This is the index of our Manuel Antonio wildlife sighting reports, organised by month. Each report says which species the park is producing, the hour and the trail where each one turns up, the measured rainfall for that month with its source named, the Tuesdays the park is closed, and what a Swarovski ATX spotting scope changes. They are season reports written from what we have published about the park — not logs of counted animals, and never a promise that you will see a particular species. This is wild nature.

Picking a date? Book a December Manuel Antonio tour or write to us on WhatsApp at +506 8514 1361 — a person answers, not a bot. Group tour from $30 per person.

Monthly sighting reports

One report per month, each one written around the measured climate of that month and the hours the animals actually work.

Weekly sighting reports

Shorter reports written inside a single week, for travellers whose date is already fixed.

Which species appear in every report

The same cast turns up month after month, which is why the reports are organised by hour and trail rather than by species. The animals you are most likely to see on a Manuel Antonio morning are white-faced capuchin monkeys, the endemic Central American squirrel monkey, mantled howler monkeys, the brown-throated three-toed sloth, green iguanas, white-nosed coatis, northern raccoons, halloween crabs, and yellow-throated toucans or collared aracaris overhead. Scarlet macaws and the eyelash viper are luck in every month. Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth is mostly nocturnal, so a daytime sighting is a bonus.

What changes between months is not the species list, it is the light and the timing. In October there are 5.2 hours of sunshine a day and the green iguana — which needs sun on its back — is hard; in December there are 8.3 and it is easy. The full two-month view of the high season is in Manuel Antonio wildlife in December and January.

The one thing every report repeats: the hour beats the month

Mammals and birds feed early, rest through the heat, and become active again after the park has already closed at 3:00 p.m. — so the hour you walk decides more than the month you book. That is why every Wakoo tour starts at 7:00 a.m., and why a tour at 11:00 a.m. is a different product at the same price. The second constant is the Swarovski ATX spotting scope: it is what lets a whole group see the same sloth 30 metres up instead of being told it is there.

Where the climate numbers come from

Every rainfall, temperature and sunshine figure in these reports comes from the same source, named on each page: weather-and-climate.com, Manuel Antonio National Park page, data from the Quepos station 7 km from the park — Foreca / Copernicus C3S climate averages 1991–2020, read on 25 September 2026. Two widely cited sources for Manuel Antonio disagree by roughly a factor of two on annual rainfall, so we treat the millimetre figures as an order of magnitude and the rainy-day count as the useful number. The full month-by-month table and the explanation of that disagreement is on the Manuel Antonio National Park weather page.

Book the guide, then buy the ticket

The order matters, because the two things run out at different times. Our tours are $30 per person for the group tour, $65 per person for the Premium tour — which is shared, not private — $69 for the Classic Private and $100 for the VIP Private. The SINAC park entrance fee is separate, sold on a rolling two-month window, and the park caps daily entries. Book the guide first, then buy the SINAC ticket the day it opens for your date. Everything each option includes is on the Manuel Antonio National Park guided tour page, and the tour-by-tour view is in the Manuel Antonio wildlife tour guide.