Rainforest Conservation - Costa Rica

Product Details

The Trimbina Rainforest Centre is a division of the Milwaukee Public Museum. This not-for-profit organisation was created for the preservation of natural forest, environmental education, and scientific research. Tirimbina is one of the most studied rainforest sites of the region, and for the last 30 years has attracted scientists from around the World. One-third of the Tirimbina forest is used for eco-tourism and education, while the remainder is maintained as untouched rainforest. With 840 acres of rare, mid-elevation rainforest (premontane) and its eight kilometres of trails that highlight the river and forest environments, it has now been declared a Costa Rican National Wildlife Refuge. The former owner, Dr. J. Robert Hunter of Wisconsin, USA, was a pioneer in tropical agronomy and an early advocate of rainforest conservation.

Responsibilities / activities

Volunteers are needed to help maintain the impressive array of trails, walkways and bridges. Volunteers can also be involved in eco-tourism initiatives such as education programmes for visitors, which includes presentations, guided tours of the rainforest trails, workshops in natural history, arts and culture, short eco-courses in natural history subjects, school classes in biodiversity, aquatic studies, wildlife communities and forest analysis.

You can also assist Costa Rican researchers who are studying tropical ecology and biodiversity. Volunteering at the reserve allows for a unique opportunity to learn about the rainforest, conservation of the reserve, and the different species that live there, including tropical birds, a huge number of amphibians and 110 different species of bat! It also allows a volunteer to immerse themselves in a different culture and language.

Accommodation / food / language / time off

Accommodation is on-site within a volunteer house. There are two shared bedrooms, showers, toilets, dining area and kitchen facilities. In front of the volunteer house there are hammocks to relax in and an area to wash your clothes. You would be with other Outreach International volunteers but have the opportunity to socialise with the other Costa Rican volunteers and researchers.

In the main reception building there is a library and communal area where films are rented out and projected for the volunteers in the evenings. The accommodation is self-catering and you can buy food from the supermarket in the local town one mile away. Working hours are normally 8am until 5pm. Weekends are free for travelling and exploring on bicycle, by bus or by taxi. Tirimbina is situated approximately one mile from the town of Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui and volunteers normally walk or take a bus there.

Outreach International provide all volunteers with a Latin American Spanish CD course prior to departure and volunteers also receive a one-week intensive Spanish course in country.