Wildlife
Night Wildlife Walk
Guided night walk just outside Manuel Antonio park. Sloths, snakes, frogs, and nocturnal beauty.
The forest does not go to sleep.
Almost everybody books the national park in the morning and treats the wildlife as done. It is closer to a shift change. The animals people come here to see in daylight are a fraction of what is actually out there, and the rest of it comes out once the light goes.
This is a walk rather than a boat trip, on trails just outside the park, and it is genuinely easy going. Two and a half hours at a slow pace, because the pace IS the tour: the guide walks a few steps, stops, and puts a torch on something you had walked straight past.
The pace is the tour. You walk three steps and then you stop and look.
More about this tour
What turns up is a different cast entirely. Sloths, snakes and frogs are what this walk is for, and the photographs on this page were taken on it: an owl looking straight back down the beam, a snake on the floor with a crab, a hummingbird asleep on its nest.
Torches are provided. Long sleeves, long trousers and closed shoes are the sensible answer to everything else.
What might you see out there?
Your naturalist knows where they hide, when they move, and how to find them.
If you are lucky Wildlife sightings are nature, never a guarantee. Your guide knows where to look.
Here's how the 2.5 hours unfold.
Every step is planned so you can focus on the experience, not the logistics.
Picked up at the hotel.
Collected from the lobby as the light starts to go. It is a short run to the trailhead.
Onto the trail.
Torches handed out and a naturalist guide takes the front. The walking is easy and flat enough for most people.
Slowly, and stopping often.
This is the whole tour: a few steps, a stop, a beam on something in the leaves. Bring patience and a camera that copes with low light; a phone mostly will not.
Back at the hotel.
Dropped at the lobby in good time for dinner. The kitchen at Coconuts by The Falls runs to nine.
Everything that's included, and everything to bring.
What is included
- Hotel pickup
- Naturalist guide
- Flashlights provided
What to bring
- Long sleeves and pants
- Bug spray
- Closed shoes
Photographs from this trip
Real photos from this tour. Click any image to open the gallery.
The local shortcut.
A tour most people miss
Most people book the park in the morning and stop there. This is the other half of it.
Same rate, no markup
You pay the operator rate. We are paid by running the hotel, not by marking up the tour.
Door to door pickup
Collected at the lobby and dropped back the same way, which matters rather more when it is dark.
Dinner waiting
You are back around eight and our kitchen runs to nine. Say the word and there will be a table.
Before you book, a few answers
Let us get you out there.
Reserve your spot, or message the concierge team with questions.