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COSTA RICA
Click image to read a post card from Costa Rica
Pacuare Reserve (Caribbean Sea)
REGISTER FOR 2011 EXPEDITIONS HERE!
The main project activities involve night patrols and hatchery shifts. Other daytime activities at the project may involve beach cleanup and small projects. There are generally multiple nightly patrols between 8pm and 4am or an early morning patrol to collect the eggs from nests laid overnight. At night, each patrol is led by an experienced Research Assistant as the group walks a sector of the 7km beach searching for nesting females. Volunteers should expect to walk up to 12kms at night on the beach - distances may vary on each patrol.
Once a turtle is encountered on a night patrol, the volunteers work directly with the turtle taking carapace (shell) and nest dimension measurements, collecting eggs and assisting the leader tag the flippers of the turtle. The collected eggs are either left natural, relocated to a safer place on the beach or taken to the hatchery where the volunteers on shift will build a new nest to specification and transplant the eggs. The number of eggs, nest location and turtle identification information (tag numbers) are then recorded by the hatchery attendant for further data analysis including hatchling survival rate.
The station is called “Quelonios del Caribe” which roughly translates as “Caribbean station for shelled animals”. The beach is 7kms long. The project location is at North Pacuare, 40kms from Limon and forms part of two leatherback turtle projects in the area which together has more than 800 nests a season. The Pacuare area is the most important nesting sites in Central America for this critically endangered species. The region has the highest number of nesting leatherbacks of the five projects on this Caribbean side of Costa Rica.
| Program Dates 2011 (14days/13 nights) | Booking |
Dates to be confirmed |
Program Price: $1,750 includes
- One night Backpacker accommodation on arrival
- Meals - breakfast, lunch and dinner daily
- Information kit
- Accommodation for the full duration of the program
- Bus transfers to and from project site
- All turtle monitoring and handling training
- Experienced Guide and Spanish translator
- 12 month membership to Conservation Volunteers
- 12 month membership to Australian Geographic Society
- Subscription to Australian Geographic Journal or Outdoor magazine
It’s easy to book - simply:
- Click on the country that you are interested in then read the program notes
- Carefully read the Booking terms & Conditions
- Complete an Online Application Form
- Download a List of Essential Items
- Any questions? Check out our FAQ, email info@conservationvolunteers.com.au or Freecall 1800 032 501.
