The project
Begin your volunteer adventure and head to the rainforests of Costa Rica near to one of the most important national park as Manuel Antonio, where you can take part in the vital conservation of some of the country's most vulnerable wildlife. Your help to care for the many animals you will find during monitoring.
In the same camp we work in the conservation of sea turtles, rescuing their eggs to take them to a safe place where we protect them until hatch and release them into the sea, in addition to turtle monitoring we take scientific information as a measure of their size and we check If you have a wound that needs to be treated.
What is the importance of our program?
Costa Rica is one of the countries with the most biodiversity in the world, however many exploitation of natural resources and buildings in places that are the habitat of many wild animals is threatened, especially animals as vulnerable as sloth, and turtles they threatened by their difficult adaptation to new environments, we often find these beautiful animalité injured or orphaned, this project is about research and protection of these adorable friends.
The location
Project is located near to Manuel Antonio National Park, beach, forest and mountains around is what you will find. Our volunteers work directly in the data collection and will be involved in all the recovery processes of the species that are rescued, they will be in constant contact with our biologist who will take all the information and give them the necessary training for the field work.
What do we expect from our volunteers?
That they are lovers of nature and animals, willing to learn, with a good attitude and desire to help.
What can you expect of our team?
People with a great love for our animals and all the nature around US, friendly people and ready to make you feel at home, treatment friendly, people professional knowledge and experience at work
The day starts at 5 am with morning monitoring, we go to different points previously marked where there is more activity of these animals, we monitor not only the two species of sloths, we also do it with the associated species, in addition to their diet, we collect data scientists and field samples that are then analyzed.
After a monitoring patrol we return to our house where we have breakfast at 8:30 a rest time where it is possible to enjoy an extensive beach of volcanic sand, in the paradisiacal Pacific of Costa Rica.
12 half day lunch time , at 1 pm we go to our next monitoring until 3 pm at 6 pm dinner time, the next monitoring at 7 pm until 9 pm.
Turtle patrolling depending of the tide, we start from 6 pm in this task we go looking for turtles by the beach, when the turtles are found laying eggs, we rescue the nest and take it to a safe place which we call hatchery, here we protect them until the turtles are born and release them in the sea.
The work in the hatchery consists of watching the nests in 6-hour shifts, here we have a small cabin to protect us from the sun or rain,
The written works can vary every day as well as the schedules, this means that depending on the season, we will be more focused in one or another area, it will also depend on the number of volunteers
In addition, the activities could vary depending on the circumstances, such as finding injured animals, helping them and taking them to the rescue center for recovery depending on the severity. If their recovery is prompt, there is also the opportunity to release them into their environment again. This does not mean that you will be in daily contact and manipulating these adorable animals, most of the work will be monitoring and collecting scientific data in order to study their population and in which state of risk is this kind of species.
In the task of turtle conservation, when we find one on the beach we take measurements and scientific data, also when the turtle babies are born, we take data before releasing it, in these processes the volunteers will have the opportunity to touch these beautiful and mystical creatures of the sea
The town of Matapalo is located in a very special place, because we have extensive beach of more than 10 km, where sports such as surfing are favorite for our volunteers and if you do not know how to surf, here you will find a school where you can learn to do it .
You can also live one of the most important parks in Costa Rica as Manuel Antonio is, where is also one of the beaches listed as the most beautiful in the world, you can also ride horses, play football, walk in the jungle, Vivitar the innumerable waterfalls in the nearby mountains and do countless number of activities that this place offers
Fees are used to provide food and accommodation for you, as well as the maintainability of the house, equipment for the work, salaries for the staff and for educational environment program
Vivimos en una casa de 2 pisos, con 2 habitaciones distribuidas en literas para 8 personas cada una, a solo 200 metros de la playa, nuestra casa tiene dos duchas y dos baños, la vista desde nuestras habitaciones es hacia las montañas y la playa matapalo
We offer vegetarian and vegan food.
Breakfast : pancakes, omelet, Gallo pinto, empanadas, tortillas con huevo, and many different tropical fruits.
Lunch and dinner: different kinds of picadillos with rice and beans, tortilla de papa, spaghetti with coconut milk sauce, focaccia, pizza, bread, patacones with beans paste, and many variable and Caribbean food.
Arrival it's available any day except Sundays
From San Jose take bus in TRACOPA at 6:00 bus is going to Uvita, ask to the bus driver you get off the bus in Matapalo town, after you apply we provide to you more detailed your arrival
Sloth Monitoring and Turtle Conservation
Sloth as ambassadors of our Costa Rican nature, they are a very important part of our program, for this reason we carry out monitoring of their population
$250/week
You requested a page that doesn't exist on this site any more. This could be caused by a link you followed that was out of date, by a typing in the wrong address in the address bar, or simply because the post has been deleted.