Vacancy: Costa Rica: Rainforest + Beaches - Turtles + Teaching
Company: The Leap Overseas Ltd
Category: Conservation, Teaching English, Wildlife
Dates: Departures early Jan, April, July & Sept (for 6 or 8 wks)
Cost: From £1895 - £2738
Age limit: 18 -27 yrs.
Placement Details
Dive into a Costa Rican ‘Pura Vida’ (‘pure life’, a national slogan!) by joining a team of Leap volunteers on projects that will take you to the heart of this amazingly diverse country.
Your time will be divided between the Pacific Coast with it’s palm fringed beaches, world renowned surf and rich Latino culture and the Caribbean Coast, a region of lush tropical rainforest, turtle nesting sites and African influenced heritage.
Pacific Coast:For 4 weeks you’ll live with families of El Silencio, a village carved out of pristine Rainforest with views all the way down to the Ocean. With your help, the community aims to become totally self sufficient and provide a good standard of living for all of it’s members- and look after it's many adopted monkeys and wildlife in the animal rescue centre! Your donation and volunteering will help towards improving schools, education, water supplies and farming initiatives and ensure the development of this unique community!
The second Pacific Coast phase is at Matapalo, a 10km stretch of sandy beach famous for it’s incredible sunsets and proximity to Rainforest. For 3 weeks you’ll be living in comfortable team house just off the beach working alongside local conservation professionals to protect female sea turtles, their nests and hatchlings laid at Matapalo. Volunteers can help with a conservation club for local children, teach English at the nearby primary school and also collaborate with Matapalo high school English Club.
Caribbean Coast:The other 3 weeks of the placement you will be based at Quelonios del Caribe conservation station, close to Tortuguero on the mouth of the famous Pacuare River (which boasts the best white water rafting in Central America!). This area is one of the most bio-diverse locations on earth, home to over 400 species of tree and 2000 species of plant, where you can encounter jaguars, tapirs, river otters, ocelots, manatees, sloths and monkeys. Turtles abound in this region, and among those found nesting here are the Leatherback, Loggerhead, Hawksbill, and Green turtles, which are threatened with extinction.
Here you will help protect these turtles and help improve the quality of life for the local communities who live alongside them. You'll work alongside conservation experts monitoring the beach for nests, collecting and measuring eggs as well as nurturing baby turtles before they are released back into the wild. You'll also help at the community butterfly gardens, aiding in the research of butterfly development and species preservation, assist in self-sustainable organic vegetable gardens, as well as the construction of community trails.
Enquire now