Manuel Antonio National Park & Curu Wild Life Refuge, Costa Rica
Today is our first day in Costa Rica on board the ship for our expedition here in this tropical region of Central America. What a great start!
We spent the morning at what is known as one of the crown jewels of the national park system of Costa Rica, Manuel Antonio National Park. We got our first look at white-throated capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, two-toed sloth, central American agouties, and several three-toed sloth. The main reason why we had such a great show of animals is basically because this national park is the smallest of the parks in the country and it has proved to be too small to maintain large animals, especially large alpha predators that would be controlling the growth of the medium sided animals. The medium sized animals therefore go on a demography explosion because of the lack of alpha predators controlling their growth, and compounding this phenomenon is the fact that this forest is not connected to any other by land bridge. But that wasn’t all the fun of the place, after our hikes we had some time to enjoy a nice swim in the warm Pacific water before going back on board.
Once we were back on board, the ship repositioned to the Nicoya Paninsula for our afternoon outing. Meanwhile we had a safety drill, and right after that we had lunch followed byt siesta time. Later in the afternoon we had a lecture of Central American history and then we were ready to explore the Curu wildlife refuge on the Nicoya Penisula. This private reserve is one of the few tropical dry forest standing in the tropical region. The small reserve proved very interesting and productive as we were able to see some more howler monkeys, and white-throated capuchin monkeys and additionally some turquoise-browed motmots, and even the beautiful scarlet macaws.
Not a bad day to be our first in these Central American tropics.
Today is our first day in Costa Rica on board the ship for our expedition here in this tropical region of Central America. What a great start!
We spent the morning at what is known as one of the crown jewels of the national park system of Costa Rica, Manuel Antonio National Park. We got our first look at white-throated capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, two-toed sloth, central American agouties, and several three-toed sloth. The main reason why we had such a great show of animals is basically because this national park is the smallest of the parks in the country and it has proved to be too small to maintain large animals, especially large alpha predators that would be controlling the growth of the medium sided animals. The medium sized animals therefore go on a demography explosion because of the lack of alpha predators controlling their growth, and compounding this phenomenon is the fact that this forest is not connected to any other by land bridge. But that wasn’t all the fun of the place, after our hikes we had some time to enjoy a nice swim in the warm Pacific water before going back on board.
Once we were back on board, the ship repositioned to the Nicoya Paninsula for our afternoon outing. Meanwhile we had a safety drill, and right after that we had lunch followed byt siesta time. Later in the afternoon we had a lecture of Central American history and then we were ready to explore the Curu wildlife refuge on the Nicoya Penisula. This private reserve is one of the few tropical dry forest standing in the tropical region. The small reserve proved very interesting and productive as we were able to see some more howler monkeys, and white-throated capuchin monkeys and additionally some turquoise-browed motmots, and even the beautiful scarlet macaws.
Not a bad day to be our first in these Central American tropics.
