Company : Oyster Worldwide
Location : Costa Rica, Central America
Duration: 1 week to 3 months
Approx Costs: 750 to 3000+ £ Pound (UK)
Volunteer in wild coastal areas of Costa Rica with a local charity, working with adult and baby turtles striving to protect the species from extinction.
You will be working with a Costa Rican non-profit marine and research organisation in small village communities, helping to protect nesting turtles and their eggs, and ensuring that the baby turtles make it safely to the sea.
Costa Rica is home to stretches of lush turtle nesting beaches all along its coastline. Due to natural predation from animals and severe human interference such as turtle egg poaching, industrial fishing and selling turtle shell products, all turtle species from the Pacific Coast are, to some degree, in danger of becoming extinct.
As a volunteer, you will help with nightly beach patrols to monitor nesting mother turtles. This involves collecting data on the turtles, collecting their eggs and monitoring the beachside hatchery. During the day, there may be tasks such as data uploading, hatchery work and beach clean ups. In the baby turtle season, from September - December, you will also be releasing baby turtles back to the sea.
The turtle hatching season is from July - December
I had an absolutely amazing time. I’d definitely look into doing something like this again in the future! It was hard sometimes – not having the luxuries we’re so use to at home (like AC or hot water), but nonetheless, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. I knew what I was getting myself into, thanks to all of Oyster’s information and packages, so I wasn’t expecting anything more or less than we got. As for the turtles, I will miss them as well! Thank you so much for all your help. Without it, we wouldn’t have been so prepared going into it.
We loved the beach, the village and the experience of searching for turtles and collecting eggs. Meeting local people and those working on the project was great. My family loved the opportunity to be in a remote, tropical place as well as learning more about the animals and environment. The amount of 'work' was just right for us as a whole.
Make sure you find out as much as possible about the living conditions, weather (temperature, humidity) etc so you know what to expect, and consider further travel in Costa Rica after the project.
Personally, my husband found the humidity overwhelming at times and the fans at the house were just about enough to keep cool enough to sleep. I can imagine some families needing more warning about this as it was more challenging than expected. Similarly, some families may struggle with the food offered (we didn't) but it might be useful to emphasise what to expect in that respect. Thanks again.
This trip was excellent, it far exceeded my expectations. It was a tropical paradise. My highlights were the waterfall, lagoon and midnight sky over the Pacific. My advice is to whistle while you work and sing while you hike the jungle. Thanks for a great adventure!
