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Sea Turtle Conservation Project and Marine Plastic Project

5.0
(24 reviews)24

The experience

Help us protect and study the sea turtles on our nesting beaches as we conduct morning census and night patrols! On some of the busiest beaches in the region, you will have the chance to get up close to nesting turtles and be there when the babies emerge from the nest.

You will also get involved in our sustainability projects by helping in our garden and supporting our plastic up-cycling project, turning plastic in to new products.

What you offer

30 hours of help per week

Animal Care: Help look after and take care of animals.

Social Work: Help with volunteer work in local projects and communities.

Gardening: Help grow plants and cultivate gardens

Additional fee required

Amount: US$ 290 Per week

Fee pays for: Materials for volunteer activities and Donation to project

Description: This fee covers your food and accommodation while on the project, as well as training and support with the work we do on the beaches.

What you get

1 day off per week

Shared Dorm: You will have a bed in a shared room, which means you will share the same room with other travelers.

Team Dorm: You will have a bed in a shared room, which means you will share the same room with other people.

Breakfast: You are entitled to a free breakfast, every day of your stay.

Lunch: You are entitled to a free lunch, every day of your stay.

Dinner: You are entitled to a free dinner, every day of your stay.

Discounts on Tours: Get discounts for tours and excursions around town.

Use our equipped kitchen: Feel free to use our kitchen and make your own delicious food.

Certificate: Get a certificate of completion after you finish your experience.

Basic Internet Access: Basic speed internet for you to work remotely

Requirements

Intermediate Spanish or Intermediate English

Over 18 years old

Welcomes solo volunteers, couples, and partners of volunteers

What's not included

Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa

Program Details

Our program is in the incredibly bio-diverse Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica's most rich get away, hosting 2.5% of the worlds biodiversity. Our jungle camp is the base of our conservation and community work. Our focus is on the two species of turtle we have nesting on our beaches, collecting data all year round and directly protecting nests on the beach.

We also strive to be as sustainable as possible with our garden and our plastic up-cycling work. Our goal is to have the greatest positive impact on our area as possible. This would not be possible without integrating our work within the community, we strive to offer opportunities to and empower our community with everything we do.

Activities & Shift

You will be able to join our team as we patrol the beaches to record data on our turtle populations. Morning census involves walking along the beaches as the sun rises, recording tracks from the night before. In the night we patrol the beaches in search of nesting mother turtles, allowing us to record biological data from the mothers!

You will learn all about turtle biology and conservation through workshops and being directly part of our research. You will join our nests exhumations, looking inside hatched nests to determine the success of it, a great chance to see any babies that need a helping hand!

Our project doesn't stop with turtles, we strive to be a leader in sustainability. We try and grow as much of our food as possible with our garden and fruit trees on our land. Volunteers will help maintain the garden and create new products out of recycled plastic found on the beach.

Rules

Sea turtle monitoring can be quite physically demanding (lots of walking on soft sand), and in order for us to be able to collect the best data possible we are also mainly working during early mornings and late nights. This is awesome though, as the night sky is like no other, and we can never get tired of sunrises over pristine beaches...

We expect volunteers to support on the beaches as much as possible, and collaborate in other environmental activities that we may be conducting during the day. This is not a vacation location, it's a conservation station!!

We are also a POSITIVE VIBES ORGANIZATION :D which means that we expect everyone to bring the best version of themselves, and treat everyone on the project and in the community with love and respect.