Volunteer at Gandoca-Manzanillo Sea Turtle Project in Costa Rica

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Association ANAI is a small non-profit organisation that was formed in 1978 to pursue what has since become known as sustainable development in Costa Rica's Talamanca region. The staff include agronomists, foresters, biologists, economists and educators. With the exception of the three founders, the staff and the Board of Directors are all Costa Ricans. Before the phrase "sustainable development" came into fashion, ANAI was successfully pioneering strategies to help the people in Talamanca become more economically self-reliant, while preserving the area's extraordinary rain forests and other natural wonders. ANAI and the Talamanca Initiative have been proud recipients of the United Nations Equator Prize which recognizes "extraordinary accomplishments in reducing poverty in the tropics through conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity". Volunteers must be of age 18 or above with minimum education of high school. This placement does not need any volunteers in the month of jan,sep,oct,nov and dec.

Volunteers with the following special skills are preferred for the placement:-

Standard First-Aid Environmental Science Biology Veterinary Science Data Collection Statistics Organic Chemistry Hiking .

Volunteers can assist by doing following tasks:-

Task 1. The main work of the volunteers involves night patrols and hatchery shifts. There are two nightly patrols, from 8:00 to 12 midnight to 4:00 a.m. where a shift of volunteers led by an experience patrol leader walk a sector of the 11 km beach searching for nesting females. Once a turtle is encountered on a night patrol the volunteers work directly with the turtle, taking carapace and nest dimension measurements, collecting eggs and tagging the rear flipper of the turtle. The collected eggs are then relocated 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 number) is then recorded by the hatchery attendant for further data analysis including hatchling survival rate.

Task 2. Other daytime work at the project in Gandoca may involve beach cleanup.

Task 3. Small projects, including initial construction of the hatcheries.

Task 4. Caring of the hatcheries. T

he approximate incubation time for leatherback Turtle eggs is 60 days, therefore midway through the season, the duties of the hatchery attendants increases as the hatchlings are encountered they must be counted and released in the evening to an appropriate location along the high tide line and watched until they reach the sea, We should not release the hatchlings directly on the sea.

Basecamp International welcomes all the interested volunteers from around the world to volunteer and make a difference. If you are interested in this placement then please contact us for the details:

Email: info@basecampcenters.com

Website: www.basecampcenters.com

Mailing Address 298 Bagot Street, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7K 3B4

Phone: 613.541.7862

Toll Free : 866.646.4693

Fax: 613.541.1604