Curu Park, Costa Rica

The Curu Park is a Wildlife refuge, part of the Tempisque Conservation Area, tropical dry forests on the southern Nicoya Peninsula, near Tambor. Although it is a wildlife refuge it is also private property forming part of a ranch of 12 square kilometres. One third of the property is used for cattle breeding and growing crops such as soursop, guava, banana, mango and African oil palm, while the remaining two thirds retains its natural vegetation. The refuge protects the habitat of many types of birds, as well as animals such as white-tailed deer, mantled howler monkeys, Panamanian white-faced capuchin monkeys, coyotes, armadillos and boa constrictors.

Curu contains Costa Rica’s first private National Wildlife Refuge and is an example of a successful sustainable development program. Curu National Wildlife Refuge and Hacienda has managed to produce a profit and local employment, while also preserving its threatened and endangered forested habitats such as mangroves, tropical, moist and dry forests, and coral reefs.

We walked along a well made, but wet, track for about a mile, then branched off onto a really muddy trail through the jungle in order to have a different route back to the beach. In fact we saw little on the muddy return leg, but saw quite lot on the outward track.

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The animals that we saw most of were the howler monkeys, as a family group were installed in a tree just off the track. As with sloths, howler monkeys are difficult to photograph in trees, and hence why the big photo below is not mine!

Howler monkeys are among the largest of the New World monkeys. They are famous for their loud howls, which can travel three miles through dense rain forest. These monkeys are native to South and Central American forests. Threats include human predation, habitat destruction and capture for pets or zoo animals. Fifteen species are recognized.

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On to next port- Tortuga Island, Costa Rica

Silver Explorer Oct 2019