Programs Abroad

COSTA RICA - Eco-Tourism and Environmental Education

	Project: Wildlife and Nature Booking Nº: CR104 Country: Costa Rica + Location: Monteverde Minimum Stay: 2 weeks Start dates: Year round Price: from 2 weeks, 430 USD
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Task

Environmental Education:

Educating on the environmental through activities
Developing workshops and teaching material
Teaching kids and teenager at local schools

This important role, teaching about nature and its functions through environmental education, is awaiting you! You will also teach about the many threats to biodiversity and how human beings can care for ecosystems while living sustainably, minimizing environmental degradation and contamination of air, soil, and water.

The Conversation Reserve works with students from schools located around the periphery of the forest, giving presentations and organizing events about global climate change, recycling, and other relevant environmental topics requested by the schools. Field studies are also organized for students, which enables the children to organize activities within groups as well as learning about nature through hikes and days in the outdoors.

If you have a strong background in environmental education and the motivation to work with environmental education materials, organize activities, and carry them out, the reserve would love your help. This would involve working at the Natural Reserve and visiting local schools to promote environmental education.

Reception

Reception at the visitor center
Receiving and welcoming visitors
Elaborating marketing literature and promotional material
Organizing activities at the children house

Volunteer work in one of the reception centers involves welcoming and offering educational information about the Natural Reserve. You will show guests around and pass them informative literature about local environmental highlights and threats. Volunteers are also involved in promotional tasks for the reserve. Lastly, volunteers have the opportunity to run community outreach programs by organizing their own activities for children at the children house. For both jobs it is ideal that you have at least an intermediate level of Spanish, but fluency in Spanish is not necessary.

One small sector of the reserve has a unique ecosystem fostering a transition zone between rain forest and moist forest, a type of forest that is very rare nowadays in Costa Rica. Because of its elevation on the Pacific slope, between 3.350 and 4.430 feet, and a specific humidity level, the reserve is a habitat very different from other reserves in the area. Of the tree species found, 30 are among the species in the area that have been recently identified as new to science. There is also a special greenhouse which is the base of most reforestation projects in this region and very important for the protection of the local rain forest.

Accommodation

Accommodation with Costa Rican family
Private bedroom
Three meals per day

In order to fully enjoy the experience of immersion into another culture and way of life it is necessary to receive hospitality in the right place. We provide you with a comfortable home stay close to the biological field stations. You will live and share your daily life with a Costa Rican Spanish speaking family. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included and there are laundry facilities in the town close-by. Families are carefully chosen so that during your stay, you will be received as another member of the family. They will welcome you warmly and make sure that you completely enjoy your stay. The families are evaluated on a regular basis by the in-country staff.

Requirements

Language:
English and/or Spanish skills required (you can book your Spanish course in Costa Rica with us!)

Skills:
No professional skills or experiences required.

Age:
18+ years

Vaccination:
Not required. Please consult us and your doctor for specific recommendations.

Insurance:
Full travel and medical insurance is required. You can purchase a full coverage, no deductible health and travel insurance at a special rate for our participants by contacting your South America Inside representative.

Visa:
Tourist visa valid for 90 days. For further information regarding visa requirements please contact us and the corresponding embassy or consulate in your home country.

Details

The Conservation Reserve is a non-profit civil organization, whose mission is "to conserve, preserve and rehabilitate tropical ecosystems and their biodiversity.'' Based upon these principles, the reserve has developed a series of programs and an administrative structure. Programs include:

Reforestation
Research
Protection and Monitoring
Facility Maintenance & Updating
Environmental Education
Mega Fauna Park
Global Climate Change
Eco-Tourism

The organization was founded in 1986 by a group of local residents concerned for the preservation of local natural resources. Currently it is composed of sixty active members who attend a yearly meeting to hold elections for the organization’s board of directors. The members of the organization are diverse in terms of their nationalities, backgrounds, and philosophical principles are, but they all have a common goal to conserve the forest. Since its beginnings, the organization primarily worked to acquire land in order to conserve it. With the support from hundreds of people from over forty-four different countries, the Eternal Rainforest was created. The reserve boasts over 55.600 acres, and is the largest private reserve in Costa Rica. During the last twenty years they have been supported both by local and international researchers.

The main purpose of the maintenance program staff is to care for all of the sectors that are open to the public. This includes trails, roads, signs, and infrastructure maintenance. The maintenance staff also works to keep property boarders clearly marked by keeping fences in good condition. They also contribute to the protection program, environmental education, and special hikes organized for tourists and other groups. Under this program, patrolling and monitoring are carried out within and forest. The best strategy to protect our Mother Nature is to cultivate seeds of consciousness early on, in this case, children. If we successfully pass on what we know now to our youth, we will have responsible and knowledgeable adults in the future who will love and protect the only earth we were given.

cr104_oeko-tourismus

Source: Google Maps

Prices

Duration	in USD
2 weeks	430.-
3 weeks	620.-
4 weeks	800.-
5 weeks	980.-
6 weeks	1,160.-
Additional week	155.-

One time registration fee 75 USD.

What’s included:

Accommodation
3 meals / day (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
Orientation kit
Local support
24h-Emergency Number
Volunteer Work Placement
Certificate of participation

What’s not included:

Flight
Airport pick-up
Medical Insurance
Visa (if necesary)
Local Travels

Country

Country information Costa Rica

Costa Rica stands as one of the smallest countries in Central America with approximately 19,000 square miles and a coastline of 810 miles. The country borders Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the south and the Pacific and Caribbean Sea on either side. Costa Rica is home to 4.5 million people with upwards of 350,000 people living in the capital city of San Jose.

The Costa Rican climate is commonly humid and warm year round, although temperatures in the highlands are typically colder and cloudier. Incredibly, 23% of an already small amount of densely populated land remains protected territory by National Parks and/or private reserves. This protected land is home and host to a wide variety of exotic plants, animals, and social and environmental projects to ensure the protection and conservation of the tropical habitat. When walking the streets of Costa Rica, make sure to ask Costa Ricans, who typically know heaps, about their national treasures.

Further, Costa Rica is the most politically stable country in Central America, with a disbanded army for more than sixty years and a relatively high standard of education. Tourism is one of the main economic income sources for Costa Rica. With over 2 million tourists exploring Costa Rica each year, the country stands as the most visited nation in the Central American region. Through eco-tourism programs, (which CR was one of the first countries offering this type of tourism), a variety of activities, and year round tropical weather, the country attracts tourists from all over the world.

Aside from protected land, the true jewels of Costa Rica are the surrounding islands with serene beaches and breath-taking nature. This country offers beautiful landscapes for dream vacations of beach lounging, surfing, snorkeling, hiking volcanoes, zip-lining, rafting, bird watching, fishing, and exploring rain forests.

The dry season of Costa Rica is between December and April, though like most Latin countries, schools are closed, beaches full and finding last minute hotels may be tricky. A second peak season arrives with the Europeans and North Americans during June and July. As the off-season arrives in May, so does the lush green vegetation with the rainy season. Lastly, Costa Rica encompasses year round possibilities for surfers, fishing enthusiasts and wildlife lovers alike. Depending on what coast you want to surf, what fish you want to catch and what bird you hope to see, there are variations on ideal months to further research.

Finally, Costa Rica is a perfect place to learn Spanish, as the Spanish spoken here is typically slow without strong accents and layers of slang. The Costa Ricans are very friendly, energetic and always with a smile!