Portalón National Wildlife Refuge

In the lowlands along the coast south of Manuel Antonio and north of Dominical the Ríos Naranjo, Savegre and Portalón empty into the Estero Negro and Estero Garita respectively, Between the two estuaries the water spreads into a shallow lake at Laguna Negraforral which is locally known as Estero Rey.

Most of the coast is protected by a patchwork of National Park (Manuel Antonio) and Wildlife Refuge (Portalón) designations. Wildlife feels much less threatened by kayaks gliding silently through the magnificent mangrove forests than humans on foot so it’s easy to approach surprisingly closely to sloths, capuchin monkeys, and dozens of bird species.

The secret back door to Manuel Antonio National Park where you can kayak through the mangroves to a deserted beach

The Río Savegre is a Costa Rican national treasure soon to be designated a new National Park. Starting high in the Talamanca mountains on the famed Cerro de la Muerte (peak of Death) it tumbles over dozens of waterfalls and through amazing rapids before flattening, slowing and emptying into the mangroves.

Getting There

By far our favorite method of transportation to the Portalón refuge is sea kayaks. There’s a put in just above the bridge over the Río Savegre on the Costanera Sur (route 34) highway 19 km south of Quepos (Manuel Antonio) and 24 km north of Dominical. The first thirty minutes in the river are fun little riffles and mini-rapids but there’s no experience necessary.

Many area outfitters and guides offer trips but we recommend making your arrangements through Rafiki Lodge so you can spend a couple of nights in their mountain luxury safari tents and white water raft the upper Savegre before paddling through the mangroves to their beach camp on Playa Matapalo.

Day trips and night tours are available from most lodges and tour desks in Manuel Antonio about 20 minutes away.

solitary white mangrove, "el caballero" — Vines and air roots dangle from the branches of a solitary white mangrove, “el caballero”

Playa Savegre and Manuel Antonio coastline backed by the matapalo mangrove estuary barely visible in the distance from the top of Cerro Duarte above the Savegre River valley

Paddling down the Savegre river towards the mangroves

Red Mangrove Root Crab (Goniopsis cruentata) on an eponymous root.

An adult and juvenile American white ibis (Eudocimus albus)

Kayaks are a great way to explore calm water because you can glide right up on the wildlife…like the little croc on the bank here.

Sunscreen, a good sun hat and mosquito repellent are necessities when kayaking

The channels and lagoons between the mangroves are used by local fishermen and others for transportaion.

Playa Savegre and Matapalo stretch for miles with fresh water on one side (left) and salt on the other (right) before meeting at the opening of the Savegre River Estuary

There’s supposed to be an opening through here somewhere…

You can cruise along in a sea kayak. We covered 6.3 miles (10.1 km) in three hours and at least half of the time we were sitting still. That means we were doing about 4.5 mph when we were moving which is a very fast walk or a slow jog.

The channel got narrower as we went deeper into the mangroves

The roots of the mangroves spread out to improve the tree’s stability in the mud

Timing is everything in the mangroves. The current flows “upstream” when the tide is coming in and turns to flow back to the ocean as the tide goes out. Most of the channels are impassable at dead low tide because of the roots and sediment. Perfect timing is reaching the rivermouth as the tide starts to come in and riding the flow into the narrow channels of the mangroves.

The tide comes rushing into the manrove swamp through channels like this

Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga) perched in the top of a mangrove tree

Playa Savegre stretching towards Manuel Antonio

Kayaking through the mangroves somewhere on the border of Manuel Antonio and Portalon protected areas

If you’ve never heard of a head net you’ve never been to the mangrove swamp when the bugs come out. We’ve paddled around dozens of Costa Rica’s mangrove estuaries and only had to don the protective nets once when the blackflies were so thick you could just close your hand and catch 22.

Loading the boats on the trailer at the end of a beautiful paddle

Headed back to the Rafiki Tent Camp on Playa Matapalo

A cold pipa on the beach at sunset was the perfect ending to the kayak tour of the Savegre Matapalo mangrove estuary

If you haven’t had enough human powered nature adventure by the time you shoot the rapids on the upper and paddle the lagoon on the lower Savegre you could actually trek the length of Playa Matapalo about 15 km crossing the smaller river mouths at Portalón and Hatillo Viejo to reach Hacienda Barú National Wildlife Refuge.