Turtle Conservation at the Pacific Coast

Volunteers working in the turtle and marine conservation program work alongside a team of dedicated people who strive to protect various species of marine turtles, other marine species, and their habitat. Turtles are especially at risk in Guatemala, as their eggs are seen as a precious commodity by many locals who illegally raid these animal’s nests. The turtle conservation project works to collect eggs before poachers get to them and incubate them in hatcheries where they will be safe. Another tactic used by the project is to buy the eggs from poachers, so the baby turtles end up back in the ocean rather than in the black market. Due to the nature of this program, hours vary quite a bit and volunteers need to be flexible to start very early in the morning sometimes.

Possible tasks:

• Collecting and reburying eggs in hatcheries.
• Monitoring the temperature of hatcheries.
• Beach clean-up.
• Releasing newly hatched turtles into the ocean.
• General maintenance of the hatchery and monitoring.
• Painting murals and creating educational material for environmental awareness.
• Assisting in conservation workshops at local schools and community centers.
• Misc administrative tasks.
• Availability: Turtle season runs from July to December, other conservation tasks are available year-long such as work in mangroves.

Program Duration: 2-4 weeks
Location: Various towns on the Guatemalan Pacific coast.
Schedule: Varies depending on the turtle’s nesting and hatching, but work is usually around 20 hours per week, Monday to Friday.

• 7 am: breakfast with host family
• 7:30 am: walk to project
• 8 am: meet with project staff to oversee daily tasks
• 1 pm: lunch time
• 4 pm: Project work time ends
• 7 pm: Dinner with host family

Beach sports and surfing is usually available .