My first tarantula, ain't he cute
Some may think I am brave for hiking through jungle and rainforest areas in Corcovado National Park and today in Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica. Tarantulas and other giant spiders run amok not to mention some dangerous snakes. Truth is I am as frightened of big spiders as anyone.
A truly stunning creature in my opinion
If you gave me a basketball, placed me under a basket, then through a big hairy spider on my shoulder, I would jump ten feet high. I would do some serious Michael Jordan or Spudd Webb action.
I am kind of interested in big spiders also. I have a certain macabre fascination seeing them, just as long as they are not crawling on me. I think many share my big spider dichotomy.
I think today my arachnophobia turned a corner. While hiking in Manuel Antonio National Park, our guide spotted this gorgeous tarantula on a leaf. How he spotted this in the jungle, I will never know. We saw so many cool things today including howler monkeys, sloths, Jesus Christ Lizards, rainbow grasshoppers.
For me, the highlight was this amazing tarantula. I have seen them in pet stores and in a cage, but I have never seen them in the wild. I was not frightened by this guy at all (although I am sure I would have freaked if he was crawling on me).
St. Pauli girl beer used to have a real catchy advertisement that sang “you never forget your first girl.” Well, I will never forget my first wild tarantula.
Stay tuned,
TT
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I am sure you won’t be able to forget this guy
Siddhartha Joshi recently posted..Chittorgarh, the legend…the history…
Traveling Ted scared of a big spider? I find that hard to believe!
Leslie recently posted..Photos: The East Village survives Hurricane Irene with flooding, fallen trees and a dead rat
I think you are brave for hiking through jungle and rainforest.
One great thing about NZ is there are no deadly spiders here (or snakes or any other life threatening creature).
Ted, you know as well as I do that you can proof read a piece two million times before you post it and still miss an obvious. Do a retake at Michael J’s name there. Oh and I would have to have quite a few St. Pauli girls before I went traipsing off through the creepy jungle. Thanks for taking us along, buddy.
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I’ve never been close to one before – I’d probably be scared _________
Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Singapore Photo Essay | FOGG Odyssey
hhm – Think I will leave the spiders to you.I can not stand them. I freak when I see even the smallest.
Natalie recently posted..Should Animals Be Kept In Zoos?
reminds me of the deep fried tarantula being sold in cambodia
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Saw a humongous tarantula in Belize – but it had it’s regular hole in the rock and didn’t seem to bother anyone – just so creepy looking. But so are the super fast, really big, gross wolf spiders we used to get in the fall in Vancouver,.
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Reminds me of the first in the wild Tarantula I saw. Was on the 4am temple #4 sunrise hike at Tikal, group was fairly large, maybe 100 plus, but I made sure to stick in front by the guide (as he knows what to look for). Sure enough, bout 10 minutes in, he stopped by a tree and shone his light into a bit of a hollow, nice big brown tarantula
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