Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica
Well our last day couldn’t have been better. To start the day we visited Manuel Antonio National Park in one of the most popular national parks of this country. And for several reasons: one is that the park has beautiful scenery where the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean meet the tropical forest on a nice sandy beach, and the other is that it is not far from San Jose, and the access is not that hard. Probably one of the most important reasons is that Manuel Antonio is one of the places where certain kinds of wildlife are easily seen, especially medium size animals like sloths, howler monkeys, white-throated capuchin monkeys, raccoons, and coatis are common sightings. And there is a good explanation for this. Manuel Antonio National Park is the smallest national park in all of Costa Rica. Because it is surrounded by plantations, pastureland, and towns, it has become an island for the wild animals. The park and its animals have no connection with any other wild forest nearby. This has to do with the high number of medium size animals seen in the park. The place is not big enough to provide a habitat for large mammals and birds, especially large predators. There are no large predators controlling the population of the medium size animals so they suffer a demographic explosion. And since they have no place to go besides the park, they become a common sighting.
This morning while walking through the trails, Manuel Antonio lived up to its fame. We saw several monkeys, eight sloths (we saw one even before setting a foot on land), coatis, monkeys, herons, and many other things. We even had some spare time to enjoy the beach and the waves.
After lunch, some of us went back to the park while others went to the town for a walk. Many went nearby to gain different perspectives of the forest while venturing through the canopy with their harnesses before returning for our farewell dinner.
Well our last day couldn’t have been better. To start the day we visited Manuel Antonio National Park in one of the most popular national parks of this country. And for several reasons: one is that the park has beautiful scenery where the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean meet the tropical forest on a nice sandy beach, and the other is that it is not far from San Jose, and the access is not that hard. Probably one of the most important reasons is that Manuel Antonio is one of the places where certain kinds of wildlife are easily seen, especially medium size animals like sloths, howler monkeys, white-throated capuchin monkeys, raccoons, and coatis are common sightings. And there is a good explanation for this. Manuel Antonio National Park is the smallest national park in all of Costa Rica. Because it is surrounded by plantations, pastureland, and towns, it has become an island for the wild animals. The park and its animals have no connection with any other wild forest nearby. This has to do with the high number of medium size animals seen in the park. The place is not big enough to provide a habitat for large mammals and birds, especially large predators. There are no large predators controlling the population of the medium size animals so they suffer a demographic explosion. And since they have no place to go besides the park, they become a common sighting.
This morning while walking through the trails, Manuel Antonio lived up to its fame. We saw several monkeys, eight sloths (we saw one even before setting a foot on land), coatis, monkeys, herons, and many other things. We even had some spare time to enjoy the beach and the waves.
After lunch, some of us went back to the park while others went to the town for a walk. Many went nearby to gain different perspectives of the forest while venturing through the canopy with their harnesses before returning for our farewell dinner.
