Manuel Antonio National Park and Curu Wild Life Refuge
We took the Zodiacs into the rising sun at Manuel Antonio. The day started with the sunlight shining through the forest on the tombolo, a rare geological formation that connects an island with the mainland and formed at the dawn of the last Ice Age. We had one of Costa Rica’s most visited National Park for ourselves, since we were allowed to walk in the park before it opens to the general public. A yellow-headed caracara watched our disembarkation from the treetops and we started our walk in the Sloth Valley. And what an appropriate name it is, there we saw both, three- and two-toed sloths! We also saw Central American agoutis, long-nosed bats, tent-making bats, black-bellied wrens, black-hooded antshrike, anhingas and spiny-tailed iguanas.
We came back to the Sea Voyager and she covered a short distance to Curu over a great buffet lunch and a lecture by our naturalist Margrit on rain forest bats.
During the afternoon, we had our last excursion to shore at the Curu Wildlife Refuge on the Nicoya Peninsula. Curu is one of the first places on Tropical America to reintroduce species that once where abundant on this peninsula and now are in danger or gone from this region because of humans. This is as well one of the few places in the Isthmus where seasonally dry tropical dry forest still remains. On our hikes we were able to explore part of this forest. Some of us had still not had the chance to see monkeys, oh! Did this place showed them to us. We saw white-throated capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, king fishers, woodcreepers, among many other things.
Back on board we had our last evening recap and a delicious farewell dinner.
We took the Zodiacs into the rising sun at Manuel Antonio. The day started with the sunlight shining through the forest on the tombolo, a rare geological formation that connects an island with the mainland and formed at the dawn of the last Ice Age. We had one of Costa Rica’s most visited National Park for ourselves, since we were allowed to walk in the park before it opens to the general public. A yellow-headed caracara watched our disembarkation from the treetops and we started our walk in the Sloth Valley. And what an appropriate name it is, there we saw both, three- and two-toed sloths! We also saw Central American agoutis, long-nosed bats, tent-making bats, black-bellied wrens, black-hooded antshrike, anhingas and spiny-tailed iguanas.
We came back to the Sea Voyager and she covered a short distance to Curu over a great buffet lunch and a lecture by our naturalist Margrit on rain forest bats.
During the afternoon, we had our last excursion to shore at the Curu Wildlife Refuge on the Nicoya Peninsula. Curu is one of the first places on Tropical America to reintroduce species that once where abundant on this peninsula and now are in danger or gone from this region because of humans. This is as well one of the few places in the Isthmus where seasonally dry tropical dry forest still remains. On our hikes we were able to explore part of this forest. Some of us had still not had the chance to see monkeys, oh! Did this place showed them to us. We saw white-throated capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, king fishers, woodcreepers, among many other things.
Back on board we had our last evening recap and a delicious farewell dinner.
