Manuel Antonio National Park and Curu Wildlife Preserve, Costa Rica
A nice chilly breeze with a fairly clouded sky, and a very shy sun rising over the horizon, did not even compare to the amazing morning we were about to enjoy. The National Geographic Sea Lion dropped anchor in front of this postcard paradise, the green lush rain forest framing the white sandy beach, which was bathed by the turquoise ocean waters.
Welcome to Manuel Antonio National Park, one of the smallest of the Costa Rican conservation areas, located in the middle of the Pacific shoreline. Right after breakfast our purser Crystal Stevens made the announcement for all explorers to get ready to be transported ashore for the different hikes. The sloth valley trail appeared to be the favorite; I guess the name is pretty catchy.
The sloth valley trail started with a great view of a Brown Striped Basilik, better known for its abilities to run above water for shorter distances. Not long after, we had a sighting that even shocked the naturalists … a three-toed sloth decided to cross the trail at eye level. We all were able to see it coming down a shrub, extending its arms in reach of a nearby branch, shake its head to have an overview of the area and then keep climbing up. Sloths are mammals found only in the Neotropics. They eat, mate, give birth and even die in the trees. They might not be fast but… they don’t need to be, their diet consists mainly of leaves and leaves run nowhere. There are many particular characteristics that this animal has, like being a mammal that does not control its body temperature and having fur that is usually infested by moth, lice and many other creepy, crawly creatures, the idea of coming down from the protection of the canopy to the ground in order to do its droppings was quite surprising.
After this lifetime encounter, we did not walk long before a troop of White-faced Capuchin monkeys surrounded us, jumping from branch to branch and foraging all the trees. As if that was not enough, two females, each one with a baby stole everyone’s attention. This all happened before 10am, incredible.
We lifted anchored and set toward our second outing of the day, the tropical dry forest, located at the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula. It was an excellent addition to our trip, because it is a completely different ecosystem, Curu is much drier than any area we had visited this week and therefore has a different diversity of plants, and birdlife.
The sun fading at the horizon and was a nice closure for a week full of new experiences, friends, memories and great pictures…
