Wildlife and Peace at Laguna Apoyo

Never one to follow the Gingro Trail exactly, we had a look to see if there were any lesser known spots in Nicaragua we could stay. Tourist infrastructure isn’t as well developed here, so staying in smaller towns can be a little harder, or at least pricier. But Laguna Apoyo stuck out as somewhere worth checking out. It is on the tourist trail, but usually only as a day trip from Granada, but I’d read that the birds and wildlife here are pretty epic and the lagoon sounded really cool too – it’s a crater, surrounded by a jungle covered rim and filled with water bubbling up from below which is heated. Which gives the lake a stable warm temperature year round.

We looked at a few accommodation options around the lake and I struggled to decide what to do – on one hand we could stay in the village on the lagoon, which would give us more convenience and a few shops etc, or we could stay way out around the Laguna in a villa with a kitchen, fully nestled in nature….

Of course we decided on the latter, since we were coming here for nature, we thought; why half-arse it! So we stocked up on loads of groceries in Granada in time for our taxi to collect us and take us to the villa.

We arrived in the early afternoon and got a rude awakening to nature living, as there was a HUGE spider in the bathroom, but the guy sorted us out with a dustpan and brush!

The site was lovely, and we were the only ones staying here at the time, which meant it was very peaceful and quiet, and we basically had a private kitchen, which was amazing.

Straight away we saw tonnes of white throated Magpie jays (or Urracas as they are known locally) which are very charismatic birds, we also saw turquoise-browed Motmots (of course), and the biggest kingfisher we’ve ever seen, it was huge and brightly coloured.

The sunset over the lagoon was amazing too, but as there was not much to do here at night, and we were the only ones here, so after tea we got an early night ready to wake up with the dawn chorus…

The next morning we woke up early to the sound of birds and howler monkeys, before enjoying the sunrise. There were loads of black-headed trogons literally right outside our room, along with hummingbirds, Motmots, squirrel cuckoos, tonnes of Urracas and the sound of howler monkeys all around… It was amazing and we didn’t even have to leave the villa!

We made our own breakfast, and after some recent inspiration, I got stuff to make chocolate and peanut butter smoothie bowls with granola, they were absolutely delish and Dave says he’s a smoothie bowl convert now!

I had a quick shower and when I got out I saw a little bug run out from under the bath mat….. I thought it was an earwig or something as the bathroom was quite dark, but when I put my phone torch on it I realised it was a little scorpion! It’s actually the first scorpion I’ve seen, which is mad considering all the places we’ve been! I was pretty lucky not to get stung with bare feet on the bathmat, but we heard the sting is just like a bee sting and not dangerous (unless you’re allergic).

Then we went for a walk behind the villa into the forest on a trail which took us up to a view point over the crater. But not before another(!) scorpion encounter… Dave had left his socks on the floor, and as he went to put them on before our walk, he shook them out and a scorpion came out and ran under the bed 🤣

I guess there are pros and cons to staying in nature haha! On the one hand trogons on your porch, on the other scorpions in your socks!

Our walk started well, but it was much steeper and further than we expected and also much hotter. It was hard work and we only had one bottle of water… But we knew at the top there are loads of shops and restaurants, so we clung to that… Only as we neared the top both told us realised that we didn’t take any money with us!!!!

So we made it to the top, with no water left and approaching midday, after sweating SO MUCH… It was a disaster.

There were lots of restaurants up there which did take card, but for some reason they were all closed (Google said they should be open). There was only one shop so I went to ask if they could take card, or maybe PayPal or anything. They didn’t, but the vendor could see our water was empty and our desperation as we walked round the other shops checking if they were open, and so he gave us a bottle of water for free, which totally saved us!! What a kind person!!

On the way down we heard the weirdest bird noise, and so I used my bird app to see what it was. It turned out we had stumbled upon a long-tailed Manakin Lek!! Manakins are amazing birds which do an elaborate dance within a clean/cleared area of the forest called a “Lek”. But uniquely, several males dance together in unison for just one female. Apparently there is one lead male and the others support. They sing in unison and then fly and “dance”, shaking their tail feathers (literally). We could see them dancing through the trees, it was amazing, but so dark and incredibly hard to film. So we just enjoyed watching them and stayed here for almost an hour, watching the bright coloured males dance for a dull green female.

We finally made it back and just chilled on site in the hammocks, dozing and watching the birds, more Motmots, and loads of hummingbirds feeding on the flowers.

The next day we walked back up the trail to try and spot more birds, we saw so many. The birds are starting to get more and more common now. I still remember the first time we saw the turquoise browed Motmot in Uxmal in Mexico, now we see one basically every day. Here on this trail must have been 20-50, and so many Oropendolas with their robotic call, plus we could hear a second type of Motmot, the lesson’s Motmot, but didn’t see one.

Then we saw a flash of beak, it looked like an aracari, a kind of small toucan. Then another, and another. They landed so high in the tree tops there’s no way we could see them, but I persevered and kept looking, and then…. I saw them! They were hopping through the trees and did come a bit closer too.

We also saw the howler monkeys again, and walked down to the lake edge this time instead of going up to the viewpoint.

Then when we got back we took advantage of the free kayaks and went out on to the lake to watch the sunset.

On our final morning, we woke super early again to maximise our time. And this morning, along with the trogons, Urracas, Howlers and turquoise-browed Motmots, we also finally saw a lesson’s Motmot!

We really enjoyed our time at La Laguna, it was so chill and quiet, and being able to go slowly for a bit, just enjoying the wildlife and birds, and being able to have time on our own with a private kitchen.

It was also great to interact with the locals, although we were the only guests here, there were staff, and Oscar kept us company in the evenings and gave me a great opportunity to practice my Spanish!

We couldn’t believe how much wildlife there was here, so abundant and easy to see, we saw so much!