After Forbes named Manuel Antonio National Park one of the twelve most beautiful parks in the world in 2011, it became Costa Rica’s most popular despite being one of the smallest. The Government of Costa Rica has taken enormous steps to protect the country’s biodiversity. Indeed, in many important national parks, like the Manuel Antonio National Park, only 10% of the area is available for eco-tourism – the consequence is that the authorized tracks can be very busy and noisy at peak times, especially in high season.
We left our sleepy paradise beach of Papagayo on Saturday and drove to Manual Antonio. Quite isolated, expecting wildlife to be abundant – but in peak tourist season, exceptionally dry and too noisy, we did not see the huge amount of wildlife expected although we saw a great deal, including: ground nesting birds, Jesus lizards (because they walk on water), iguanas, red eyed frogs, sloths, monkeys, humming birds etc, etc. Following on from our wildlife tour in the Manuel Antonio Wildlife Park, we enjoyed some precious time on the beach (which is all part of the national park) – with temperatures circa 35 degrees C, the sea was popular.
That night, we went with an expert naturalist to a private reserve, next door to Manuel Antonio National Park. There can be a great deal of variation in the quality, experience and communication skills of the naturalist guides. We cannot remember the full list but here are few that we spotted in the wild, in just 90 minutes: white-tailed deer, two-toed & three-toed sloths, the rare red-eyed frog (photoed sleeping), multiple spiders including a male tarantula (the female’s deadly), assorted frogs including the Rain-forest Toad, a white dove sleeping in a tree, and no snakes, especially vipers!
We were delighted with the night tour.
The Costa Rica Government has been enormously successful with its biodiversity policies but now must face the challenges of mass-tourism.
We see parallels with Machu Picchu in Peru. To protect the UNESCO accredited ancient Inca city, the Peru Government now ration tourists to fixed time periods.
Slow Travel in Distant Places 