Manuel Antonio
Early this morning we arrived to our last destination on our adventure that started not so long ago in the Panama Canal. Manuel Antonio National Park is the smallest of Costa Rica’s extensive network of protected areas. It is located on the central pacific coast in what could be called a transitional ecosystem in between the less rainy tropical dry forest on the northern part of Costa Rica and the more humid tropical rain forest we visited yesterday of Corcovado National Park to the South.
Right after disembarking on the pristine beach and as we have already become accustomed during the week, we quickly changed into our waking shoes, eager to venture onto the trails to see what this day has prepared for us.
We didn’t have to wait much; pretty soon we ran into some tropical residents. First we saw the giant handsome-looking rodents, the Central American agoutis, followed by a number of iguana relatives, basilisks and spiny-tailed iguanas. As we started reaching into the so-called “sloth valley” we found these lethargic slow-moving primitive looking mammals sleeping high in the trees.
Indeed we are lucky to see here both sloth species present in Costa Rica: Hoffman’s two-toed sloth and brown-throated three-toed sloths. One of them was a female with a small newborn baby.
Also it is worth mentioning some great birds seen today: Fiery-billed aracari toucans! Really a great sighting, not only for being a gorgeous colorful bird, but also because it is a toucan, a very representative tropical American bird group. This was an even better sighting because it is not just any toucan… this particular toucan species is pretty much unique, endemic to this area. Another great bird spotted today and quite a cooperative one I must say, in letting us all get a really good look at it, was the white-necked puff bird.
All these sightings in a little over an hour walk! To make things better, as some people were debating about going back to the beautiful beach to spend sometime in the ocean, howler monkeys started jumping over the trees above our heads on the trail, followed by a large troop of white faced monkeys. Again, two species in one spot and what a contrast of monkeys. White faced monkeys are half the size of the howler monkeys but they move twice as fast. Good timing!
I’m pretty sure the lethargic howlers had been there all along, but their presence did not become obvious to us until they started moving, flushed out, it seemed to me, in apparent disgust by the presence of the incoming hyperactive white faced monkeys. Great! Now we can really start thinking on heading back!
It was a such a great week! We got a good taste of these two beautiful Central American countries, Panama and Costa Rica, with all their plethora of species that they boast in this intense hotspot of tropical diversity.
Early this morning we arrived to our last destination on our adventure that started not so long ago in the Panama Canal. Manuel Antonio National Park is the smallest of Costa Rica’s extensive network of protected areas. It is located on the central pacific coast in what could be called a transitional ecosystem in between the less rainy tropical dry forest on the northern part of Costa Rica and the more humid tropical rain forest we visited yesterday of Corcovado National Park to the South.
Right after disembarking on the pristine beach and as we have already become accustomed during the week, we quickly changed into our waking shoes, eager to venture onto the trails to see what this day has prepared for us.
We didn’t have to wait much; pretty soon we ran into some tropical residents. First we saw the giant handsome-looking rodents, the Central American agoutis, followed by a number of iguana relatives, basilisks and spiny-tailed iguanas. As we started reaching into the so-called “sloth valley” we found these lethargic slow-moving primitive looking mammals sleeping high in the trees.
Indeed we are lucky to see here both sloth species present in Costa Rica: Hoffman’s two-toed sloth and brown-throated three-toed sloths. One of them was a female with a small newborn baby.
Also it is worth mentioning some great birds seen today: Fiery-billed aracari toucans! Really a great sighting, not only for being a gorgeous colorful bird, but also because it is a toucan, a very representative tropical American bird group. This was an even better sighting because it is not just any toucan… this particular toucan species is pretty much unique, endemic to this area. Another great bird spotted today and quite a cooperative one I must say, in letting us all get a really good look at it, was the white-necked puff bird.
All these sightings in a little over an hour walk! To make things better, as some people were debating about going back to the beautiful beach to spend sometime in the ocean, howler monkeys started jumping over the trees above our heads on the trail, followed by a large troop of white faced monkeys. Again, two species in one spot and what a contrast of monkeys. White faced monkeys are half the size of the howler monkeys but they move twice as fast. Good timing!
I’m pretty sure the lethargic howlers had been there all along, but their presence did not become obvious to us until they started moving, flushed out, it seemed to me, in apparent disgust by the presence of the incoming hyperactive white faced monkeys. Great! Now we can really start thinking on heading back!
It was a such a great week! We got a good taste of these two beautiful Central American countries, Panama and Costa Rica, with all their plethora of species that they boast in this intense hotspot of tropical diversity.
