Conduct Field Studies at a Wildlife Reserve

The wildlife and nature reserve is located near the city of Heredia, close to the amazing Braulio Carrillo National Park. The reserve consists of nearly 60 hectares of land and includes both primary and secondary forest. The area is partly hilly and if you follow the trails, you can admire various types of trees, orchids, birds, animals and beautiful waterfalls.

In February 1998, the area was declared a protected area. The goal is to protect the environment and wildlife in order to preserve the unique ecosystem and biodiversity in Costa Rica.

The reserve also does environmental education programs that include local schools. The children in Costa Rica shall learn to respect and protect their greatest treasure, namely the unique biodiversity or their country. Only in this way can it be ensured that environmentally conscious young people grow up and do not make the same mistakes as previous generations.

In addition, many national and international scientists use the reserve to conduct studies on native animals and plants.

There are many ways and means to help in the wildlife and nature reserve in Costa Rica. The work varies and depends on the weather conditions, as well as the workload and the number of volunteers on site. It is a small family run project and there are never many volunteers at the same time. One always tries to take into account the personal interests and knowledge of the volunteers.

Volunteer mainly take tasks outdoors, directly in the beautiful rainforest. You will quickly become familiar with the rainforest and its unique flora and fauna. Quickly you acquire a lot of practical know-how and new skills. It is a unique opportunity to learn about this unique and threatened ecosystem.

Volunteers work with day tourists, guide them through the park or give guest service at mealstimes. Day visitors come to the reserve for walking, bird watching, hikes through the forest and to waterfalls, workshops and programs to help raise awareness of rainforest conservation, as well as other environmental education programs.

Other tasks are to maintain the grounds and park, clean the paths of overgrowths, and add new signs if needed.

With this volunteer work in Costa Rica, you have the opportunity to get to know and observe exotic animal life every day. You can see animals you do not even know from the zoo.

Note: The tasks may vary. They depend on factors such as number of volunteers, weather, season, current needs of the project, as well as self-motivation. Not every volunteer may be fully involved in all these tasks.

Weekends are the perfect time to enjoy an exciting hike through Costa Rican nature since the main attractions of Costa Rica is its system of national parks and protected areas, which cover around 25% of the national territory, in order to protect the rich variety of flora and fauna, which is estimated to contain 5% of the world's biodiversity in less than 0.1% of the planet's land mass. In addition, Costa Rica has countless amazing beaches on both the Pacific and the Caribbean Ocean. 

Costa Rica is the perfect place to combine volunteer work with tourism, enjoy activities like:

- Adventure sport
- Dream beaches
- Ecotourism
- Local culture
- Bird / wildlife watching
- Visits to unique National Parks
- Rural tourism
- Sightseeing and history in San José