Manuel Antonio Night Jungle Tour: Is It Worth It?

Costa Rica’s jungles appear alive following sunset with the seems of hundreds of species of animals, many of which are nearly difficult to see throughout the daytime. All over the country, a lot of parks give night excursions so that readers can witness the magic of looking at so quite a few creatures in their pure habitat.

During my take a look at to Manuel Antonio Countrywide Park, I decided to ebook these a tour to see what all the buzz was about. Retain looking through to locate out no matter if or not it was really worth it:

What You will See and Do

1st point first: Manuel Antonio Nationwide Park is not open to the community (or tours) at evening. Which is why this night time tour will take area on personal residence, Rainmaker Conservation Park. Even while quite a few folks are bummed to know that it doesn’t basically go as a result of Manuel Antonio, I considered it was entirely wonderful. Rainmaker is about an hour away and does not have the exact assortment of animals, but there was even now loads to see. Let us get into what you can hope:

Typically small critters

Rainmaker Conservation Park specializes in preserving the organic habitat of a wide variety of frogs, snakes, bugs, and arachnids. While the night time tour once in a while witnesses a mammal or two, these sightings are rare. What you can expect is to see a whole host of tree frog species, plus some toads, snakes, spiders, and other bugs. The guidebook is a licensed naturalist, with a particular eye for recognizing them. It was wonderful how easily he could locate such tiny creatures, most of which I most likely wouldn’t have been ready to uncover on my have.

The tour has two elements: very first, we walked as a result of the dense jungle, then we did a lap all around the edge of a lagoon, which was appealing for the reason that of the abundance of toads both of those in the h2o and hopping all around in the grass. Some of them ended up even larger than my foot, so I appreciated them from afar.

Sights & sounds of a nocturnal jungle

Even though I hadn’t found Rainmaker through the daytime, I could envision how distinctive the jungle would be from night time to day. Due to the fact it is wholly dim, it feels like the seems of the trickling river, boisterous waterfalls, and a variety of animals and insects are a hundred situations louder and extra vivid. The experience was contrary to any other I’d experienced right before and was a handle for my senses from begin to finish.

The walk via the jungle can take about 2-2.5 hrs, but the time went by in a flash simply because of how energetic it was. It seemed like there was some thing to search at all-around each and every corner, and the information did a fantastic work of pointing out vegetation and animals to the group.

Conventional Costa Rican delicacies following the hike

I was pleasantly astonished at how scrumptious and filling the evening meal was immediately after the hike. I did not know what to assume, but following we wrapped up our trek, there were total plates of rice, beans, and a protein ready for us. It was an enough show of Costa Rican hospitality and manufactured for a sweet conclusion to the expertise, as we could continue to listen to the appears of the jungle all all over us as we ate.

Versions of Manuel Antonio Night Excursions

I did this tour by way of Jade Tours Costa Rica, which is $59 and contains transportation, a naturalist guidebook, the park entrance payment, and supper. Thinking of what it features, I considered it was entirely worthy of it.

There is a different night time tour, which goes to a various park, named Biophilia. It is the similar value as the one I did but doesn’t incorporate supper. This a person looks like it has the identical wildlife, but the hike is shorter, as the entire tour is two several hours.

A different corporation, Manuel Antonio Evening Tours, has three alternatives: a Manuel Antonio Night Tour (just outdoors the nationwide park), a Mangrove Night time Tour, and a Rainmaker Night time Tour (which seems to be similar to the 1 I did). The mangrove tour is by boat and looks like the most interesting of the 3.

How to Prepare

If you get effortlessly frightened by creepy crawlies, the Manuel Antonio night time jungle tour could possibly not be a good possibility for you. I really don’t get quickly freaked out by bugs, snakes, or spiders, so it was a blast for me. Nevertheless, I can think about that it could be a frightening expertise for individuals who do not notably love the notion of remaining up close and individual with them.

To get ready, I advocate sporting very long trousers or leggings. The tour business will also notify you to don close-toed shoes and to deliver bug spray. Provide h2o with you as nicely, along with a light rain jacket, just in circumstance it gets chilly or rains, which can occur any time of 12 months in Costa Rica.

Very best Time to Go

I went to Manuel Antonio for the duration of the wet period in July and experienced a excellent time on this tour. It rained a minimal bit, but with a jacket, I was geared up and didn’t thoughts. The finest time to go is in the course of the dry period, nevertheless, from December to April, as there’s a higher probability you’ll see some nocturnal mammals and birds.

Whilst most locations that I went to in Costa Rica all through the wet year weren’t as buggy as I imagined they’d be, Rainmaker was an exception. There had been fairly a whole lot of mosquitos, so retain that in mind if you will be accomplishing the tour among May well and November.

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So, was the Manuel Antonio night time jungle tour worth it? Completely. This tour was 1 of the most effective that I went on in Costa Rica. It felt adventurous, while also being absolutely harmless, which is great if you want to see what the jungle is like at evening. (In situation you missed it, here’s the backlink to e-book.)

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