All 4 in 3 days here: ~60%
Marino Ballena National Park
🇨🇷 Costa Rica
South Pacific, Costa Rica 999 spp. recorded
Marino Ballena is Costa Rica's first marine national park, famous for its whale tail-shaped sandbar (tombolo) visible at low tide and two annual humpback whale migration seasons. The park protects 5,375 hectares of marine habitat along 15 km of coastline, including coral reefs, mangroves, and nesting beaches for hawksbill and olive ridley sea turtles.
9.123° N 83.750° W
🦜 Nature
505 Species sighted
55,748 Verified sightings From 2019 to 2026
May Best month
⭐ Iconic Species
📊 Most Spotted
⭐ Iconic Species
📊 Most Spotted
⭐ Iconic Species
📊 Most Spotted
⭐ Iconic Species
📊 Most Spotted
📊 Most Spotted
📊 Most Spotted
🌙 Most active after dark
+ 588 more species with insufficient data
Challenges you can complete here
All 5 in 3 days here: ~60%
All 2 in 3 days here: ~30%
All 4 in 3 days here: ~20%
Recent sightings in Marino Ballena National Park
LIVEiNaturalistSighting Calendar
How many species you'd see in a day
40Jan
40Feb
41Mar
44Apr
49May
43Jun
38Jul
36Aug
46Sep
45Oct
44Nov
41Dec
Sighting Zones
Warmer areas are where all species together are recorded most often.
-
Playa Uvita
Daily sight. prob.vs avg
Black Spiny-tailed Iguana~90%+20%
Common Basilisk~70%+20%
Mantled Howler Monkey~70%+20%
Common Caiman~70%+30%
Central American White-faced Capuchin~70%+20%
Green Iguana~70%+20%
Hoffmann's Two-toed Sloth~60%+30%
Great Kiskadee~60%-20%
Tropical Kingbird~60%-10%
Black Vulture~50%-20%
Great-tailed Grackle~50%≈
Scarlet Macaw~50%-10%
-
La Cusinga Lodge (Uvita)
Daily sight. prob.vs avg- Common Basilisk~80%+30%
White-throated Gecko~80%+30%- Mantled Howler Monkey~70%+20%
- Central American White-faced Capuchin~60%+20%
Border Anole~60%+20%
Many-scaled Anole~60%+40%
Mourning Gecko~60%+20%
Scarlet-rumped Tanager~60%-10%
Central American Agouti~50%+30%
Masked Tree Frog~40%+10%- Black Vulture~40%-20%
Black-mandibled Toucan~40%-10%
-
Playa Ballena
Daily sight. prob.vs avg- Black Spiny-tailed Iguana~80%+10%
- Black-mandibled Toucan~70%+20%
- Central American White-faced Capuchin~60%+20%
- Scarlet-rumped Tanager~60%-10%
- Central American Agouti~50%+30%
Giant Marine Toad~50%+20%- Masked Tree Frog~50%+20%
- Mourning Gecko~50%+20%
- Black Vulture~50%-20%
- Great Kiskadee~50%-30%
- Border Anole~50%+10%
Rosenberg's Gladiator Frog~50%+10%
-
9.106° N, 83.726° W
Daily sight. prob.vs avg
Humpback Whale~80%+40%- White-throated Gecko~70%+30%
- Common Basilisk~60%+10%
- Mantled Howler Monkey~60%+10%
- Border Anole~60%+20%
- Mourning Gecko~60%+20%
- Central American Agouti~50%+30%
Magnificent Frigatebird~50%+10%- Central American White-faced Capuchin~50%+10%
- Black-mandibled Toucan~40%≈
- Black Vulture~40%-20%
Common House Gecko~40%+20%
🏕️ Experience
Essentials
Entrance
Paid
Tourism
Medium
Typical stay
1–2
daysTrails
Easy
World Heritage
No
Climate
Temp °C Rain mm
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
0.0 Good
Wallace's Line Score
How good is this park for seeing wildlife? 🦜
Biodiversity
Very goodHow rich is the wildlife?
4.2
Species by taxon
🦅 Birds 611
🐒 Mammals 203
🦎 Reptiles 121
🐸 Amphibians 64
999 Total Species
828 Global average across 316 parks
38 Threatened 65 Endemic
🔭
Sighting
Very goodHow likely to see animals?
3.4
🎯
Top-12 Avg Probability
60% 📊
Coverage (234 species at ≥5% of 999 in the inventory)
23% 🔀
Taxon variety in top 12 (9 bird, 2 reptile, 1 mammal)
54% 🔭
Species per 10 outings (distinct species a visitor would meet over 10 outings — effort held equal across parks)
132 🌟
Iconic-group species (≥15%) (every species from the 19 iconic groups — monkeys, cats, toucans, macaws, sloths, crocodilians… — not just the 4 highlighted above)
15 ⭐
High-prob species (>40%)
24 🏕️
Experience
Very goodHow easy and pleasant is the visit?
3.6
Climate Mixed Medium
Entrance Paid Low
Tourism High Low
Trails Easy High
World Heritage No —
What visitors say
So much so that when we were still driving to our Air BnB, in our rented Suzuki SUV, she knew to pull over before crossing Crocodile Bridge so we could see all the crocs in the water below.
We had encountered multiple mother-baby whales during our whale watching tour from Uvita.
We headed out at speed and very quickly came across several more boats, and despite all the cautioning words from the guide about "you might not see anything" we came across two Humpback Whale adults, a male and a female, plus a young calf.
It’s fun to drive through the countryside, scanning the trees for monkeys and sloths—creatures we’ve spotted often and almost everywhere.
Before you go
What animals can you see in Marino Ballena National Park?
999 species
Marino Ballena National Park has 999 recorded vertebrate species. The ones wildlife watchers report most often on a given day are Great Kiskadee (about 80%), Tropical Kingbird (about 70%), Scarlet-rumped Tanager (about 70%), Black Vulture (about 70%) and Black Spiny-tailed Iguana (about 70%). Among mammals, the most-seen is Mantled Howler Monkey (about 50%); among amphibians, Rosenberg's Gladiator Frog (about 40%).
When is the best time to visit Marino Ballena National Park for wildlife?
June
In that month the park's 12 most-seen species average about 70% on a given day, against about 50% in January–February and October.
Can you see a Humpback Whale in Marino Ballena National Park?
Yes
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Humpback Whale sighting in Marino Ballena National Park on a given day, based on 56 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. The best time is September (about 80%).
Can you see a Magnificent Frigatebird in Marino Ballena National Park?
Yes
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Magnificent Frigatebird sighting in Marino Ballena National Park on a given day, based on 885 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. The best time is January, March–April and November (about 50%).
Can you see a Scarlet Macaw in Marino Ballena National Park?
Yes
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Scarlet Macaw sighting in Marino Ballena National Park on a given day, based on 1,316 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. The best time is May, September and November–December (about 70%).
Can you see a Green Iguana in Marino Ballena National Park?
Yes
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Green Iguana sighting in Marino Ballena National Park on a given day, based on 49 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. The best time is January, March–April and September (about 50%).
Where in Marino Ballena National Park is wildlife easiest to see?
Around Playa Uvita
The richest sighting zone is around Playa Uvita, followed by La Cusinga Lodge (Uvita) and Playa Ballena, ranked by how many of the park's headline animals visitors can expect to see in each. See the zones on the map.
Is Marino Ballena National Park good for wildlife watching?
3.6 out of 5
On the Wallace's Line Score, Marino Ballena National Park rates 3.6/5: 161st of 316 parks worldwide and 21st in Central America. 40 of its species are reported by about 40% or more of wildlife watchers on a given day.
