The Manuel Antonio National Park is, quite simply, the most visited tourist attraction in the whole of Costa Rica by quite some distance, with up to a hundred and fifty thousand tourists descending on the park every year, despite (somewhat ironically) actually being the smallest such National Park in the country, covering just four thousand and fourteen acres (just over sixteen kilometers) of land.
Home to numerous endemic species of plant and animal life, Manuel Antonio National Park is famed for its stunning beaches (Manuel Antonio, Espadilla Sur, Teldoro and Playita) and hiking trails. Despite its relatively small stature in comparison to other National Parks, the reason for Manuel Antonio's status as the most visited park in Costa Rica is actually quite simple - it contains more diversity of wildlife within those parameters than any other such institution.
There are a hundred and nine separate species of mammals (including the Brown-throated Three-Toed Sloth, the Black Spiny-Tailed Iguana, Green Iguana, Common Basilisk, White-nosed coati, various snake and bat species, and three of Costa Rica's own four unique species of monkeys- the Mantled Howler, the Central American Squirrel Monkey and the White-Headed Capuchin Monkey) within the park's boundaries, and a quite staggering one hundred and eighty four different species of bird life, including toucans, woodpeckers, tanagers, parakeets, motmots and potoos.
Dolphins and the odd migrating whale's can also be spotted in the Park sometimes, with many activities on offer designed to give tourists the best ways of sampling what the park has to offer, such as hiking, mountain biking, scuba diving, sea kayaking and snorkeling.
