It does not matter how old you are, 10 or 50, and a meeting with wild nature, even though slightly fed, always brings some original childish rapture, well, at least, we have. That's why my husband and I shared a birthday with a visit to one of the most famous national parks of Costa Rica, Manuel Antonio on the Central American country's crooked central Pacific coast, famous for it rich animal world, which has long been not shy of people. So today's post will be dedicated to this park and its natural resources.
Manuel Antonio is CR's smallest national park, which does not prevent it from entering the top three most visited places in the country. The main reason for this frenzied popularity was the unique combination of beautiful landscapes, exotic flora and fauna, as well as the presence of several very pretty beaches - all on a fairly modest size.
A huge number of tourists is considered the main drawback of Manuel Antonio. Even the early arrival in the park does not save the situation, because as in this wonderful place time flies with special speed and the light day disappears, as if it did not start. Nevertheless, I will not say that these very crowds of tourists were annoying us, because half of them are heading straight for one of the beaches, and a part of them is slowly following the guide, so for the most part we moved in our rhythm, not stepping on anyone's heels.
In January 2016, the price of admission ticket was 16 USD per person - it's not cheap, but it's all day long. As always, you can order the services of a guide: official, semi-official, not official at all, but there is absolutely no point in it, because the park is small, and crowds of tourists gather around each lazy or monkey, so it's enough to stop near the next group and Look in the direction where all the heads are directed.
Manuel Antonio was the only park on our route, at the entrance to which checked bags - checked not very carefully, do not even know what they were looking for. As for parking, despite the warnings of the hostess b & b, which stopped for the night, we still fell into the trap of local entrepreneurs who rented a parking space for indiscreet 3000 columns (5.5 USD) for the whole day. Well, as for the whole day, by the time of our return, the parking was empty, no guard - only our lonely car. And in the end it turned out that at the very end of the road there is free parking, but we just did not get there, and on the Internet I never found information about it - and it is, keep in mind.
The acquaintance with Manuel Antonio was divided into two parts: first we go around all accessible walking routes, then, when the heat subsides, you can swim on the beach.
By the way, to the infrastructure of the park, there are no complaints at all: all the tracks are well marked, the bridges are repaired, benches are set, information stands are installed - that would be everywhere.
Some stairs had to climb up a long time, which, given the present January heat, was a problem for some tourists, so many halfway left and went to the beach, and there were not so many people left on the routes.
Most of the trails ended with some kind of survey site overlooking the azure Caribbean Sea, which in itself may not have been worth the effort. But the way is laid through the jungle, and there are so many interesting things: the monkey family gathered for an early dinner, then another bright bird flashes among the trees, then a new kind of iguana will hide in the grass...
Now let's move on to the beaches of Manuel Antonio. There are four of them in the park: Manuel Antonio, Puerto Escondido, Espadilla Sur and Gemelas. I do not relate myself to beach gurus, but judging by the number of visitors, I can assume that the beaches are very good, with fine yellow sand and small waves, which is very important on the ocean coast. Even the rich vegetation, which goes to the shore, is bribed, in the shade of which you can hide from the scorching sun.
The most popular beach - Manuel Antonio - is located in a cozy bay, and therefore the water here is quite calm. The wide strip of the shore accommodates the largest number of visitors, at whose disposal some beach bar (closed in our presence), toilets, and, oh gods, souls. It is a special pleasure to wash off the salt that covered the entire surface of the body after another bath.
A small secluded beach Espadilla Sur seemed more attractive to us, but the waves there turned out to be very childish, and even the rocky bottom - straight extreme, not bathing.
That's where we spent most of our time, so it's on the distant Gemelas. Most people here just do not reach because of the fact that we have to go here, and we were very lucky to be on such a beach at noon. Here, in the shade of the trees, we had a lunch, and Roma even swam in a small lagoon. The place is simply heavenly, I did not want to leave at all.
The fourth beach at that time was closed, and without it we had all that was possible. We came to the opening of the park, but left only when the workers began to expel the tourists who were sitting up, it was about 5 pm.
This is how much of our birthday passed, smoothly flowing into the traditional and less interesting part of the restaurant with dinner. We got a lot of impressions from the Manuel Antonio National Park, and as a reward for your patience, dear friends, I upload photos of all the animals we managed to photo that day.
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