The first destination was the remote Isla Escudo de Veraguas, a small isolated Caribbean island of about 4 square kilometres. It is part of the Bocas del Toro district and located about 20 km from the coastline in the Golfo de los Mosquitos. Because of its 9000 years of isolation, several animals found here are endemic or distinct from their mainland counterparts.

It took the team about 9 hours of rough seas in the pouring rain and strong winds to reach this uninhabited island. The most challenging part was to get ashore with the smaller boat due to the extreme surf and strong currents, even on the most protected southern coast of the island. Once on land the rough journey was quickly forgotten due to the sheer beauty of this island, and the Exo Terra team was immediately greeted by several brown basilisks (Basiliscus vittatus). These lizards, also commonly referred to as the striped basilisks, occur from Mexico to northwestern Colombia. The brown basilisk has large hind feet with flaps of skin between each toe. They move quickly across the water, aided by their web-like feet, which gives them the appearance of “walking on water”. Once entering the rainforest, it became clear that the ability of Basiliscus vittatus to “walk on water” is a great advantage. The interior of the island consists of a peat swamp forest. A type of tropical moist forest where waterlogged soil prevents dead leaves from fully decomposing. Over time, this creates a thick layer of acidic peat. This peat is covered with stained dark brown water caused by the tannins that leach from the fallen leaves and peat. A drone flight later on showed that almost the entire island is covered by such a swamp forest, making it nearly impenetrable. The team had great difficulties moving around as there are no dry paths and with every step they sunk up above the knee and higher into the acidic peat. The only “dry” patches were around the bigger trees and between the roots of the fig trees. That is where the most spectacular Oohaga pumilio morph can be found. The animals are so contrasting and conspicuous that they easily can be located without the help of a calling male Biotope on Colon to reveal their location. The high water in the swamp and the continuous rains made it almost impossible to move around and prevented the Exo Terra team from penetrating deep inland. As a result very few other animals were observed, besides the occasional anole on tree trunks or low hanging lianas. One exciting find was the eyelash viper (Bothriechis schlegelii) on one of the many raffia palms. The eyelash viper is a venomous pit viper found throughout Central and South America. It is a small and arboreal species, characterised by a wide array of colour variations, as well as the superciliary scales above the eyes. The severe weather conditions forced the team to be picked up early from the shore as the surf increased significantly due to the strong winds. Some team members even had to swim back to the research vessel as the small boat was only able to pick up the camera and logging gear. A scary adventure by itself! Unfortunately the weather conditions didn’t improve overnight, and the vessel was forced to leave this amazing island.