Manuel Antonio Reserve

Manuel Antonio Reserve costs:

Parking / Tour: $80.00USD

Park Entrance Fee: $16.00USD / each

We met a nice couple at the hotel (Dan and Cara, more on them later) who had tried to go to the reserve the day we arrived and didn’t get in. They said there were about 300 people in line waiting for tickets and it was HOT, too hot to wait so they called it. Supposedly the reserve limits ticket sales to 600 people per day. Not so sure that’s true but more on that later as well.

After talking with Dan and Cara we decided to get up early and be at the park when it opens. Quick pastry and a coffee and off to the park. Now you can really tell you’re in a tourist area. Strangely enough the park has no parking, but not to worry, there’s a line of people flagging you into every driveway and dirt lot within 5 miles of the entrance. We elected to dodge these human traffic cones and went to the turn-around where we succumbed to the last salesman. After all, we did need a place to park El Haut Rod and this looked as good as any other lot. Fortunately for us he also was selling tour guide tickets. Wow, what luck! Alright, when in touristville act like a tourist. We bought the guided tour tickets and got in line to buy the park tickets. No, park admission is not included in the totally reasonable and affordable ticket price we paid to the only official park guide service.

Dropped a little more cash then started the two-hour journey through the smallest national park in Costa Rica. Our guide, Albin, was waiting for us with his spotting scope and ready to show us the thousands of animals and birds in this very popular park. He was an extremely nice guy who spoke pretty good English and knew where to look to find those hidden creatures. We had read that most people chose a guide because finding the animals was nearly impossible if you didn’t have a spotting scope and know where to look. Albin asked what we wanted to see on our tour so we told him, sloths, monkeys, toucans and an elephant. Yeah well, toucan and elephant, probably not.

First sighting was a small red, white and blue crab in the basin next to the road. Apparently during high tide the water comes into the park and brings with it these little crabs.

Moving right along, Albin saw 3 bats resting on the side of a tree. These are called white-lined bats and feed mostly on insects. Not sure how he spotted these bats. Without the scope, you couldn’t tell them apart from the tree bark.

The trail we took is also known as sloth row due to the number of sloths that tend to hang around the area. (no pun intended) So what was next, sloths of course. Albin set up his scope and bingo, slothville. We saw both two-toed sloths that have a bit more character to their face, and three-toed sloths that smile a lot, or look like it. Both sloths stay in trees for up to three days and only venture down to do their business. No dodo in the tree, could lead a predator to your doorstep. Three-toed sloths eat leaves and fruits. While two-toed sloths will also eat leaves and fruits, they are also carnivorous.

The next spotting was a bird nesting on the ground that had a pretty serious look. Couldn’t find the name so we just call it the “Feel Lucky, Punk” bird.

 

 

Now, you know in almost every Costa Rican jungle, there’s monkeys. Manuel has monkeys, lots of monkeys. We did see a couple of howler monkeys but mostly, there were lots of white-faced monkeys (also called white-headed capuchin). Cute little buggers that had certainly adapted to the hordes of humans trucking through their woods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two hour tour was over so we parted ways with Albin and headed back out of the park. Collette and I felt good. We always try to get things done quickly and this time we were able to get a 2 hour tour done in about 1hr 40 minutes. Over-achieved again!

 

The park has a nice beach so we took a short break to enjoy the ocean and try to dry off a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way out we just happened to spot this little green guy checking out the tourists coming in and trying to sell car insurance.

And somehow this fawn got mixed up in the crowd. No sign of Mom anywhere and this little one just strolled out onto the trail.

 

 

So, only sell 600 tickets a day? This line went for the better part of ½ mile and had to be over 600 people. Affectionately known by the locals as the “five-toed sloths”.

That’s it for Manuel Antonio. Back to the hotel for a little breakfast, R&R and maybe pool time.