About
Tortugas de Isla Damas
is a conservation organization located in the south of Quepos, very close from Manuel Antonio park, on the
pacific coast. It is easy to get here from San Jose.
The 6 km beach is very
wild and typical of Costa Rica.
We are a local family
who really care about nature, animals and especially turtles.
That's why we
have decided to create this project in the amazing Isla Damas place in order to protect the nesting populations of Kemp's ridley sea turtles.
We offer a nice
volunteering abroad experience, affordable, on the Costa Rican pacific coast to
get the help we need.
Volunteers can enjoy slow tourism and local pura vida way
of life with us.
We live and work on a
sustainable way in order to preserve biodiversity and ecosystem.
We like sharing with
people, explain our culture, our wildlife.
We offer a nice house
with 12 dorms and meals.
Why do we have to protect turtles?
Nesting turtle
populations are endangered because they are both threatened by poachers and
natural predators.
The numbers of turtle of this species is rapidly declining
and it is important to protect them before they disappear.
What do we do exactly?
- During the season we patrol on the beach at
night and we can meet several turtles during one only night.
- The aim is to collect eggs when we meet a
turtle nesting on the beach and bring them to the hatchery, to care and protect
them.
- We have a 300 nest place
hatchery.
- Then, when they hatch, we release them on the
beach and see them enter the sea.
- During all the process we also collect data for
monitoring the evolution of the species.
- While doing all this work, we prepare the area by cleaning the beach and preserve nature in general.
- We try to make local people realise the importance of all this process.
- We also want to work with the local school to educate children from their young age about environement and biodiversity and have cultural exchanges.
Who can join us?
All the people who care about those topics and who like to share are welcome on our project.
You will patrol with the funder of the project or a local employee. They will explain you everything about the work, the place and the sea turtles.
Necessary Equipment
For the night patrols you will need confortable shoes, dark clothes and a red flashlight. For the rest of the day sun cream, repellent and any book or game if you like, downloaded music or movies.
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