Manuel Antonio National Park and Curu Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica
Scorpio and the Southern Cross welcomed us this morning as we disembarked, even before the sun came out, on the white and sandy beaches of Manuel Antonio National Park. Some of us got together to walk the longer path, while others decided to take a shorter one; after all, this was our last day, we are entitled to some leisure! In our eagerness to find sloths, it is no wonder why the trail is called El Perezoso (sloth in Spanish), we had the great luck of finding a tamandua anteater (Tamandua mexicana). As the morning progressed, we got to see our awaited sloth, white-throated capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys, but nothing compared with the anteater, which for our naturalist was the sighting of the week. These anteaters are solitary animals, except for a mother and her offspring. They follow both arboreal and terrestrial routes within their territories looking for both ant and termite nests.
Later in the afternoon we repositioned our vessel outside of Curu Wildlife Refuge, on the Northwestern part of Costa Rica. We walked through a totally different type of forest than we had yet seen. This area is dry, windy, and less lush than what we have seen so far, but what a perfect way to end our trip: scarlet macaws, white throated magpie jays, and a list of ten mammals in less than two hours!!! At sunset, we were driving our Zodiacs back to our home away from home for the past six days; the M.V. Sea Voyager.
Scorpio and the Southern Cross welcomed us this morning as we disembarked, even before the sun came out, on the white and sandy beaches of Manuel Antonio National Park. Some of us got together to walk the longer path, while others decided to take a shorter one; after all, this was our last day, we are entitled to some leisure! In our eagerness to find sloths, it is no wonder why the trail is called El Perezoso (sloth in Spanish), we had the great luck of finding a tamandua anteater (Tamandua mexicana). As the morning progressed, we got to see our awaited sloth, white-throated capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys, but nothing compared with the anteater, which for our naturalist was the sighting of the week. These anteaters are solitary animals, except for a mother and her offspring. They follow both arboreal and terrestrial routes within their territories looking for both ant and termite nests.
Later in the afternoon we repositioned our vessel outside of Curu Wildlife Refuge, on the Northwestern part of Costa Rica. We walked through a totally different type of forest than we had yet seen. This area is dry, windy, and less lush than what we have seen so far, but what a perfect way to end our trip: scarlet macaws, white throated magpie jays, and a list of ten mammals in less than two hours!!! At sunset, we were driving our Zodiacs back to our home away from home for the past six days; the M.V. Sea Voyager.
