Costa Rica's eco-tourism trail
Volunteer on the wild side
Costa Rica has some of the most diverse wildlife and natural landscapes in the world, so it's no small wonder that eco-tourism has become big business. It seems like everyone wants to jump on the green bandwagon; there are "ecological" car-rental agencies and even "ecological" menus in restaurants!
Lend a hand
Volunteer programs are also taking off and travellers can get involved in reforesting national parks, turtle-tagging on the coast and tracking endangered animals.
The best option for finding a worthwhile project is to first spend some time on the ground getting a feel for which organisations are working in your area of interest — whether it's wildlife protection, environmental conservation or community development. It's also possible to arrange a position before you even step on the plane, since most Costa Rican organisations advertise their programs on the Web.
Which program's right for you?
Check out the projects as carefully as possible — sometimes the too-good-to-be-true volunteer stints are nothing more than high-priced tours. As a general rule, volunteers are asked to pay a small maintenance fee for food and accommodation, though you should be wary if a program has a hefty price tag, especially by Western standards.
Hear from those who know
Contributors to Thorn Tree, Lonely Planet's online travel forum, have volunteered in Costa Rica and they post their ecotourism tales on an ongoing basis. Here's a sampling of real-life volunteer postings:
Posted by Eryn
I spent a month at Finca Ipe, a farm located inland about a half-hour bus ride from Dominical, on the Pacific coast. I went to Finca Ipe to learn about organic farming and to escape the tourist road for a bit.
Each morning, all the volunteers met at the seed tables where the farm manager gave us duties for the day. Duties included: caring for the farm's resident animals (goats, sheep, chickens and guinea pigs); creating new compost piles; weeding the fields; and harvesting citronella/lemongrass and cinnamon. We also got demonstrations on how the essential oil was made from the harvests.
Work stopped at about lunchtime and the rest of the day was spent lying in hammocks, lazing at the beach, painting a mural on the wall of the sheep pen, and practising yoga.
Posted by Erica
For two months I lived in the Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge, on the Sixaola River near the border of Panama. I was volunteering for a Costa Rican sea turtle conservation project run by Asociación ANAI. It was an amazing and challenging experience — one I'll never forget.
One of the jobs was to walk several kilometres up and down the beach in night shifts to locate the females coming ashore to lay eggs. We mostly found leatherbacks, but also an occasional hawksbill or green. The leatherbacks were so huge they looked prehistoric. The whole process was painfully slow. We would stay behind the turtles, so they wouldn't notice us and carefully collect the eggs as they were laying them. We then took the eggs back to the hatcheries and reburied them in a man-made hole.
Sixty days later, the baby turtles would emerge from their holes and shells. It was amazing to see them and their unending determination to make it into the sea. Sadly, of a group of 100 eggs only five or six will eventually make it to adulthood.
Posted by Eryn
I was involved for two weeks with La Tortuga Feliz, a turtle conservation project in a remote area off the Caribbean Coast, north of Limon. The man behind the project, Paul, takes volunteers on a 45-minute boat ride to the project in what's known as Costa Rica's mini-Amazon — the location is absolutely breathtaking and completely untouched.
As a volunteer I spent time painting and counting the beach markers, which are used for recording locations of turtle nests. I also helped design and dig a hatchery on the beach for the laying season. The resident biologist educated both volunteers and locals on all things turtle: nesting and mating habits, instructions on how to handle eggs, how to patrol the beach at night, and how to spot turtles crawling up the beach.
While at La Tortuga, I had opportunities to interact with locals in a way I would not have otherwise. Although the project is still in its infancy, I learnt a lot and had a wonderful time.
Posted by Will
I volunteered in Costa Rica for my senior thesis through the Institute for Central American Development Studies. It was a great place and they got me into a volunteer program at ASEPROLA. I was studying the labour rights movements in Central America. There are a lot of problems with big agricultural multinationals abusing local labour laws, so we did a whole lot of organising to educate people about the Dominican Republic — Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). It was a good time and I met a lot of really interesting people down there.
If these stories are up your alley, check out some of the following programs recommended by Lonely Planet travellers:
- PRETOMA: Programa Restauracíon de Tortugas Marinas (Marine Turtle Restoration Program) manages two projects on the Nicoya Peninsula, as well as one on the Caribbean coast near the Panamanian border. Volunteers help tag, measure and protect nesting turtles in addition to participating in community education and awareness programs.
- PROFELIS: Programa para la Conservación de Felinos (Feline Conservation Program) rehabilitates lesser felines including the margay, ocelot and jaguarondi and aims to reintroduce them to the wild on the Nicoya Peninsula. Volunteers care for animals and get involved in community-based environmental education.
- Bosque Eterno de los Niños: (Children's Eternal Forest) is a 22,000-hectare reserve where there are opportunities for volunteers to help with trail maintenance, surveying, administration and biological research.
- Finca la Flor de Paraíso: this is a non-profit organic farm in the Central Valley that has a Spanish-language school. Volunteers are involved with organic agriculture, reforestation, animal husbandry, medicinal herb cultivation, construction, arts and crafts, community outreach programs and childhood education.
- Cerro Dantas Wildlife Refuge: is a research centre and education facility that works to protect rare fauna, including jaguars, tapirs and quetzal in Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo, the country's largest swath of virgin rainforest.
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