Manuel Antonio National Park, Drake’s Bay & Agujitas River
The tremendous variety from the highlands to the lowlands has always impressed me.
Remembering our extension trip to Monteverde before boarding National Geographic Sea Lion; it was hard to believe that yesterday we were at 4500ft. (1400m) with a temperature in the mid-60’s Fahrenheit. Afterwards, as we drove down to the central Pacific in the afternoon the thermometer reached temperatures in the low 90’s F. The complexity of life zones is especially evident from the lush continental divide forest to the lowland deciduous dry vegetation.
After all, the well-preserved landscape and invigorating atmosphere is unique in both places.
This morning in Manuel Antonio National Park, the main idea that went through my mind was to see the most wildlife before the increasing temperatures would put animals at rest.
The timings worked out perfectly. As soon as the national park opened we were right there to walk the trails.
It was incredible! White throated capuchin monkeys, Central American squirrel monkeys, and mantled howler monkeys so close to each other that we were expecting some territorial dispute. However, not this time, the howler monkeys remained silently in a Guacimo tree, while the capuchins approached the proximity of the trail; meanwhile the always-elusive squirrel monkeys avoided direct contact with the capuchins, nevertheless they were still within sight. In addition to these special sightings, brown throated three toed sloths, and several kinds of birds were observed.
By late morning, we left Manuel Antonio behind in order to visit the Agujitas River in the Osa Peninsula.
After sailing almost 45 nautical miles we reached Drake’s Bay and Agujitas River. Like directly extracted from a fairytale, Agujitas is a river rift with tall emergent gallery forest. Here nature rests peacefully knowing that in Costa Rica, our commitment is to protect it and defend its magnificence for our future generations.
