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: 2 weeks, from 330 USD
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Task

Environmental Education:

Environmental education and educational activities
Developing workshops and teaching material
Teaching kids and teenager at local schools

This important role of teaching about nature and its functions through environmental education is awaiting you! Further, teaching about how human beings can care for ecosystems and live sustainably, minimizing the degradation and contamination of air, soil, and water, as well as the many threats to biodiversity.

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

If you have a strong background in environmental education and the initiative to work on environmental education materials, organize activities and carry them out, the reserve would love to have 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 bits of education about the Natural Reserve. Further, you will be asked to show them around and passing them informative literature about local environmental highlights and threats. Volunteers are also involved in promotional tasks of 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 pre-montane rain forest and pre-montane moist forest, a type of forest that is very rare nowadays in Costa Rica. Because of its location on the Pacific slope, elevation between 3.350 feet and 4.430 feet above sea level, and humidity, 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 in Costa Rican host 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 get adequate accommodation in the right place. We provide you with a comfortable homestay 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 with the host family in the town close-by. Families are carefully chosen, and during your stay you will be another member of the family. They will welcome you warmly and take care that you completely enjoy your stay. The families are evaluated on a regular basis by the in-country staff.

Requirements

Language:
very good English and Spanish skills.

Skills:
Ability to prepare and realize environmental workshops and training lessens for kids and adults.

Age:
18+ years

Vaccination:
Not specified. Please ask for medical advice in your home country and check general entry regulation.

Insurance:
Full travel & medical insurance for Costa Rica.

Visa:
Usually, tourist visa is fine for up to a 3 months stay. However, we recommend consulting the Costa Rican Embassy of 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 composition of the active members of the organization in terms of their nationalities, backgrounds, and philosophical principles are diverse, but in the end have a common goal to conserve the forest. Since its beginnings, the primary project has been the acquisition of 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 trail, road, sign, and infrastructure maintenance. The maintenance staff also works to keep property boarders clearly marked, as well as 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, patrols and monitoring are carried out within and forest. The best strategy to protect our Mother Nature is to cultivate seeds of consciousness early on, and in this case it applies to our 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.

Prices

Duration	in USD
2 weeks	330.-
3 weeks	480.-
4 weeks	630.-
5 weeks	790.-
6 weeks	940.-
7 weeks	1,090.-
8 weeks	1,240.-
Additional week	160.-

One time registration fee 75 USD.

What’s included:

Accommodation
3 meals per day (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
Orientation kit
Local support
24h-Emergency Number

What’s not included:

Flight
Airport Pick-up
Medical Insurance
Visa (if necesary)
Personal expenses

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/environmental projects to ensure the protection and conservation of the tropical habitat. When walking the streets of Costa Rica, make sure to ask Costa Rican natives, 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 programming), range 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/or exploring rain forests.

The dry season of Costa Rica is between December through April, though like most Latin countries, schools are closed, beaches full and finding hotels may be tricky at last minute notice. 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 green with the rainy season. Lastly, Costa Rica encompasses year round possibilities for surfers, fishing enthusiasts and wildlife lovers alike. Depending what coast you want to surf, what fish you want to catch and what bird you hope to see, there are some 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 people and rarely without a smile!