If you have visited the mangroves of Damas Island, you surely know that the trees there can reach up to 100 feet or that this place is home to hundreds of birds, monkeys, raccoons and crocodiles. You might also know, that in the mangrove's channels, you can breathe a tranquility that is elsewhere hard to find, a feeling that you can only get in places where man has not yet laid his destructive hand.
Just over ten years ago, Damas Island was a paradise for wealthy foreigners. A little airport in the middle of the estuary, allowed millionaires to visit their fancy beachfront houses. But this situation drastically changed in 1997, some would say, perhaps for the better.
Damas Island is not precisely an island, rather a sand bar located in a giant estuary. Paquita River, on it's way to the sea, creates a labyrinth of channels where wild life still rules. An estuary is a very delicate ecosystem, and currents can change its shape in a unpredictable way. In 1997, during the rainy season, the mouth of Paquita River changed its course, and created a new opening to the sea. These merciless floods took along with them giant houses, pools and all. To this day the airport remains closed, and the mansions that survived the floods, stand abandoned. Millions of dolars were lost in the ocean. Despite this event, the local people of Damas Island still live there. This includes the original 20 families and the beautiful women of the Island who initially gave Isla Damas its name. Due to the floods, many people lost valuable jobs, such as working at the mansions as maids or gardeners. Yet, they still do what they have always done best: fishing. Furthermore, ecotourism gives them a new work alternative that is also enviromentally-friendly.
Nowadays, tourists get the privilege of gliding through the mangrove's pristine and ancient channels, witnessing a scenario that once was only for the eyes of the local fishermen. On a boat trip though Damas Island, you will see firsthand a unique ecosystem and its inhabitants. In this particular mangrove, the most abundant type of tree is the white mangrove, or Laguncularia racemosa. The white mangrove is the tallest of all mangrove trees and produces a root system that resembles giant spiders rising from the brackish waters with thick and numerous legs.
Many species of mammals can often be seen here, like the tamandua, the pigmy anteater, bats, raccoons, river otters and especially the whiteface monkeys that regularly can be seen leaping from tree to tree. The mangrove boas, caimans and crocodiles are the major predators in the area. And, much to the delight of birdwatchers: herons, king fishers, cormorants and many types of hawks, including the osprey, can often be found fishing and flying about. The most emblematic for the bird entusiasts is the "mangrove hummingbird" or Amazilia boucardi, a species endemic to the Pacific-side of Costa Rica. Quepos is an area full of wonders, its world famous Manuel Antonio National Park has gifted many tourists with the best animal sightings of their lives, Damas Island is another jewel of the region that will give you a different way to explore the wild.
By: Jose Pablo Fdez, naturalist guide
Etiquetas: boat, damas, kayac, mangroves, monkeys
The Grupo Manuel Antonio in collaboration with local business, ICT, CANATUR and other national organizations of tourism, organized the international travel fair Expo Manuel Antonio 2008 were Arenas Del Mar Beach & Nature Resort participated on October 24th and 25th.
