Costa Rica, Manuel Antonio National Park
When we awoke and walked out of our cabins, we were impressed by the stunning place we had arrived at overnight. We saw a beautiful white sandy beach with an amazing rainforest just behind it. The howler monkeys were making their noisy calls that can be heard up to 2 kilometer away, and parakeets and parrots were flying up in the trees.
Manuel Antonio National Park is Costa Rica’s most famous beach area, composed of three long strands of magnificent white sand, fringed by the rain forest on one side, and the Pacific on the other. The beaches are clean and wide. Above them are tall cliffs covered with dense tropical vegetation. This National Park is one of the few places in the area where the primary forest comes down to the water’s edge, allowing bathers to swim in the shade.
We took the trails for hiking and wildlife sighting. Ina matter of minutes troops of White-faced monkeys were seen busily hunting and gathering food in the top of the trees. We took some time to watch them.
Soon the first Three-toed Sloth was spotted, followed by another species of Costa Rica: the Two-toed Sloth; just one tree apart. Only in Manuel Antonio National Park can this been seen!
Manuel Antonio went beyond our expectations by providing two incredible and unexpected sightings. First the Fiery-billed Aracari, an endemic bird in the toucan family that is only found in Southern Costa Rica and Western Panama. Then a wild cat: the jaguarundi walking along the beach, the only diurnal cat out of the six species of the country.
After our nature walks, it was very refreshing to go swimming in the turquoise water of these beaches. With our ship in front of us, the white sand beach to our back and the lush green vegetation of this amazing National Park surrounding us, we all agreed it was a magnificent day in paradise
