Costa Rica Turtle Conservation Experience

I have spent a bit more than a week at the program, which felt too short. The team running this initiative, experience of helping the turtle to lay eggs at night, safely moving those eggs to the hatchery and seeing how small turtles are born and actively push to get to the ocean - all of this memories will last for a lifetime! The feeling when you hold the small turtle in your hand (with protectice gloves, of course, to not damage it: -) ), just born out of the egg - this is simply invaluable. Additionally to turtle conservation related activities, we explored jungle to take data about the bats, collected and sorted the butterfly eggs in the butterfly garden, had a walk over the wild beach to account for the local birds, saw several monkeys during the day time, had iguana observe us from the top of the tree - the days were very packed with activities. Of course, I cannot forget the night beach patrols - while tiring, these are very important to prevent poachers getting to the turtle eggs. In the free time I had an opporunioty to visit Ochochal fall in local area, which is... I have spent a bit more than a week at the program, which felt too short. The team running this initiative, experience of helping the turtle to lay eggs at night, safely moving those eggs to the hatchery and seeing how small turtles are born and actively push to get to the ocean - all of this memories will last for a lifetime! The feeling when you hold the small turtle in your hand (with protectice gloves, of course, to not damage it: -) ), just born out of the egg - this is simply invaluable. Additionally to turtle conservation related activities, we explored jungle to take data about the bats, collected and sorted the butterfly eggs in the butterfly garden, had a walk over the wild beach to account for the local birds, saw several monkeys during the day time, had iguana observe us from the top of the tree - the days were very packed with activities. Of course, I cannot forget the night beach patrols - while tiring, these are very important to prevent poachers getting to the turtle eggs. In the free time I had an opporunioty to visit Ochochal fall in local area, which is great to relax in a cool water during a hot day. A bit further away is a Whale tale beach, which is great for nice pictures, for learning surfing and just for relaxing on a nice sand. I very recommend this program, it was very enjoyable both from experience, from being that close to nature and from the support and the welcome spirit from the team handling this turtle conservation site. (Show More)

I loved working with the turtles and the people there are super nice. The only part that wasn’t ideal was the hatchery and how much pressure the 24/7 coverage of it costs for our schedules.

fun fun fun