Manuel Antonio

We had had mixed feelings as to visiting Manuel Antonio national park as it has a reputation for being too busy, However, it provided a convenient stop over for what was already a long driving day of five or six hours, much over rough roads or dirt tracks. We stopped on the way at the Tarcoles bridge where a selection of stalls has grown up for the benefit of  the weary car driver, walking along the bridge and admiring the selection of very large crocodiles in the water below. We eventually arrived at the Gaia hotel, built on a very steep estate indeed, again, with great views from the pool, bar and restaurant, fortunate because the food was excellent and we were meeting up with Robert and Liz on their return to Costa Rica!.

The next day we were off for a kayak to her through the mangroves where we saw a lot including, at last, some kingfishers including an Amazonian one but too quick for the camera. In the afternoon we walked the local hotel trail with a guide and were told about the scarlet macaw breeding/conservation program.

We had dinner in town at a posh restaurant, Gabriella's, overlooking the marina, a completely different setting to anything else we have seen here, very modern and American. Great lobster but a venue designed to extract the last tourist dollar and then the taxi organised by the restaurant tried to cheat us leading to a row! 

Back to the hotel and the early morning live final of the Australian Open tennis, well done Rapha!

Our next very early morning was in the national park itself, despite the fact we had the first tour available it was still busy, with various groups of  tourists being shepherded around by the guides. However, our guide was excellent (and really, it’s all about the quality of your guide). And the monkeys especially were great. After the guided tour we walked around, by ourselves, the small peninsula in the park and had one of our best wild life experiences as a large snake devoured an even larger frog in front of us. And we spotted some deer for the first time in Costa Rica. There are a couple of lovely beaches in the park too and we enjoyed a swim too.

Spot the snake..with a very much larger frog !