when to book your flights. We will share with you our flight details as well as any other important information that may help you with your bookings.

***If you plan to arrive early, before the start of our tour***

You will need to make your own extra/early arrival lodging and airport transfer arrangements at Hotel Bougainvillea or be at Hotel Bougainvillea by March 20.

Departure day: You can depart from San Jose at any time on March 31. Please note that checkout for our hotel is noon.

Detailed ITINERARY

Day 1

March 20, 2025

Travel Day and Photography around Hotel Bougainvillea

Upon your arrival at San Jose airport you will be greeted by Hugo, our dedicated driver for the trip. We have been working with Hugo for over a decade and he is like family! Hugo will transfer you to Hotel Bougainvillea. Once at the hotel, you will want to immediately unpack your cameras and start enjoying yourself as you explore and photograph beautiful birds that live in and around the 10 acres of picturesque gardens on the hotel property. These gardens are simply overflowing with impressive numbers and varieties of native plants, flowers, and colorful birds.

Day 2 and 3

March 21, 2025 - March 22, 2025

Arenal

After breakfast, we will travel to our lodge, right at the base of Arenal volcano. We will spend 3 nights here. Enroute to the lodge we may encounter sloths and monkeys! Our uniquely situated lodge sits perched on a ridge that is less than 2 miles from the most active volcano in Costa Rica, the Arenal volcano. Enjoy breathtaking views of Arenal as well as seven wildlife packed miles of well-maintained hiking trails which are home to over 370 exotic species of birds, and an abundance of other varieties of wildlife and flowers to photograph. Because the grounds are so lush and filled with great trails and fruiting trees, we will spend a full day here working situations around the lodge.

Day 4

March 23, 2025

Arenal

Today we will take a field trip for macro photography. Get ready for red-eyed tree frogs, poison dart frogs, snakes and more. You will have a wonderful chance to photograph an array of species and subjects. Following our field trip, we will return to the lodge and explore more of the great photographic situations there. From coatis to toucans, you just never know what may come in!

Days 5, 6 and 7

March 25, 2025 - March 26, 2025

Boca Tapada Area

After breakfast, we will transfer for 3 nights to a lodge in the wildlife rich area of Boca Tapada in northern Costa Rica. Get ready for a photographic extravaganza! Located in the lowland tropical rain forest, this legendary ecolodge is known for incredible encounters with King Vultures, Toucans, parrots, owls, tanagers and other amazing bird species. Here you may wake up to Howler monkey antics right outside your window! We will also see red-eyed tree frogs, poison dart frogs, mot mots, keel-billed toucans, kinkajous, and too many more animal and plant species to list! This is paradise and we will be in the right spot for wonderful photography! We will be pulling out all the stops here – setting up the high speed flash equipment for more hummingbirds in flight, setting up for bat photography at night, visiting special blinds for both songbird and raptor/vulture photography, pulling out our macro gear for frog photography, and enjoying time on the deck where Toucans, Aracari, parrots, tanagers, honey creepers and an array of woodpeckers come in. You will burn through a lot of memory cards on these last few days so be ready to shoot!

Day 8

March 27, 2025

Talamanca Mountain Range

Today, we will be staying at a unique lodge that resides within a pristine highland rain forest. We will spend 3 nights here. The grounds have numerous hummingbird feeders scattered among the meticulously manicured gardens, offering incredible opportunities to photograph these precious little jewels, as well as other gardens filled with trees and other plants that birds of all colors and species come in to feed on.

Day 9

March 28, 2025

Talamanca Mountain Range

Today will be another day filled with special experiences. To start off, we will go on a special field trip to try to find and photograph Resplendent Quetzals – a species on everyone’s bucket list! Seeing the male with his incredibly long tail or a female with her beautiful colors, fly in to a gorgeous moss and lichen covered tree or try to tuck himself into a nest cavity is an incredible thing to see and photograph. Following this, we will set up for a great experience the high-speed hummingbird flash photography. We bring and set up our own equipment that you connect into and photograph hummingbirds in flight. Specialties of this area include the incredibly colorful Fiery Throated Hummingbird!

Day 10

March 29, 2025

Talamanca Mountain Range

Today, we will spend a full day at a very special property set up specifically for bird photography. With gorgeous mountains providing buttery backgrounds, you will have the chance to photograph a wide range of species that include tanagers, honeycreepers, woodpeckers, parrots, silky flycatchers and more that come in to feed. In addition, there are birds and bird activity all around the property. Take a walk around the grounds and you may find quail pecking through the leaf litter or woodpeckers nesting.

Day 11

March 30, 2025

Return to San Jose

After final a morning of photography around lodge, we will return to San Jose for our last night together.

TESTIMONIALS

My first natural history photography trip flying West, not East from the UK. Organization and photo opportunities were excellent, and I was made very welcome both by Steve and Nicole, as well as the rest of the group. Would I go again on a similar trip with Steve and Nicole? Yes! I already signed up!

George C., United Kingdom

This was my third trip with Steve and Nicole and to say it was an absolute jewel would be an understatement. I know that they have been doing this trip for a long time and it really showed. The itinerary was second to none and the diversity of subjects was mind-boggling. I have been photographing nature at a high level for over a decade now and even an old dog like me learned a lot of new techniques that I will use throughout my photography.

Bill T., Washington

This was my first photography trip and to be honest, I was a little bit intimidated because I knew on this trip we would be photographing a lot of subjects and using techniques that I had never tried before. Much to my delight, I had nothing to be worried about. While I did n fact learn a ton of new things – like macro photography and high speed flash of hummingbirds, Steve and Nicole made it all so easy that I didn’t even feel like I was learning. n the end, I came away with a whole new set of skills that I will use in my nature photography. The toughest part coming from this trip is deciding which of Steve and Nicole’s exciting adventures to do next. I can’t wait!

Sarah M., California

WHAT'S INCLUDED

All lodging while in Costa Rica
All meals at the lodges and on field trips
All ground transportation in a comfortable bus
All field trips to amazing photo locations
Use of our custom high-speed flash equipment
Photographic and creative instruction
Comprehensive Pre-trip Booklet that includes all the photo gear and other packing information for the trip as well as all other pertinent details to help you make the most of this adventure

WHAT'S NOT INCLUDED

Air travel to and from San Jose, Costa Rica
First night’s dinner in San Jose since everyone arrives at different times
Gratuities
Travel insurance
Alcoholic beverages

Tour Extensions

There are no extensions available for this tour.