White-faced monkey at Manuel Antonio National Park Costa Rica

Watch your pockets, watch your backpacks.  These white-faced monkeys are on a mission….

 

Manuel Antonio is one of the most popular stops on what I would call the basic Costa Rican tourist trail.

Sure, I could have let this deter me (as I’m all for going off the beaten path), but as it was my first trip to the country I felt it almost obligatory to visit this world-renowned destination.  And I’m so glad I did.  Like other major tourist hubs, it’s popular for good reason.

We got to the park early, just after 7am when it opened, because I’d read that if you want to see the most wildlife, get there early.

Now I’m not a morning person at all, but the chance of seeing a sloth, monkey, or other creature in its natural habitat was plenty of motivation.  It was also helpful that the lodging we stayed at was literally a one minute walk from the entrance.

We bought our tickets and were about to head inside when I became distracted by the guides that roamed around us getting their groups ready for a guided walk, telescopes in hand.

“Do you think we need a guide?” I asked my boyfriend.

Up until that moment I didn’t think we needed one.  I had read that the wildlife was so plentiful inside this national park that hiring a guide wasn’t really necessary.

Perhaps it was FOMO (fear of missing out) that lead me to a last second brash decision of getting out of line and turning around to go back and hire a guide– but regardless of the reason, having a guide definitely added depth and a broader perspective to our experience there in the jungle.

Yes, we would have seen these monkeys without a guide.  Most definitely.  But, what the guide did do for us was show us the less observed, quieter, more secretive animals that we never would have seen by ourselves even had we spent hours scouring the lush foliage with our binoculars.

“Here, I see something,” he’d say, and point his telescope way high up in a tree.

I was always excited to look though to see what it was next.

A dragonfly.  A dragonfly?!! How in the world did he see that, waaaaay up there?

A bat.  Sleeping beneath big jungle leaves.

A bird that blended into the ground like a snake, while she laid on her eggs.

And a sloth.  A SLOTH! Just a big fur ball up in the trees, totally silent and still.

Having the trained eye of the guide with us reminded me of the immense beauty of being in tune with your surroundings and nature.

Sure we weren’t seeing anything absolutely crazy I hadn’t seen before (besides the sloths : ), BUT the fact that we were so aware of the living things around us, even the tiniest of insects way up in the trees, was pretty magical.

When we came towards the end of our walk the sounds of monkeys carried through the trees.

“You want to see White-faced monkeys?” he asked us.

Of course we did!

They glided through the trees, leaping from branch to branch, calling to each other along the way.

I was enamored.

But our guide wasn’t impressed.

“Oh don’t worry about them,” he basically told us.  “You’ll see lots of those guys down at the beach later.  Around lunchtime they all find their way down there.  To steal the food from the people.”

“Eating a banana in front of a monkey is like eating candy in front of a child,” we overheard another guide say.

Turns out these guys were most well known for their sneaky beach side robberies.

“Watch your backpack” was a praise we’d already heard a lot.  Apparently, the monkeys (and raccoons) were pretty adept little thieves.

Our time with the guide was just an hour, so we had the rest of the morning to explore and hike on our own before hitting the famed white sand beach.

Passing by the beach on the way to a trail head, already there were monkeys all around us, running through the trees and foliage beside us as we traversed the path.

Definitely not camera shy, I could have spent hours following them with my lens.  Watching their little faces, behavior and antics was by far the top highlight of my first trip to Costa Rica.

 

monkey in a tree, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

climbing monkey, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

baby monkey, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

close up face of a monkey, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

monkey sticking out tongue, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

monkey sitting in a tree, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

monkey on the lookout, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

monkey hugging tree, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

monkey itching, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

monkey in palm tree, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

monkeys grooming each other, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

monkeys grooming each other, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

monkey friends, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

monkeys climbing over tree, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

monkey, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

monkey sitting in palm tree, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

shiny monkey, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

monkey menagerie, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

the boss monkey getting groomed, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

the boss monkey getting groomed, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

monkey in jungle, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

balancing monkey, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

relaxing monkey, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

monkey holding up his hands, Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

 


Leave a comment and tell me: Have you ever seen a monkey in the wild? If so, where? I’d love to hear about it!

 

Stella Deer is currently on hiatus. Email lia@stelladeer.com to place an order! Dismiss