La Paz Waterfall Gardens and Animal Sanctuary
Aubrey Henning
After visiting the beautiful and informational Poas Volcano National Park, we ventured to La Paz Waterfall Gardens where I had the pleasure of touring their animal sanctuary. We started with amazing views of the mountains that are at every turn in Costa Rica. The animal sanctuary does not take their animalsfrom their natural habitat. They were found and confiscated from where they were being held, illegally. There are various reasons, specific to each animal, that keeps them from being released into the wild as they would not survive.
As we started down the paved hillside, there was an entrance to the bird aviary. First a door that said, “Aviario”, then chains that are too heavy for any bird to get through, but easy for our group to maneuver through. Although I will admit that I got in in the face a time or two. We had the pleasure of seeing rescued birds such as Toucans, Scarlet Macaws, Aracaris and other species.
After seeing these tropical birds, we shuffled downward to the sloth habitat and butterfly garden. A male two-toed sloth was sleepily resting against the edge of his home, just at arm’s length, but not an ounce of fear within him. I nicknamed him Jorge Mario after our amazing tour guide. At the butterfly garden, Marc Mobley and I hard butterflied land on us! I was in heaven. It was any botanist’s dream, as there were many species of beautiful ferns and flowers.
Towards the end of the walk, we were able to see the different stages of butterflies and their change from a caterpillar, into a chrysalis (often confused with a cocoon, but that is for moths), and then into a stunning, fluttery, and angelic butterfly. There was a section of the garden that had chrysalis’ full of butterflies waiting to hatch.
Before having an A-MA-ZING buffet style lunch, we were able to see the monkey habitat with Capuchin (white-faced) Monkeys and Black-Handed Spider Monkeys. We had seen some earlier in the week on the side of the road and heard them at all hours of the night during our stay at Manuel Antonio National Park hotel, San Bada. It was nice being able to see a closer look of this Monkeys without fearing they might steal my food and learning more about their eating habits and mannerisms.
Finally, before seeing the La Paz waterfall, after lunch, and while exiting the animal sanctuary, we saw two Ox on a Carreta (Costa Rican Ox cart) and we were able to ride in one. The Carreta’s are beautifully painted with indigenous designs and bright colors. They were used to transport coffee, the main export of Costa Rica.
The animal sanctuary was a fun and unique experience that allowed me to gain more information on the wildlife that we had seen in the wild prior to this part of the trip. I think having this tour towards the end of our stay helped me relate to what I was looking at and made learning about this animal more intriguing and relatable. The La Paz Waterfall Garden and Animal Sanctuary is a lovely place and a must-do for anyone going to Costa Rica. Not just for their scrumptious lunch buffet, but to see how deeply wildlife is cared for.
