Sea
Turtle Service Learning Trip to Costa Rica
Offered for College Students
SEE Turtles and EcoTeach announce the “Costa
Rica Service Learning Trip” that offers
college students an opportunity to volunteer
abroad with sea turtle conservation
programs.
This volunteer vacation will spend four
nights each at two community-based sea
turtle projects along Costa Rica’s Caribbean
coast. Participants will work side-by-side
with local researchers patrolling
leatherback sea turtle nesting beaches,
helping to collect important data, protect
the eggs, and monitoring egg hatcheries.
This unique trip will be led by
award-winning young conservationist Zander
Srodes. Zander, who has been fascinated by
sea turtles from a very young age, is now an
intern with SEE Turtles and a freshman at
Santa Fe College in Florida.
His tireless work with turtle conservation
and education has earned him the Brower
Youth Award, the Presidential Environmental
Youth Award, a Volvo for Life Award, and
more. "My passion for sea turtles has taken
me around the world in search of important
nesting beaches", says Zander. "This service
learning trip will be an unforgettable
experience for the college students who
join."
Highlights of the Sea Turtle Service
Learning Trip will be:
* Four nights working with leatherback
turtles in Parismina and Gandoca;
* Whitewater rafting and ziplines through
the jungle;
* Explore rainforests by foot and boat,
searching for wildlife such as monkeys,
sloths, caiman, and more; and
* Visit an iguana conservation project at
the Kekoldi Indigenous Reserve.
While patrolling the nesting beaches, when
the group finds a turtle, volunteers will
help collect data and tag it. Researchers
collect data such as length and width of the
shell, where it nested, its tag number, and
its physical condition. Patrols last 4 hours
and run from 8 pm to midnight or midnight to
4 am.
Other jobs include working in the hatchery,
maintaining the equipment, cleaning the
beach of driftwood, debris, and trash, and
participating in educational programs.
Participants will have the daytime free
explore the rainforest, visit local towns,
or get to know the other volunteers and
researchers.
More information on the tour can be found
at:
http://www.seeturtles.org/1326/costa-rica-service-learning-trip-for-college-students.html
Tour Information: Dates: May 28 – June 8 &
June 10 - 22
Cost: $1,595 per person, double occupancy
(includes 2 guides, transportation
in-country, meals, lodging, activities, and
a donation to turtle conservation, does not
include airfare).
SEE Turtles is an Ocean Foundation
conservation tourism project that links
people with community-based sea turtle
projects. Going beyond the ecotourism mantra
of "leave only footprints", SEE Turtles
suggests that tourists should make a
positive impact through conservation
tourism. Conservation tourism supports
communities protecting sea turtles by
increasing the income needed for local
conservation efforts, providing economic
alternatives to end threats to sea turtles
and inspiring travelers to take a more
active role in protecting sea turtles. |
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