Parador Resort, Quepos - Manuel Antonio National Park
Parador Resort / Manuel Antonio National Park
Parador Resort / Manuel Antonio National Park
The Parador Resort
& Spa spreads out across multiple levels on a hilltop with stunning views of the Pacific ocean and Manuel Antonio bay. Its 5* luxury is very different to most of Costa Rica but its location a few miles from Manuel Antonio National Park, the town of Quepos with its marina, and other exciting habitats like Playa del Rey wetlands, Damas Island mangroves, and Esquipulas cloud forest make it the perfect base for wildlife watchers.
Manuel Antonio park is horribly busy and has to be managed carefully by rangers who limit the number of people allowed in at any one time, and all outside food/drink is banned to safeguard the wildlife. It's definitely worth the clamour though, as there is a huge number of species seen easily from the raised decked trails including birds, monkeys, reptiles, amphibians and insects. The sloths are superb!
I met a couple of wonderfully knowledgeable guides, especially Geiner Mena who took me to some of his favourite nature haunts where we didn't see a soul apart from the odd farmer. Picking me up at 5am, we'd do five hours birding and I'd be back in time for a proper breakfast in the hotel. I've split this page up into different galleries for the locations we visited.
I spent an afternoon out on a catamaran with Planet Dolphin tours, a very professional outfit who provide you with drinks and a meal as well as some snorkelling off the boat. We saw Booby birds and a very friendly dolphin pod.
