Day 319: Mangroves in the Estuary

This morning, we made a tour of the Tamarindo estuary. The tour started at 6am to ensure the best possible conditions: the weather in the mornings is usually good, even in the rainy season, and the animals are supposed to be just waking up. As it turned out, we had another advantage: we were the only boat making the tour this early, so there was nothing to disturb nature before we came.

Consequently, we saw some pretty amazing sights. Several times, there were crocodiles swimming in front of the boat. It was fun to watch how they dove down every time as soon as they realized that they were not alone anymore.

The morning sun made the mangroves lining the estuary on both sides reflect beautifully in the water.

Bird-wise, we saw parrots, ibises, black-bellied whistling ducks - and a few others that I don't recall the names of. We also saw a group of howler monkeys sleeping in the trees. According to our guide, the monkeys eat leaves of a certain tree that are toxic for them - with the result that the monkeys go to sleep. This somewhat reminded me of what happens to humans when they drink too much alcohol...