Manuel Antonio National Park (MANP)

shillifully

MANP was founded in 1972 to protect the local beaches from development by foreign investors.. It is one of the smallest national parks in Costa Rica but the most visited.

The town of Manual Antonio sits on the Pacific Ocean; because of the beach it has become one of the country’s main tourist destinations. Many North American visitors only come to the Pacific Coast and are described by the locals as “fly and flop” visitors. When not flopping, the MNAP is a popular day/half day excursion, particularly to see sloths and monkeys. Although daily visitor numbers are capped, the income subsidises other quieter national parks.

MNAP has been forced to ban visitors from bringing food into the park as the white faced monkeys have become master thieves which came at a cost to them by way of tooth decay and type 2 diabetes. During our stay a monkey broke into our room (our terrace door was shut but not locked – rookie error), opened the fridge, stole a snack and ran away clutching his prize !

We arrived in Manual Antonio from the Monteverde Cloud Forest, a journey of about four hours. We started the day in several layers and 15 degrees; by lunch we were on the beach in shorts with sun and 30 degrees. The majority of the temperature change was in the first 20 minutes.

Seen from a bridge on our journey
Lunch on our arrival
Manuel Antonio National Park
The cafe in the National Park – it’s in a cage for the humans !
White faced monkey,
The park comprises ocean, beach, mangroves and forest, creating numerous habitats including for creatures such as crabs
Roble de Sabana, a variety of oak tree, which has a brief flowering season at this time of year
Bamboo is not endemic in Costa Rica but was planted by farmers at the time of developing plantations. It flowers after 40 years, coinciding with our visit, at which point it then dies.
While not Tim’s idea of fun, Sarah ventured onto the ocean by kayak with a Canadian couple and a guide. The destination was a reef where the snorkelling was excellent
Pre breakfast walk on the beach by our hotel on our final morning
Our hotel is the building on the cliff at the end of the beach, the National Park is at the other end
On our walk we saw a flock of scarlet macaws

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