Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica
The wonders of Costa Rica and Panama are a great name for the trip we are just starting. The first stop of this exploration takes place on one of the three oldest volcanic terrains of Costa Rica’s pacific shoreline, the Quepos formation. The Nicoya and Osa peninsula emerged from the oceanic crust between 50 to 80 million years ago.
So, as the Sea Voyager is approaching its anchoring spot, dark basalt rocks guard the quintessential view of this tropical paradise, Manuel Antonio National Park. It belongs to the Costa Rican park system, being one of the smallest in size but big in fauna sightings. It protects a very particular ecosystem where dry and rain forest meet and mix.
The park offers several trails options, and our guests were able to choose from a more challenging trail to a nice flatter walk. Both have very descriptive names: The Stairmaster and The Sloth Valley Walk. I guess they are both self explanatory!
Sloth valley truly represents the over population of this mammal, whose whole natural history is as amazing as the animal itself. One of its better known characteristic is the slowness of its movements. That has to do more with being lightweight than lazy. The sloths do not have a lot of muscle mass and therefore can’t move as fast as other mammals. Being lightweight allows it to reach fragile branches which hold tender leaves and fresh shoots, and so better and easier food to digest. This spoiled creature climbs down the trees just once every week, more or less, to do its dropping on the ground; but that’s not all, a moth flies out from its fur to leave it own eggs in the sloth scat and go back to its mammal motor home.
The sloth were not the only great sightings we had today. Everyone got up-close and personal shots of white-faced capuchin monkeys roaming the forest for food, as well we got to hear the loud sounds of a troop of howler monkeys that made us feel as if a gorilla might come out from the bushes.
As if all this were not enough, as we start sailing toward tomorrow’s destination, a mother humpback whale with calf showed up on the horizon and let us enjoy their gigantic magnificence.
For the first day, it was a great way to start a trip that shows the importance of the youngest Central American countries, which were and are a major participant in one of the most dramatic interchange of flora and fauna from North to South and South to North American continents. And here we are, ready to explore and experience all.
The wonders of Costa Rica and Panama are a great name for the trip we are just starting. The first stop of this exploration takes place on one of the three oldest volcanic terrains of Costa Rica’s pacific shoreline, the Quepos formation. The Nicoya and Osa peninsula emerged from the oceanic crust between 50 to 80 million years ago.
So, as the Sea Voyager is approaching its anchoring spot, dark basalt rocks guard the quintessential view of this tropical paradise, Manuel Antonio National Park. It belongs to the Costa Rican park system, being one of the smallest in size but big in fauna sightings. It protects a very particular ecosystem where dry and rain forest meet and mix.
The park offers several trails options, and our guests were able to choose from a more challenging trail to a nice flatter walk. Both have very descriptive names: The Stairmaster and The Sloth Valley Walk. I guess they are both self explanatory!
Sloth valley truly represents the over population of this mammal, whose whole natural history is as amazing as the animal itself. One of its better known characteristic is the slowness of its movements. That has to do more with being lightweight than lazy. The sloths do not have a lot of muscle mass and therefore can’t move as fast as other mammals. Being lightweight allows it to reach fragile branches which hold tender leaves and fresh shoots, and so better and easier food to digest. This spoiled creature climbs down the trees just once every week, more or less, to do its dropping on the ground; but that’s not all, a moth flies out from its fur to leave it own eggs in the sloth scat and go back to its mammal motor home.
The sloth were not the only great sightings we had today. Everyone got up-close and personal shots of white-faced capuchin monkeys roaming the forest for food, as well we got to hear the loud sounds of a troop of howler monkeys that made us feel as if a gorilla might come out from the bushes.
As if all this were not enough, as we start sailing toward tomorrow’s destination, a mother humpback whale with calf showed up on the horizon and let us enjoy their gigantic magnificence.
For the first day, it was a great way to start a trip that shows the importance of the youngest Central American countries, which were and are a major participant in one of the most dramatic interchange of flora and fauna from North to South and South to North American continents. And here we are, ready to explore and experience all.
