Manuel Antonio National Park & Curu Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica
What a day! The first day of our journey and we are still trying to count the animals and plants we saw!
Early this morning we started out on our Zodiacs towards Manuel Antonio National Park, one of Costa Rica’s biological oases. Located in the humid tropical forest, it protects primary and secondary forests, mangroves, beach vegetation, and marine resources. We were there for only a few hours, but almost everyone saw agoutis, coatis, white-throated capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, two-toed sloths, and three-toed sloths galore! Beach almond trees, stinking-toe trees, raintrees, strangler figs, mango trees, and piper plants were also in the menu. Could we ask for more?
While cruising towards the northwest we heard the voice of our expedition leader calling us to the bow… Humpback whales! The two large animals were on their sides, so close to each other that for a minute we thought they were just one very large animal… Were they mating, were they courting, were they …? That would be a good research project…
Later today, we disembarked at Curu Wildlife Refuge. Could we still get more? Indeed we did: coatis, white-throated capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, plus scarlet macaws, swollen thorn acacias, spiny cedars, and tourist trees all made the grande finale for our day.
What a day! The first day of our journey and we are still trying to count the animals and plants we saw!
Early this morning we started out on our Zodiacs towards Manuel Antonio National Park, one of Costa Rica’s biological oases. Located in the humid tropical forest, it protects primary and secondary forests, mangroves, beach vegetation, and marine resources. We were there for only a few hours, but almost everyone saw agoutis, coatis, white-throated capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, two-toed sloths, and three-toed sloths galore! Beach almond trees, stinking-toe trees, raintrees, strangler figs, mango trees, and piper plants were also in the menu. Could we ask for more?
While cruising towards the northwest we heard the voice of our expedition leader calling us to the bow… Humpback whales! The two large animals were on their sides, so close to each other that for a minute we thought they were just one very large animal… Were they mating, were they courting, were they …? That would be a good research project…
Later today, we disembarked at Curu Wildlife Refuge. Could we still get more? Indeed we did: coatis, white-throated capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, plus scarlet macaws, swollen thorn acacias, spiny cedars, and tourist trees all made the grande finale for our day.
