April 23, 2024 • 29 mins
In this epsiode, Martyn Stewart, transplants his life from the verdant landscapes of Washington State to the lush tropics of Playa Pelada in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. We'll be entranced by the dawn chorus, where howler monkeys and the symphony of birdsong announce the break of each day. We'll then venture deep into the untamed heart of the Osa Peninsula and experience it's raw and untamed beauty. From the songs of the melodious blackbird through to the haunting calls of the invasive cane toad and the gentle patter of rain on the lush foliage, listeners will experience the exhilarating challenge of capturing the rich tapestry of aural biodiversity. Martyn's narrative offers a masterclass in the art of nature audio recording, where every sound, from a chirping bird to a distant thunderclap, contributes to the majestic symphony of the rainforest.
As we wrap up our journey, we delve into the delicate balance between wildlife conservation and tourism. We confront the poignant realities of turtle conservation and the challenges of preserving habitats in Costa Rica.
This episode invites you to surrender to the natural concert that surrounds us, urging you to immerse yourself fully in the wonder of it all.
www.thelisteningplanet.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Martyn (00:01):
This is Martyn Stewart, with a life in sound from the
Listening Planet.
Amanda (00:15):
So today we're going to travel to Costa Rica.
It's one of my favourite placeson Earth and somewhere that you
also decided to make home,Martin.
So are we ready Now?
You originally moved fromWashington.
Martyn (00:29):
State.
What year was it?
We decided to go and look atland in 2017 and 2018.
We bought land, had houses andmy dream studio built down there
and we actually left in January2019 and drove from Seattle to
Miami, dumped the car off Roo,got on the plane with our little
(00:53):
white Labrador and I had to gothe long way via Nicaragua with
Bucket because he was so big hehe was like a horse.
Amanda (01:03):
Yeah, and where did you land?
Where did you end up?
Martyn (01:08):
I ended up in Playa Palada, which is the next little
village down from Nosara inGuanacaste.
It's just, you know, they callit a blue zone.
Amanda (01:21):
Tell me what a blue zone is.
Martyn (01:23):
A blue zone is supposed to be the healthiest environment
you could wish to be in, andthere's longevity in there.
Amanda (01:30):
I could do with some blue zones now, I think so,
Nosara, so we I've had theprivilege of coming to stay with
you and with my family andyou're right next to Nosara in
the Nicoya Peninsula, and Ican't even begin to explain how
pristine the beaches are, thelush tropical forests, but I've
(01:51):
never, ever, heard a dawn choruslike the one that woke me up in
the morning.
It's actually Martyn.
If you wouldn't mind, I'd liketo start there.
Tell me, I mean, it actuallyblew, blew my mind.
Tell me what you hear everymorning when you wake up.
Tell me the characters.
Martyn (02:08):
Tell me what the setting is when I first heard the dawn
chorus before you'd come down,it was like being mugged with a
gang of monkeys it was.
It was crazy.
It's because the the night andthe day is probably the same.
You get 12 hours day, 12 hoursnight.
There's no debating about it,it's just there.
(02:30):
And 6 o'clock at night thecicadas start calling and you
look at your clock and you think, okay, it's night, it's coming
down, sun's gone, and then thedawn the monkeys fill the trees
howler monkeys and they wakeeverybody up.
The only thing they haven't gotis a bunch of saucepans banging
(02:52):
wooden spoons.
Amanda (02:54):
But they're guttural raw, so when it blends in in a
soundscape you can't hear howloud the volume of these
creatures is just unbelievable,unbelievable well, low frequency
(03:43):
sounds travel along further aswell, which makes it more
interesting.
Martyn (03:48):
You got high frequency birds singing in the canopies
and the sounds drop out over aperiod over a distance, but the
howler monkeys you can hear themfor miles throughout.
Yeah, and there's some.
There's some beautiful,beautiful places just around
where you were staying with us,um the bocca itself, which is
(04:13):
the river, and this reservewhich is at the side of it, of
um playa palada.
I loved it there.
It was just absolutely you werein a dream, so the soundscapes
were lush.
I remember when I finally gotthere with Pocket, we had no
(04:33):
furniture in the house fromSeattle and I said to Roo, I'm
going to go and explore, take myrecorder and my mic and my
cables, headphones and just godown the road.
They're all dirt tracks,there's nothing sealed or
anything.
And I took my little trustystool so I could sit my arse on
it in the morning and, um, I hadno shoes on and my legs were
(04:57):
getting bitten by all these fireants and I was itching all over
, but I tried to stay quiet andstill, and it was almost like
I'd been shot and woken up inheaven for me, yeah, to be able
to go out in the morning withoutthe intrusion of man-made
(05:19):
sounds is heaven to me, and it'salmost like you're taken back
to your youth, you know, whenyou've got less people on the
planet, making a racket.
And I came back absolutelyecstatic and said to Roo, this
is where we, we needed to be.
This is just everything.
I don't care.
What you do in life, I don'tcare, I've got my jungle and
(05:42):
rainforest, you know.
So I can just record.
Amanda (05:45):
Had you just been on a trip and then decided after the
trip that you were going toabandon Washington and move to?
Martyn (05:51):
My studio in Redmond Washington.
I'd go from the kitchen, gothrough the living room into my
studio and Ru would be watchingthese House Hunter International
programs and she'd be on thecouch and stuff and I'd come
through with my cup of tea orwhatever.
And I saw this program on CostaRica where they're given three
(06:12):
or four houses to choose from,or they they get a choice of
land and they build the houseand they show you over time
they're moving from one place tothe next.
And I just said to her that, um, I stopped.
I sat on the on the uh cornerof the chair, said wow, look at
that, you fancy doing that.
(06:32):
And within within an hour and ahalf she was looking for
flights to go down to NorthSarai.
Serious, so we went down, we hada look, we fell in love with
the idea.
I said, let's, let's just getout of washington state, because
washington state's beautifulbut it's bloody freezing.
Amanda (06:54):
And it was just her dream do you know how many
people think that?
People think it martyn, all thetime, but they don't like.
It's very rare that you get toact upon it.
I'd like you to introduce us tosome of the characters that
we're gonna meet down there.
So we talked about the howlermonkey, which is definitely one
of my favourite, but you'd alsohear these incredible tropical
birds Describe the setting.
(07:15):
Actually, for people whohaven't been there, we're in
tropical rainforest.
Martyn (07:20):
There's a dry season and there's a wet season, and when
you encounter the dry season,you don't need product for your
hair.
Your hair stands up like LeoSayo or Art Garfunkel and it's
dry.
There's dust everywhere,there's a cloud everywhere.
It gets in your face and youthink, wow, this is unbelievable
(07:46):
.
And then the end of April, therains come.
It's beautiful.
Humidity is unbelievable.
The sounds like you say it'slike this full on orchestra.
You say it's like this full-onorchestra.
And of course, the first thingI want to do is go out and
(08:06):
identify everything that'scalling.
So I was listening tomannequins and all the different
doves that were around.
There were toucans, there werequetzals, there was there's a
whole cacophony of sound comingfrom all these different
instrumentalists beautiful,these vocalists, um.
So I found a place.
There was a really brilliantguy who's a good friend of mine.
(08:28):
He's a tico down there.
He was a partner of the guy whobuilt a house in the studio and
, um, his name is manta and hetook me into a special place of
his because we, we were bothconnected through nature and he
took me through this drive,through the river on the 4x4.
(08:49):
We, we went through with aldousand you and dan remember yeah,
we did and I discovered birdsthat weren't supposed to be
there through recordings.
There was the MontezumaOropendula.
Amanda (09:04):
So I love the Montezuma Oropendula, and we even used it
on biophonica.
Martyn (09:09):
The first time I recorded the Oropendula, I think
, was in Belize.
The noise that they bring outtheir cyrots is just phenomenal
and it become my favorite sound.
So I was in this finca withManta, who took us through and I
could see these nests, and Isaid to Manta those are
(09:31):
Oropendulas?
And he said yes, they are.
He said what they were inSpanish, and then the noise from
the forest was this call ofthese old pendulums.
So I was in awe, you know.
You just think, wow, this is inmy back garden, everything here
is in my back garden.
Now all I got to do is justthrow a bottle of water in the
(09:51):
truck, put my microphone on mymy seat and go off and record
these things, whereas, whereasbefore, when you're in Seattle,
you've got to go miles to go andtry and find somewhere that's
quiet.
This was my heaven.
Amanda (10:05):
Tell me about the.
I also really like the sound ofthe mannequins.
Martyn (10:09):
The mannequins are cool.
There's a mnemonic, which istermed for a bird phrase that
people use when are you?
Where are you?
And when you get this mnemonicin your head, you can't get rid
of it.
It's like we were talking theother night with blinky bill,
with the united nations launch,and he asked me the name of this
(10:32):
bird that he always hears innairobi.
Remember, and I found I foundit through a mnemonic because of
the way he was describing it Iam the red-eyed dog.
Amanda (10:45):
I am the red-eyed dog, I am the red-eyed dog I said I
know what it is.
Martyn (10:49):
it's so in nosara the mannequins all around where we
were living had that where areyou, where are you?
And they drive you nuts.
They drive you nuts.
So I get these little mnemonicsin my head and I identify bird
(11:11):
sound from those.
They're not the ones everyoneuses, they're just the ones I
use.
I put these crazy terminologiesto them all.
Amanda (11:21):
And tell me about.
So you put out an album withthe listening planet which was
called Costa Rica Dry Dangle andI think it was recorded in
Finca, Austria is that right,finca Austria.
Conacaste, province of CostaRica.
So tell me more about becauseit's incredible countryside
tropical rainforests.
(11:43):
Tell me about some of thesoundscapes that we'd hear in
that recording.
Martyn (11:48):
Well, like I say, the dry season is a different sound
signature to the wet season, andwhen it rains you've got the
sounds of rain dripping off,glossy leaves, and you have
these beautiful Quantacostitrees and all different species
of trees, which all give certainsound signatures, and it's all
part of this sound.
(12:09):
You know that you listen to thecracking and the breaking and
the dropping of leaves and thenthe first birds that start
coming in.
There's this melodiousblackbird, which is also one of
the first birds that startcoming in.
There's this melodiousblackbird which is also one of
the first ones.
I think I recorded up in Belize, so I knew that and I knew.
There's a bird called theclay-coloured robin, which I
(12:33):
think they've changed the namenow to the clay-coloured thrush
and I think it's adopted as thebird of Costa Rica.
It's their national bird.
They have a mnemonic too, whichis and it's that squeal and you
think, oh my God, you're here,then that with the mannequins
(12:53):
and the doves, and then thetoucans and the parrots and the
whole lot of them, you know.
Amanda (13:00):
Tell me how does a toucan sound.
How does a toucan sound, Martin?
Martyn (13:12):
And then there are tinnimus as well, which are
these like chicken-type birdswhich you hear, you don't see a
lot of birds.
You don't see a lot of birds,you don't see a lot of critters.
And then, of course, you've gotthe hollow monkeys, and they're
everywhere always in thebackdrop.
They're always in the backdropum.
(13:32):
It's just incredible, as youcan hear now.
Amanda (13:45):
So what's the so if I jump from the Guanacos Bottoms,
which is literally where youlived, and even the recording in
Fincastre is about 20 minutesdrive, I think, from here, I
want to jump over to probablythe most remote destination in
Costa Rica, which is the OsaPeninsula, and it's that part
that juts out into the sea atthe southern end of Costa Rica's
(14:05):
Pacific coast, and it's knownto be an ecological gem, an
incredible biodiversity.
I found a stat that said itrepresents 2.5% of the world's
biodiversity and it only is in0.001% of the Earth's surface,
and here we can hear everythingfrom jaguars to scarlet macaws,
(14:28):
poison dart frogs.
So let's skip across to OastPeninsula, and I know that you
did a recording that youreleased, called Crossroads of
Dreams.
Tell me about the soundscape ofthe Osa Peninsula.
Martyn (14:42):
The Osa Peninsula is a real special place and the first
time we went down there torecord, we hired this old Suzuki
Jeep thing and we got it fromSan Jose and we drove down and
the beauty of the place wasthere's no electricity, so it's
(15:03):
all eco places.
You know, we stayed at an ecolodge but you had to park like
two miles away and then the onlyway you could get to the eco
lodge was along the beach.
So they bring a cart and adonkey and you put all your
luggage on it and they pull itacross the sands.
(15:25):
We went for a night walk firstof all when we got there with a
tracker that told us that thejaguar's present.
Amanda (15:36):
Oh.
Martyn (15:37):
So we didn't hear a jaguar.
I didn't hear a jaguar any timethat I was there, but you that
kind of feeling that you knew itwas in, in the vicinity yeah so
I put an audio box out for aweek so it was recording every
half an hour.
(15:57):
So just to give me an idea whatwas what was calling, what was
singing.
It's always a nice bass then.
So if, if the audio box tellsme that this is a practically
pristine environment torecording, then there's minimal
editing that I need to do.
It's kind of set on a slopeyarea.
It's very, very hard tonavigate through the Osset
(16:20):
Peninsula at the south end, butwhen you get to a point where
you can record, you've got waterrolling down the hills, you've
got brooks and streams, you'vegot rain, you've got thunder.
Some of the thunder cracks arejust.
They frighten the shit out ofyou you know we get requests for
(16:41):
thunder and rain, so people cansleep too, and I kind of
understand that.
And yet a lot of people think,my God, it's frightening.
Amanda (16:50):
It makes people really safe.
Martyn (16:52):
My dog can't sleep when there's a thunderstorm.
He's on my bed, you knowstraight away.
But again the soundscapes arejust unbelievable.
So it's again.
You go to Costa Rica and you goto all these places.
The Osa Peninsula is a specialplace and did you record in
(17:12):
Corcovado National.
Park yes, corcovado NationalPark, and there's a.
There's a research place, whichI managed to get up to as well,
where you even have the soundsof crocodiles in the mornings.
Amanda (17:28):
Did you record crocodiles?
Yeah, I got crocodiles.
And you didn't have anyridiculous escapes of crocodiles
.
Martyn (17:35):
No, not there.
You kind of know they're thereagain.
So you don't go wandering inthe bush in the night you
absolutely don't, unless you'vegot a torch.
Amanda (17:47):
But again, the monkeys are there and then there's and
you've also got the capuchinsthere as well, haven't you the?
Martyn (17:52):
capuchins.
Are there the spider monkeys?
You've got sloths, which?
Amanda (17:58):
you were telling me over the day, don't really make
a sound.
Someone asked me.
Martyn (18:03):
I got a sound of a sloth .
Because they've seen a sloth.
They think everything vocalises.
It probably does.
But it spends a week up a treeand then only comes down the
tree for a crap and then it goesback up again, or should I say
it comes down to defecate, tokeep it correct.
Amanda (18:20):
It comes down to defecate.
What are some of the other?
So how long did you stay downin the Ars Benita level?
Martyn (18:28):
We stayed down after a week.
We did a couple of night walks.
The poison dart frogs areamazing.
Then you know, there's anintroduced species which seems
to get everywhere the um thecane toad.
The cane toad was present in umfinca, austria as well, through
(18:54):
the night scapes and it'sthey're quite a definite.
I love the sound of the canetoad.
I think it's beautiful.
It's got that wah.
I can't do animal sounds, butit has a distinctive call about
it and they're kind of great.
Amanda (19:12):
Tell me what the vegetation feels like.
We talk a lot about the sounds,but tell me what the what am I
physically surrounded by?
Martyn (19:22):
What am I physically surrounded by?
You're with deciduous andnon-deciduous plants.
You get a lot of tropicalplants.
It's almost like going down tothe flower shop and seeing
aglomeras and you're seeingspadophiliums.
You're seeing guanacustid trees, pine trees, you're seeing all
(19:44):
different types of ferns.
There are ferns like licoriceferns.
There are ferns likeresurrection ferns.
The resurrection ferns areincredible.
They're the ones where in thedry season, everything looks
like it's dead, but when therains come, suddenly they're
rejuvenated and they're justbeautiful and proud and green
(20:08):
and lush.
And the sounds of rain bouncingoff all these different leaves
and different types of plantsare unique, completely unique.
You can't replicate that in anorthern hemisphere.
You can't replicate that in anorthern hemisphere.
You can't do it.
You know, if you blindfolded,you were blindfolded and you
(20:28):
were dropped off.
And besides all the tropicalbirds and stuff, if you were
just to listen to rain itself,you would know you were in a
type of rainforest like thattropical rainforest.
Amanda (20:40):
One of the things that I liked a lot about when I was
there as well is that it feelsas though and tell me if this is
incorrect it feels as thoughit's very geared towards
sustainability.
Conservation tourism is farmore based on ecotourism, and I
remember when my daughter sowhen India was over with Rui
recently she was reallyfascinated with the turtle
(21:02):
conservation that I believe ison the beach near to where you
used to live.
Martyn (21:07):
Do you ever go and see?
Amanda (21:10):
the turtles.
Martyn (21:12):
I volunteered to help stop the poaching that was going
on there.
So you go out and you patrolthe beach four o'clock in the
morning to stop the localscoming in and digging up the
eggs and selling them.
They sell them for aclock inthe morning to stop the locals
coming in and digging up theeggs and selling them.
They sell them for a dollar inthe bars and they consider them
as an apodysia, which is just anabsolute bunch of poppycock.
(21:32):
But the Ridley's turtles andwhen you see the Ridley's
turtles coming, I've recordedthe turtles, I've recorded their
grunts and their breathlessness.
You know it takes them maybe anhour and a half, two hours to
dig a hole and lay their eggs,then cover all their eggs up and
go back out to sea.
But when you see the hatchlingscome out normally they're about
(21:57):
50 odd days after the laying ofthe eggs and you see all these
little turtles trying to raceback to the ocean and you can't
help them, you can't pick themup and go and throw them into
the sea because they need tohave that imprint in their minds
so that when they come back 22years later to lay their own
(22:17):
eggs they know exactly wherethey're coming back to, but it's
, it's phenomenal.
I mean, you see that if, if youdon't show emotion from
something quite as spectacularas that, there must be something
wrong with it.
Amanda (22:30):
it's beautiful tell me about um some of the other
conservation work that'shappening down in costa rica.
Anything else that?
Martyn (22:37):
well, the the monkeys are always in trouble because
the power lines are being put upwithout sheaves on the
electricity lines, so they'refrequently being electrocuted.
So there's a couple of rehabplaces that rehab the monkeys
after that.
But like everything else, costaRica is beautiful and the
(23:02):
ecosystem is pretty strong.
But even in six years I go backthere, I wouldn't recognize it
because it's like suddenly thiscity starting to explode.
Everybody wants to be therebecause it's beautiful, because
it's paradise, and a lot ofpeople go to Nosara to surf, so
(23:22):
it's a kind of surfing paradise.
It's the, it's the central partof central america that every
surfer wants to go and throwtheir board into the ocean and
surf on it.
But it's um, the land that webought and put our houses on.
Now, rude, tells me, you'dnever recognize the street,
which is a great shame.
Amanda (23:44):
It's so hard, isn't it, that you want to go somewhere
to escape, and then everybodyelse also wants to escape
Everyone's following you.
Everyone's following and thenyou end up not being in that
same pristine environment andeven going to the Osa Peninsula
it's so protected but again,more and more people are going
to somewhere that's always been,even until recently, quite
inaccessible for lots of people.
Martyn (24:05):
If you look at nosara itself and go into old nosara,
there's two different worlds.
You see poverty and you see,you know, the opulence of places
like nosara and these up marketrestaurants.
Locals can't afford to go andeat in those at all.
But we used to go to thelocals' restaurants out in
(24:29):
Nosara by the airport and haverice and beans because it just
made you feel kind of humble.
But whereas a lot of thetourists that go to Nosara never
go as far as the ocean, theywon't go into the rainforest,
which is a good thing to mebecause it keeps them out, you
know.
Amanda (24:46):
What are some of your favourite places in Costa Rica?
Like if I was going to go thereagain.
Martyn (24:52):
Arenal is beautiful.
Where the volcano is, you knowyou've got a different when you
border on Nicaragua.
It's kind of wild up therestill, so there's there's a lot
of places where you can, where Ican drop a mic in and record
for a long time.
There's a national park whichis on the border which I forget
(25:15):
the name of of nicaragua, costarica.
It's just above tamarindo um,and there's healthy population
of jaguars up there, which isgood.
My favourite place of all isthe Osa Peninsula.
Amanda (25:33):
I imagine you must have met some amazing people in
Costa Rica, because it doesattract a lot of people who are
committed to conservation, andso I imagine that there's just
more of a group of people whoare committed to conservation,
and so I imagine that there'sjust more of a group of people
who are committed to protectingthe natural world, or maybe
that's my kind of idealisticsensibility.
Martyn (25:51):
And a good friend of the Listening Planet, santiago
Roberts, is doing some greatwork down there trying to
involve people in acousticbiology and he's showing them
places through sound rather thanvisual the Sabu rehabilitation
place for animals.
(26:11):
They do some great work andthey need all the help they can
get with fundraising.
They do great stuff.
Amanda (26:19):
What do Sabu?
What's Sabu community?
Martyn (26:21):
For monkey rehabilitation.
Amanda (26:23):
Oh, this is monkey rehabilitation, yeah.
Martyn (26:25):
You know they rehabilitate and relocate all
the monkeys that are beingcaught on power lines and their
trees are being cut down.
So one of the biggest enemiesdown there are the realtors,
because they sell everything.
You know they get a bit of landand you're going to sell it and
everyone's selling land.
Even now in my email program Iget you know property for sale
(26:48):
and stuff at great prices.
Come down to your beautifulparadise in Costa Rica.
It's a universal problem.
It's not just Costa Rica, it'severywhere.
Did you record?
Amanda (26:59):
anything, any of the marine life or any of the oceans
.
Martyn (27:04):
Yeah, I dropped a microphone into the ocean, into
the river.
I did some stuff in the BoccaNosara, the river at the bottom
of Playa Pallada, and recordedcrocodiles under the water.
Amanda (27:20):
It's just another world , it just fantastic, you know I
remember when you had us go orgo canoeing, what river were we
on?
Martyn (27:29):
that was the book and you had your legs.
Amanda (27:31):
You had your legs dangling in the booker and we're
going along in the canoe andthen suddenly we see crocodiles.
I've never been so scared.
Oh my goodness, the fact thatI'm alive.
Martyn (27:45):
Still, I never think about it, you know.
I just think all the placesI've been in the world.
If I start thinking about thethings that's going to eat you,
I'd never go anywhere.
So what's a couple of feet, youknow, dangling in the water.
Amanda (28:01):
So if you could go back to Costa Rica and you're only
allowed to go to one place, I'massuming it's the Osa Peninsula
but what haven't you recordedthere that you'd love to go back
and record?
Martyn (28:12):
Oh, there's a hell of a lot of stuff I haven't recorded
there.
I mean to think that you'verecorded the whole of Costa Rica
would be arrogant.
Tortellas National Park on theAtlantic side, which is just
spectacular up there I've onlyever touched that once with Roo
there's so many different things.
I mean there's so manydifferent species of parrots,
(28:33):
there's so many differentmannequins, there's so many
different brushes and warblers,and when you see some of the
birds that you encounter inNorth America, they have a
different kind of call signatureto them, which is interesting.
So I'd like to have the wholevocabulary, basically, of all
(28:55):
the passerines that sing awayand just put them to that
collection.
But soundscapes of Costa Rica,wherever you are, as long as
you're not in urban areas, isjust beautiful.
I'd like to add to all thatstill.
Amanda (29:13):
Thank you, Martin.
Martyn (29:18):
You've just experienced another journey on the Listening
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Happy listening.
This is Martyn Stewart, with a life in sound from the
Listening Planet.
Amanda (00:15):
So today we're going to travel to Costa Rica.
It's one of my favourite placeson Earth and somewhere that you
also decided to make home,Martin.
So are we ready Now?
You originally moved fromWashington.
Martyn (00:29):
State.
What year was it?
We decided to go and look atland in 2017 and 2018.
We bought land, had houses andmy dream studio built down there
and we actually left in January2019 and drove from Seattle to
Miami, dumped the car off Roo,got on the plane with our little
(00:53):
white Labrador and I had to gothe long way via Nicaragua with
Bucket because he was so big hehe was like a horse.
Amanda (01:03):
Yeah, and where did you land?
Where did you end up?
Martyn (01:08):
I ended up in Playa Palada, which is the next little
village down from Nosara inGuanacaste.
It's just, you know, they callit a blue zone.
Amanda (01:21):
Tell me what a blue zone is.
Martyn (01:23):
A blue zone is supposed to be the healthiest environment
you could wish to be in, andthere's longevity in there.
Amanda (01:30):
I could do with some blue zones now, I think so,
Nosara, so we I've had theprivilege of coming to stay with
you and with my family andyou're right next to Nosara in
the Nicoya Peninsula, and Ican't even begin to explain how
pristine the beaches are, thelush tropical forests, but I've
(01:51):
never, ever, heard a dawn choruslike the one that woke me up in
the morning.
It's actually Martyn.
If you wouldn't mind, I'd liketo start there.
Tell me, I mean, it actuallyblew, blew my mind.
Tell me what you hear everymorning when you wake up.
Tell me the characters.
Martyn (02:08):
Tell me what the setting is when I first heard the dawn
chorus before you'd come down,it was like being mugged with a
gang of monkeys it was.
It was crazy.
It's because the the night andthe day is probably the same.
You get 12 hours day, 12 hoursnight.
There's no debating about it,it's just there.
(02:30):
And 6 o'clock at night thecicadas start calling and you
look at your clock and you think, okay, it's night, it's coming
down, sun's gone, and then thedawn the monkeys fill the trees
howler monkeys and they wakeeverybody up.
The only thing they haven't gotis a bunch of saucepans banging
(02:52):
wooden spoons.
Amanda (02:54):
But they're guttural raw, so when it blends in in a
soundscape you can't hear howloud the volume of these
creatures is just unbelievable,unbelievable well, low frequency
(03:43):
sounds travel along further aswell, which makes it more
interesting.
Martyn (03:48):
You got high frequency birds singing in the canopies
and the sounds drop out over aperiod over a distance, but the
howler monkeys you can hear themfor miles throughout.
Yeah, and there's some.
There's some beautiful,beautiful places just around
where you were staying with us,um the bocca itself, which is
(04:13):
the river, and this reservewhich is at the side of it, of
um playa palada.
I loved it there.
It was just absolutely you werein a dream, so the soundscapes
were lush.
I remember when I finally gotthere with Pocket, we had no
(04:33):
furniture in the house fromSeattle and I said to Roo, I'm
going to go and explore, take myrecorder and my mic and my
cables, headphones and just godown the road.
They're all dirt tracks,there's nothing sealed or
anything.
And I took my little trustystool so I could sit my arse on
it in the morning and, um, I hadno shoes on and my legs were
(04:57):
getting bitten by all these fireants and I was itching all over
, but I tried to stay quiet andstill, and it was almost like
I'd been shot and woken up inheaven for me, yeah, to be able
to go out in the morning withoutthe intrusion of man-made
(05:19):
sounds is heaven to me, and it'salmost like you're taken back
to your youth, you know, whenyou've got less people on the
planet, making a racket.
And I came back absolutelyecstatic and said to Roo, this
is where we, we needed to be.
This is just everything.
I don't care.
What you do in life, I don'tcare, I've got my jungle and
(05:42):
rainforest, you know.
So I can just record.
Amanda (05:45):
Had you just been on a trip and then decided after the
trip that you were going toabandon Washington and move to?
Martyn (05:51):
My studio in Redmond Washington.
I'd go from the kitchen, gothrough the living room into my
studio and Ru would be watchingthese House Hunter International
programs and she'd be on thecouch and stuff and I'd come
through with my cup of tea orwhatever.
And I saw this program on CostaRica where they're given three
(06:12):
or four houses to choose from,or they they get a choice of
land and they build the houseand they show you over time
they're moving from one place tothe next.
And I just said to her that, um, I stopped.
I sat on the on the uh cornerof the chair, said wow, look at
that, you fancy doing that.
(06:32):
And within within an hour and ahalf she was looking for
flights to go down to NorthSarai.
Serious, so we went down, we hada look, we fell in love with
the idea.
I said, let's, let's just getout of washington state, because
washington state's beautifulbut it's bloody freezing.
Amanda (06:54):
And it was just her dream do you know how many
people think that?
People think it martyn, all thetime, but they don't like.
It's very rare that you get toact upon it.
I'd like you to introduce us tosome of the characters that
we're gonna meet down there.
So we talked about the howlermonkey, which is definitely one
of my favourite, but you'd alsohear these incredible tropical
birds Describe the setting.
(07:15):
Actually, for people whohaven't been there, we're in
tropical rainforest.
Martyn (07:20):
There's a dry season and there's a wet season, and when
you encounter the dry season,you don't need product for your
hair.
Your hair stands up like LeoSayo or Art Garfunkel and it's
dry.
There's dust everywhere,there's a cloud everywhere.
It gets in your face and youthink, wow, this is unbelievable
(07:46):
.
And then the end of April, therains come.
It's beautiful.
Humidity is unbelievable.
The sounds like you say it'slike this full on orchestra.
You say it's like this full-onorchestra.
And of course, the first thingI want to do is go out and
(08:06):
identify everything that'scalling.
So I was listening tomannequins and all the different
doves that were around.
There were toucans, there werequetzals, there was there's a
whole cacophony of sound comingfrom all these different
instrumentalists beautiful,these vocalists, um.
So I found a place.
There was a really brilliantguy who's a good friend of mine.
(08:28):
He's a tico down there.
He was a partner of the guy whobuilt a house in the studio and
, um, his name is manta and hetook me into a special place of
his because we, we were bothconnected through nature and he
took me through this drive,through the river on the 4x4.
(08:49):
We, we went through with aldousand you and dan remember yeah,
we did and I discovered birdsthat weren't supposed to be
there through recordings.
There was the MontezumaOropendula.
Amanda (09:04):
So I love the Montezuma Oropendula, and we even used it
on biophonica.
Martyn (09:09):
The first time I recorded the Oropendula, I think
, was in Belize.
The noise that they bring outtheir cyrots is just phenomenal
and it become my favorite sound.
So I was in this finca withManta, who took us through and I
could see these nests, and Isaid to Manta those are
(09:31):
Oropendulas?
And he said yes, they are.
He said what they were inSpanish, and then the noise from
the forest was this call ofthese old pendulums.
So I was in awe, you know.
You just think, wow, this is inmy back garden, everything here
is in my back garden.
Now all I got to do is justthrow a bottle of water in the
(09:51):
truck, put my microphone on mymy seat and go off and record
these things, whereas, whereasbefore, when you're in Seattle,
you've got to go miles to go andtry and find somewhere that's
quiet.
This was my heaven.
Amanda (10:05):
Tell me about the.
I also really like the sound ofthe mannequins.
Martyn (10:09):
The mannequins are cool.
There's a mnemonic, which istermed for a bird phrase that
people use when are you?
Where are you?
And when you get this mnemonicin your head, you can't get rid
of it.
It's like we were talking theother night with blinky bill,
with the united nations launch,and he asked me the name of this
(10:32):
bird that he always hears innairobi.
Remember, and I found I foundit through a mnemonic because of
the way he was describing it Iam the red-eyed dog.
Amanda (10:45):
I am the red-eyed dog, I am the red-eyed dog I said I
know what it is.
Martyn (10:49):
it's so in nosara the mannequins all around where we
were living had that where areyou, where are you?
And they drive you nuts.
They drive you nuts.
So I get these little mnemonicsin my head and I identify bird
(11:11):
sound from those.
They're not the ones everyoneuses, they're just the ones I
use.
I put these crazy terminologiesto them all.
Amanda (11:21):
And tell me about.
So you put out an album withthe listening planet which was
called Costa Rica Dry Dangle andI think it was recorded in
Finca, Austria is that right,finca Austria.
Conacaste, province of CostaRica.
So tell me more about becauseit's incredible countryside
tropical rainforests.
(11:43):
Tell me about some of thesoundscapes that we'd hear in
that recording.
Martyn (11:48):
Well, like I say, the dry season is a different sound
signature to the wet season, andwhen it rains you've got the
sounds of rain dripping off,glossy leaves, and you have
these beautiful Quantacostitrees and all different species
of trees, which all give certainsound signatures, and it's all
part of this sound.
(12:09):
You know that you listen to thecracking and the breaking and
the dropping of leaves and thenthe first birds that start
coming in.
There's this melodiousblackbird, which is also one of
the first birds that startcoming in.
There's this melodiousblackbird which is also one of
the first ones.
I think I recorded up in Belize, so I knew that and I knew.
There's a bird called theclay-coloured robin, which I
(12:33):
think they've changed the namenow to the clay-coloured thrush
and I think it's adopted as thebird of Costa Rica.
It's their national bird.
They have a mnemonic too, whichis and it's that squeal and you
think, oh my God, you're here,then that with the mannequins
(12:53):
and the doves, and then thetoucans and the parrots and the
whole lot of them, you know.
Amanda (13:00):
Tell me how does a toucan sound.
How does a toucan sound, Martin?
Martyn (13:12):
And then there are tinnimus as well, which are
these like chicken-type birdswhich you hear, you don't see a
lot of birds.
You don't see a lot of birds,you don't see a lot of critters.
And then, of course, you've gotthe hollow monkeys, and they're
everywhere always in thebackdrop.
They're always in the backdropum.
(13:32):
It's just incredible, as youcan hear now.
Amanda (13:45):
So what's the so if I jump from the Guanacos Bottoms,
which is literally where youlived, and even the recording in
Fincastre is about 20 minutesdrive, I think, from here, I
want to jump over to probablythe most remote destination in
Costa Rica, which is the OsaPeninsula, and it's that part
that juts out into the sea atthe southern end of Costa Rica's
(14:05):
Pacific coast, and it's knownto be an ecological gem, an
incredible biodiversity.
I found a stat that said itrepresents 2.5% of the world's
biodiversity and it only is in0.001% of the Earth's surface,
and here we can hear everythingfrom jaguars to scarlet macaws,
(14:28):
poison dart frogs.
So let's skip across to OastPeninsula, and I know that you
did a recording that youreleased, called Crossroads of
Dreams.
Tell me about the soundscape ofthe Osa Peninsula.
Martyn (14:42):
The Osa Peninsula is a real special place and the first
time we went down there torecord, we hired this old Suzuki
Jeep thing and we got it fromSan Jose and we drove down and
the beauty of the place wasthere's no electricity, so it's
(15:03):
all eco places.
You know, we stayed at an ecolodge but you had to park like
two miles away and then the onlyway you could get to the eco
lodge was along the beach.
So they bring a cart and adonkey and you put all your
luggage on it and they pull itacross the sands.
(15:25):
We went for a night walk firstof all when we got there with a
tracker that told us that thejaguar's present.
Amanda (15:36):
Oh.
Martyn (15:37):
So we didn't hear a jaguar.
I didn't hear a jaguar any timethat I was there, but you that
kind of feeling that you knew itwas in, in the vicinity yeah so
I put an audio box out for aweek so it was recording every
half an hour.
(15:57):
So just to give me an idea whatwas what was calling, what was
singing.
It's always a nice bass then.
So if, if the audio box tellsme that this is a practically
pristine environment torecording, then there's minimal
editing that I need to do.
It's kind of set on a slopeyarea.
It's very, very hard tonavigate through the Osset
(16:20):
Peninsula at the south end, butwhen you get to a point where
you can record, you've got waterrolling down the hills, you've
got brooks and streams, you'vegot rain, you've got thunder.
Some of the thunder cracks arejust.
They frighten the shit out ofyou you know we get requests for
(16:41):
thunder and rain, so people cansleep too, and I kind of
understand that.
And yet a lot of people think,my God, it's frightening.
Amanda (16:50):
It makes people really safe.
Martyn (16:52):
My dog can't sleep when there's a thunderstorm.
He's on my bed, you knowstraight away.
But again the soundscapes arejust unbelievable.
So it's again.
You go to Costa Rica and you goto all these places.
The Osa Peninsula is a specialplace and did you record in
(17:12):
Corcovado National.
Park yes, corcovado NationalPark, and there's a.
There's a research place, whichI managed to get up to as well,
where you even have the soundsof crocodiles in the mornings.
Amanda (17:28):
Did you record crocodiles?
Yeah, I got crocodiles.
And you didn't have anyridiculous escapes of crocodiles
.
Martyn (17:35):
No, not there.
You kind of know they're thereagain.
So you don't go wandering inthe bush in the night you
absolutely don't, unless you'vegot a torch.
Amanda (17:47):
But again, the monkeys are there and then there's and
you've also got the capuchinsthere as well, haven't you the?
Martyn (17:52):
capuchins.
Are there the spider monkeys?
You've got sloths, which?
Amanda (17:58):
you were telling me over the day, don't really make
a sound.
Someone asked me.
Martyn (18:03):
I got a sound of a sloth .
Because they've seen a sloth.
They think everything vocalises.
It probably does.
But it spends a week up a treeand then only comes down the
tree for a crap and then it goesback up again, or should I say
it comes down to defecate, tokeep it correct.
Amanda (18:20):
It comes down to defecate.
What are some of the other?
So how long did you stay downin the Ars Benita level?
Martyn (18:28):
We stayed down after a week.
We did a couple of night walks.
The poison dart frogs areamazing.
Then you know, there's anintroduced species which seems
to get everywhere the um thecane toad.
The cane toad was present in umfinca, austria as well, through
(18:54):
the night scapes and it'sthey're quite a definite.
I love the sound of the canetoad.
I think it's beautiful.
It's got that wah.
I can't do animal sounds, butit has a distinctive call about
it and they're kind of great.
Amanda (19:12):
Tell me what the vegetation feels like.
We talk a lot about the sounds,but tell me what the what am I
physically surrounded by?
Martyn (19:22):
What am I physically surrounded by?
You're with deciduous andnon-deciduous plants.
You get a lot of tropicalplants.
It's almost like going down tothe flower shop and seeing
aglomeras and you're seeingspadophiliums.
You're seeing guanacustid trees, pine trees, you're seeing all
(19:44):
different types of ferns.
There are ferns like licoriceferns.
There are ferns likeresurrection ferns.
The resurrection ferns areincredible.
They're the ones where in thedry season, everything looks
like it's dead, but when therains come, suddenly they're
rejuvenated and they're justbeautiful and proud and green
(20:08):
and lush.
And the sounds of rain bouncingoff all these different leaves
and different types of plantsare unique, completely unique.
You can't replicate that in anorthern hemisphere.
You can't replicate that in anorthern hemisphere.
You can't do it.
You know, if you blindfolded,you were blindfolded and you
(20:28):
were dropped off.
And besides all the tropicalbirds and stuff, if you were
just to listen to rain itself,you would know you were in a
type of rainforest like thattropical rainforest.
Amanda (20:40):
One of the things that I liked a lot about when I was
there as well is that it feelsas though and tell me if this is
incorrect it feels as thoughit's very geared towards
sustainability.
Conservation tourism is farmore based on ecotourism, and I
remember when my daughter sowhen India was over with Rui
recently she was reallyfascinated with the turtle
(21:02):
conservation that I believe ison the beach near to where you
used to live.
Martyn (21:07):
Do you ever go and see?
Amanda (21:10):
the turtles.
Martyn (21:12):
I volunteered to help stop the poaching that was going
on there.
So you go out and you patrolthe beach four o'clock in the
morning to stop the localscoming in and digging up the
eggs and selling them.
They sell them for aclock inthe morning to stop the locals
coming in and digging up theeggs and selling them.
They sell them for a dollar inthe bars and they consider them
as an apodysia, which is just anabsolute bunch of poppycock.
(21:32):
But the Ridley's turtles andwhen you see the Ridley's
turtles coming, I've recordedthe turtles, I've recorded their
grunts and their breathlessness.
You know it takes them maybe anhour and a half, two hours to
dig a hole and lay their eggs,then cover all their eggs up and
go back out to sea.
But when you see the hatchlingscome out normally they're about
(21:57):
50 odd days after the laying ofthe eggs and you see all these
little turtles trying to raceback to the ocean and you can't
help them, you can't pick themup and go and throw them into
the sea because they need tohave that imprint in their minds
so that when they come back 22years later to lay their own
(22:17):
eggs they know exactly wherethey're coming back to, but it's
, it's phenomenal.
I mean, you see that if, if youdon't show emotion from
something quite as spectacularas that, there must be something
wrong with it.
Amanda (22:30):
it's beautiful tell me about um some of the other
conservation work that'shappening down in costa rica.
Anything else that?
Martyn (22:37):
well, the the monkeys are always in trouble because
the power lines are being put upwithout sheaves on the
electricity lines, so they'refrequently being electrocuted.
So there's a couple of rehabplaces that rehab the monkeys
after that.
But like everything else, costaRica is beautiful and the
(23:02):
ecosystem is pretty strong.
But even in six years I go backthere, I wouldn't recognize it
because it's like suddenly thiscity starting to explode.
Everybody wants to be therebecause it's beautiful, because
it's paradise, and a lot ofpeople go to Nosara to surf, so
(23:22):
it's a kind of surfing paradise.
It's the, it's the central partof central america that every
surfer wants to go and throwtheir board into the ocean and
surf on it.
But it's um, the land that webought and put our houses on.
Now, rude, tells me, you'dnever recognize the street,
which is a great shame.
Amanda (23:44):
It's so hard, isn't it, that you want to go somewhere
to escape, and then everybodyelse also wants to escape
Everyone's following you.
Everyone's following and thenyou end up not being in that
same pristine environment andeven going to the Osa Peninsula
it's so protected but again,more and more people are going
to somewhere that's always been,even until recently, quite
inaccessible for lots of people.
Martyn (24:05):
If you look at nosara itself and go into old nosara,
there's two different worlds.
You see poverty and you see,you know, the opulence of places
like nosara and these up marketrestaurants.
Locals can't afford to go andeat in those at all.
But we used to go to thelocals' restaurants out in
(24:29):
Nosara by the airport and haverice and beans because it just
made you feel kind of humble.
But whereas a lot of thetourists that go to Nosara never
go as far as the ocean, theywon't go into the rainforest,
which is a good thing to mebecause it keeps them out, you
know.
Amanda (24:46):
What are some of your favourite places in Costa Rica?
Like if I was going to go thereagain.
Martyn (24:52):
Arenal is beautiful.
Where the volcano is, you knowyou've got a different when you
border on Nicaragua.
It's kind of wild up therestill, so there's there's a lot
of places where you can, where Ican drop a mic in and record
for a long time.
There's a national park whichis on the border which I forget
(25:15):
the name of of nicaragua, costarica.
It's just above tamarindo um,and there's healthy population
of jaguars up there, which isgood.
My favourite place of all isthe Osa Peninsula.
Amanda (25:33):
I imagine you must have met some amazing people in
Costa Rica, because it doesattract a lot of people who are
committed to conservation, andso I imagine that there's just
more of a group of people whoare committed to conservation,
and so I imagine that there'sjust more of a group of people
who are committed to protectingthe natural world, or maybe
that's my kind of idealisticsensibility.
Martyn (25:51):
And a good friend of the Listening Planet, santiago
Roberts, is doing some greatwork down there trying to
involve people in acousticbiology and he's showing them
places through sound rather thanvisual the Sabu rehabilitation
place for animals.
(26:11):
They do some great work andthey need all the help they can
get with fundraising.
They do great stuff.
Amanda (26:19):
What do Sabu?
What's Sabu community?
Martyn (26:21):
For monkey rehabilitation.
Amanda (26:23):
Oh, this is monkey rehabilitation, yeah.
Martyn (26:25):
You know they rehabilitate and relocate all
the monkeys that are beingcaught on power lines and their
trees are being cut down.
So one of the biggest enemiesdown there are the realtors,
because they sell everything.
You know they get a bit of landand you're going to sell it and
everyone's selling land.
Even now in my email program Iget you know property for sale
(26:48):
and stuff at great prices.
Come down to your beautifulparadise in Costa Rica.
It's a universal problem.
It's not just Costa Rica, it'severywhere.
Did you record?
Amanda (26:59):
anything, any of the marine life or any of the oceans
.
Martyn (27:04):
Yeah, I dropped a microphone into the ocean, into
the river.
I did some stuff in the BoccaNosara, the river at the bottom
of Playa Pallada, and recordedcrocodiles under the water.
Amanda (27:20):
It's just another world , it just fantastic, you know I
remember when you had us go orgo canoeing, what river were we
on?
Martyn (27:29):
that was the book and you had your legs.
Amanda (27:31):
You had your legs dangling in the booker and we're
going along in the canoe andthen suddenly we see crocodiles.
I've never been so scared.
Oh my goodness, the fact thatI'm alive.
Martyn (27:45):
Still, I never think about it, you know.
I just think all the placesI've been in the world.
If I start thinking about thethings that's going to eat you,
I'd never go anywhere.
So what's a couple of feet, youknow, dangling in the water.
Amanda (28:01):
So if you could go back to Costa Rica and you're only
allowed to go to one place, I'massuming it's the Osa Peninsula
but what haven't you recordedthere that you'd love to go back
and record?
Martyn (28:12):
Oh, there's a hell of a lot of stuff I haven't recorded
there.
I mean to think that you'verecorded the whole of Costa Rica
would be arrogant.
Tortellas National Park on theAtlantic side, which is just
spectacular up there I've onlyever touched that once with Roo
there's so many different things.
I mean there's so manydifferent species of parrots,
(28:33):
there's so many differentmannequins, there's so many
different brushes and warblers,and when you see some of the
birds that you encounter inNorth America, they have a
different kind of call signatureto them, which is interesting.
So I'd like to have the wholevocabulary, basically, of all
(28:55):
the passerines that sing awayand just put them to that
collection.
But soundscapes of Costa Rica,wherever you are, as long as
you're not in urban areas, isjust beautiful.
I'd like to add to all thatstill.
Amanda (29:13):
Thank you, Martin.
Martyn (29:18):
You've just experienced another journey on the Listening
Planet podcast.
Dive deeper into the world ofnatural sounds by connecting
with us online.
Visit our website or follow uson social media.
Let the symphony of naturesurround you wherever you go.
Happy listening.
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