At the mouth of every river on this coast is a tangle of trees standing in salt water on arched red roots, like a forest on tiptoe. Walk in at low tide and the mud is alive with crabs, the roots are crusted with oysters, and the water beneath is full of small fish.
Where you’ll see it
Every estuary and river mouth: Tamarindo and the Las Baulas estuary, the Tempisque, the mangroves behind Playa Grande. Boat and kayak tours through them are some of the best wildlife watching here.
What to know
The red mangrove tolerates salt by filtering it at the roots and excreting it through the leaves. The seeds sprout on the parent tree into long green pencils that drop, float, and root wherever they land. The root maze is the nursery for the fish you eat and the crabs the birds eat, and the whole coastal ecosystem hangs off it. Mangroves are protected by law in Costa Rica. The caimans and crocodiles in the same water are the reason to kayak rather than wade.
