Help Conserve Turtles from Going Extinct - Volunteer With Us for as Little as USD15 /day

  Costa Rica

Gandoca,  Osa Peninsula

Term: Academic Year, Fall, Spring, Summer, Throughout the year, Trimester, Winter 
Durations of Program: 1-2 weeks, 2-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks, 9-12 weeks, 3-6 months, 7-12 months, 1-2 years and over 2 years
Typical Duration of Program: 5-8 weeks
Dates: all year

Description: We are operating three turtle projects in the South Caribbean side of Costa Rica in the region of Talamanca. Since 1986, the Marine Program has been working to protect the Leatherback Sea Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) nesting population at Gandoca beach in the Gandoca-Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge.

The project activities run from the beginning of March through to the end of July each year to cover the Leatherback sea turtle nesting season. The peak nesting period for the turtles is April/May with the first hatchling turtles emerging from mid May through to the end of September. The number of nesting adult female turtles arriving on the beach drops from June until the end of July. Gandoca beach also received small numbers of nesting Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and Green (Chelonia mydas) sea turtle during the nesting season.

The Cahuita - Playa Negra project started in 2000 after it was realized that the area is an important nesting site for the critically endangered Leatherback turtle and Hawksbill turtles. As in Gandoca, until recently sea turtle nesting populations at Cahuita remained unknown to the scientific community and the harvesting of eggs by the local population occurred to a large extent. The poaching of turtle eggs, increasing coastal development, pollution and beach erosion have all become serious threats to the sea turtles of the region. Although the project and data taken from it are new, it is estimated that like Gandoca in the early 80s, over 99% of turtle eggs were taken annually from the nesting beaches of Cahuita and Playa Negra. Although the taking of eggs has no immediate effect on the number of turtles nesting, the population could collapse in 20-50 years when no new females return to nest.

Costs may very with each site. The money for your stay goes directly to your host family. Its for the development of the local community so that they understand that they do not have to poach eggs to get money but can earn more by cooperating. By staying with local families, you get an opportunity to get insight into the Caribbean culture and the normal life of a Costa Rican family, and you can practice your Spanish. You choose your accommodation upon arrival.

This project is part of Ecoteer - the solution to travel and volunteering on a shoestring

Ecoteer is a unique volunteer opportunities agency - offering a directory of cheap volunteer work opportunities, volunteer jobs abroad and working holidays. Our volunteer opportunities are cheap because we have eliminated the middleman slashing the price to volunteer abroad for gapyears, careerbreaks and working holidays. Ecoteer is leading the way in a new type of volunteer work opportunities abroad and is changing the volunteer and working holiday industry back to what it used to be benefiting both the volunteer and the volunteer project.

We have other opportunities in ecotourism, conservation, humanitarian aid and teaching in other 50 countries.

Please inquire for more of our cheap volunteering opportunities.

Highlights: Role of Volunteer

Volunteers are encouraged to join us at any point during the season. Over the fourteen years, our project has welcomed students, travelers and professionals from countries from around the world who have an interest in hands-on conservation and data collection work with an endangered species. Volunteers can commit from a week up to several months of their time participating in our program in Gandoca.

The main work of the volunteers involves night patrols and hatchery shifts. Other daytime work at the project in Gandoca may involve beach cleanup and small projects including initial construction of the hatcheries. There are two nightly patrols from 8pm to 12 midnight and 12 midnight to 4am where a shift of volunteers led by an experienced patrol leader walk a sector of the 11 km beach searching for nesting females.

The approximate incubation time for Leatherback Turtle eggs is 60 days, therefore midway through the season the duties of the hatchery attendants increases as the hatchlings begin to emerge. At this time, all nests in the hatcheries must be checked every 30 minutes and if hatchlings are encountered they must be counted and released in the evening to an appropriate location along the high tide line and watched until they reach the sea. Hatchlings are never released directly to the sea.

Qualifications: None needed

Cost in US$: from USD 15 per day

Experience Required: no

Age Range: 0-80

This Program is open to American, Asian, Australian, Canadian, European, Kiwi, South African and Worldwide Participants. This Program is also open to Families, Couples and Individuals

Typically Participants Work in Groups of 10 to 20

Application Process Involves:

• Online Application plus Application Assessment

Post-Program Services Include:

• Job and Internship Network

Ecoteer's Mission Statement: To help locally run grass root organisations to achieve their aims via attracting paying volunteers and tourists. Plus we personally help develop and improve the projects we work with to help them to achieve their objectives.

Year Founded: 2005