What has been written about the Manuel Antonio National Park …. 

This celebrated park is blessed with beautiful lagoons, palm fringed beaches, a vast array of animals and lush green forests. Some of the many creatures that call Manuel Antonio home include sloths, pelicans, white-faced monkeys, anteaters and huge iguanas. It is also famous for its beaches - although almost deserted on weekdays, keep a sharp eye on your belongings, as the monkeys are seasoned thieves!

 As for what Mr Wikipedia has to say …

Manuel Antonio National Park, in Spanish the Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio, is a small National Park in the Central Pacific Conservation Area located on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, just south of the city of Quepos, Puntarenas, and 132 km / 82 mi from the national capital of San José. Established in 1972 with an area enumerating 4,014 acres /16.24 km2 (the smallest of any Costa Rican national park), it is the destination of as many as 150,000 visitors annually and well known for its beautiful beaches and hiking trails. In 2011, Manuel Antonio was listed by Forbes among the world's 12 most beautiful national parks.

Features of the park

This park has one of the most impressive landscapes of the world and has several coves with many white sand beaches and lush foliage amidst great mountains and forests that reach the beaches. Additionally, it is located in the tropical forest.It has a large land and marine biodiversity with beautiful coral reefs.
 
For its excellent climate and scenic beauty is visited by large number of national and international tourism, for which it is currently developing an adequate infrastructure, with emphasis on harmony with nature, of quality but mimicked this to reduce the visual impact and under strict environmental protection, works designed by renowned architects bioclimatic Ibo Bonilla and Rafael Víquez, among which are the Visitor Centre, the Casa de Guardaparques, Lookouts and supporting infrastructure and Trails Master Plan that includes trails: Punta Catedral, Waterfall, Lookout, Beach Espadilla, Beach Manuel Antonio, Congos, Beaches Gemelas, Port Escondido, Manglar y trail Perezosos, with universal accessibility facilities, rest areas, scenic overlooks and scientific interpretation. Thanks Mr Wikipedia.

The Manuel Antonio National Park is one of the most popular parks in the country. This meant that for one to fully enjoy the park and animals, one had to be at the gates at 7 am to be first in. Being a Saturday it will get busy with the locals.

We were really fortunate to have Efrain Vargas as our guide He is the son of the owner of the area the park is now located in and also former National Park Ranger who proudly showed us where his house once stood, now a toilet block!!!, plus the plaque down the beach to commemorate his dad who was tragically killed at a young age of 36 when a tree branch fell on him. Efrain was only 11 years old. Efrain fondly remembers his childhood growing up in the park, swimming down the beach and the walk out to the road head to go to school.