About one hour south of Jaco is a national park in Costa Rica, Manuel Antonio. I had never been there before so we rented a car and made the trip down to check it out. Once you get to Quepos there will be signs directing you to the park. There is plenty of parking outside the park and from the parking lot you will need to walk to the ticket center. Don't let that walk discourage you. The walk to the entrance of the park is pretty dirty but once you get to the park that will all change.
Once at the ticket center you have options. You can buy a ticket to enter the park and guide yourself but I would recommend getting a guide for an additional fee. The reason for the guide is that without the guide and their telescope you will miss a lot of wildlife that the normal eye won't be able to see. The guide would actually stop us and say there is something in front of us and asking if we could find it. Most of the time it was right in front of us and we couldn't see it. Also, with the telescope , we got a close-up view and could even take a picture through the telescope.
The park has many hiking trails and the highlight is at the end of the trail where you are dropped off at two beautiful white sand beaches. There we stayed and took a swim in the ocean. The water is warm and not overly salty. The swim felt really good after the long hike. At the beach there are showers to wash the salt water off before you start walking back.
In the park you are going to see a lot of wildlife. Some that we saw were White Faced Monkeys, Sloths, Frogs, Bats and Birds. I got some good pictures of a White Faced Monkey we came across just a foot away.
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| View through telescope |
The park does have an entrance fee but on some Wednesdays the park is free to everyone. Check out their site for prices, directions and free days.
Their site is Manuel Antonio Park .
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