Costa Rica – Pasture Landscapes

In last week’s post I shared photographs of remote beaches in Guanacaste Province, along the Pacific coast of northwestern Costa Rica. In this post I’m sharing images of pastures and fields just inland from the coast. The area is primarily low and flat, with modest mountain ridges forming backdrops to the large tracts of ranch land. I explored little-used dirt roads to find pastoral scenes, where small herds of cattle and sometimes groups of horses grazed on golden grasses. I find this is type of scene calming to look at – a relief from relentless urban and suburban environments. There were no modern houses working their way into the beautiful agricultural landscapes.

Tropical dry forest is the natural habitat in the region, with regular rain from May to November, but long hot dry spells in between. Where the forest has been cleared for ranching Guanacaste trees with spreading canopies provide shade here and there for the Brahman cattle. Some of trees have impressive large trunks, with expansive canopies and branches reaching out long distances. Cattle ranching is traditional in this region, although it appears that some of the land is not as intensely used as it once was. This makes the scenes even more rustic looking – not intensive, but not run down either.

All the images in this post are aerial views. In this set of photos the altitude of the camera is typically fairly low – most images are taken from a height between 80 and 200 feet, not far above the trees. I love the perspective this view gives. The relationship between the landscapes and the surrounding terrain or coast becomes clear, but the perspective is low enough to retain an intimate understanding of the shape of the land and how it’s being used by man.