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.
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!
Awesome pictures, Lia! Your written details of your Costa Rico trip are superb. Guess it’s back to reality but I’m sure you have your next adventure in mind. Great seeing you if only for a short time.
xoxo Little P
Thank you LP! Yes, always planning my next adventure! : ) It was soo wonderful to see you too!! xoxo
Hahaha!! those pics are hysterical! My fave is the one where the monkey looked mad that you were taking his picture! My standout memory of seeing a monkey was at the Toledo Zoo when I was about 7 or 8 & there was a chimpanzee lounging & smoking a cigarette! (yeah, people would be appalled these days, but it was pretty damn funny!)
haha yeah they are pretty entertaining little creatures!
a chimpanzee smoking a cigarette?! OMG! that IS appalling!!
It was really something to see I”m sure,I hope that you didn’t let the little guys get your stuff!
haha one little guy stole some tissue paper out of an outer pocket of our backpack, but we snatched it back!
These guys are so cute and hilarious! I can’t stop laughing for some reason! They’re just such unique animals. Did any try to steal your food?? My faves are the close ups of their faces and the ones of the two on a branch where one is laying behind the other. So cute! I’ve never seen a monkey in the wild, just at the zoo. These guys must love all the attention (free food!)
Post more Costa Rica pics! Glad your guide was worthwhile – it does seem extra touristy but you can get so much more out of your visit sometimes.
they didn’t steal any food, but one of the monkeys grabbed some tissue paper out of an outer pocket on our backpack, but we got it back from him! It was hilarious how he did it too– one monkey distracted us by rolling over on its back and sprawling out all cute and innocently and while we all aww’ed and gawked at him another monkey sneaked up from behind and snatched our stuff. haha!
Yes, I’m sure they love all the attention and food!
Later when we were at the beach a raccoon eyed our backpack and started to come over but I threw a towel over it and he backed away. John did see a raccoon go into a lady’s backpack near us on the beach and she was yelling at it and whacking it on the back and it didn’t care haha and just kept doing what it was doing!
Will definitely be posting more Costa Rica pics, stay tuned 🙂
LOL that is SO funny about the lady trying to make the raccoon go away! And how the monkeys teamed up to distract you haha! Animals sure are smart!
Haha I know! I wish I had seen it but I was snoozing! The way John described the scene was hilarious!
haha yep those monkeys are smart little creatures!!
These pictures are awesome. They are so ugly they are cute! lol I’m glad you chose a guide. It makes a big difference in your experience.
“so ugly they are cute” HAHA! yeah! I never really thought monkeys were cute until I saw these guys! seeing them interact and all their mannerisms and all the little squeaky noises they made (haha) were just freaking adorable!!
I’m glad we got a guide too! it definitely added to our experience. worth it!