Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica
Our journey through the wild side of Costa Rica and Panama started today with the sight of monkeys, sloths, agoutis and coatis as well as dolphins and even a few sea turtles. So it was quite a good introduction, but let us start with our first morning.
Today we woke up in front of Manuel Antonio National Park which is considered to be one of the crown jewels of the national park system of Costa Rica not only for the abundance of wild life but also for its beautiful beaches surrounded by green tropical forests. Right after breakfast, we went to shore and walked through some of the park’s trails where we got to see white throated capuchin and howler monkeys, agoutis, white nose coatis, two toed sloths as well as many three toed sloths one of which had a baby. The reason all these medium size animals are so abundant here is precisely because of the reduced extension of the park. In such a limited area, it is practically impossible for big animals (especially big Alfa predators) like jaguars and harpy eagles to exist and reproduce. Under normal circumstances these Alfa predators would have served as a control in the population of medium size animals. But their absence in Manuel Antonio has resulted in a demographic explosion of these animals.
Later in the morning, we had some time to rest on the beach and enjoy the warm water of the pacific before heading back to the ship.
Once on board the ship and after lunch, we started cruising our way to the Osa Peninsula on the watch for marine life. Our watch was rewarded with several small groups of pan tropical spotted dolphins and a few sea turtles.
So not a bad start for our first day!
Our journey through the wild side of Costa Rica and Panama started today with the sight of monkeys, sloths, agoutis and coatis as well as dolphins and even a few sea turtles. So it was quite a good introduction, but let us start with our first morning.
Today we woke up in front of Manuel Antonio National Park which is considered to be one of the crown jewels of the national park system of Costa Rica not only for the abundance of wild life but also for its beautiful beaches surrounded by green tropical forests. Right after breakfast, we went to shore and walked through some of the park’s trails where we got to see white throated capuchin and howler monkeys, agoutis, white nose coatis, two toed sloths as well as many three toed sloths one of which had a baby. The reason all these medium size animals are so abundant here is precisely because of the reduced extension of the park. In such a limited area, it is practically impossible for big animals (especially big Alfa predators) like jaguars and harpy eagles to exist and reproduce. Under normal circumstances these Alfa predators would have served as a control in the population of medium size animals. But their absence in Manuel Antonio has resulted in a demographic explosion of these animals.
Later in the morning, we had some time to rest on the beach and enjoy the warm water of the pacific before heading back to the ship.
Once on board the ship and after lunch, we started cruising our way to the Osa Peninsula on the watch for marine life. Our watch was rewarded with several small groups of pan tropical spotted dolphins and a few sea turtles.
So not a bad start for our first day!
