Costa Rica - Gandoca

I went to a volunteer program in Costa Rica, Gandoca for wildlife and rainforest conservation. During my stay, I was constantly engaged with wildlife. The country has several types of environments, including dense rainforests along the Caribbean coast, misty cloud forests in the mountains, dry forests on the Pacific side, and mangroves and wetlands near the coasts. These different environments support a huge range of wildlife, with many species living in its parks and protected areas. 

There were many spider species where we were staying and I also saw many other bugs such as crickets and moths. Prior to my trip, I was very afraid of any type of bugs but living together with them and sharing their environment really helped me realize that they are not harmful at all and I was also able to overcome my fear of bugs!

One night, we went out for beach patrol where we walked along the coast after dark with a red light to view the turtles. Turtles lay eggs late at night or early in the morning so beach patrols are a way to view turtles while they are laying eggs. We were lucky enough to see a hawksbill turtle laying eggs and watch it walk back to the ocean.

Additionally, I learned a lot about sea turtle conservation and their habitats. Costa Rica is one of the most important nesting sites for sea turtles in the world, particularly along its Pacific and Caribbean coastlines. The country’s beaches provide critical habitats for several species of sea turtles, including the green turtle, leatherback turtle, hawksbill turtle, and the olive ridley turtle. Sea turtles consume jellyfish for food and currently, many sea turtles are losing their lives because they mistake the plastic in our oceans for jellyfish and get strangled by them. To save them, make sure that you do not throw out any plastic because even if you don't throw it in the oceans, it can end up there and harm turtles as well as many other marine species.

Towards the end of our trip, we hiked at Gandoca-Manzanillo wildlife refuge for 6 hours to see some other animals. We saw a group of howler monkeys as well as a group of spider monkeys. Costa Rica’s rainforests, cloud forests, and mangroves offer abundant food, shelter, and diverse environments that support large populations of monkeys, thus monkeys are very common in Costa Rica. These species of monkeys, with their prehensile tails and distinctive calls, can often be seen swinging through the trees or howling loudly to communicate. Additionally, we saw two sloth species: the two toed sloth and the three toed sloth. Sloths are very popular in Costa Rica because they are one of the country's most iconic and unique animals, and they thrive in the lush tropical rainforests that cover much of the country. They are known for their slow movements and arboreal lifestyle. Sloths have long limbs, curved claws, and a shaggy coat often covered in algae, which helps them blend into the rainforest canopy. They spend most of their lives hanging from trees, feeding on leaves, fruit, and flowers. With a slow metabolism, they move deliberately and sleep for up to 20 hours a day. Lastly, we saw many snake species during our hike: there are various species of snakes in Costa Rica from extremely venomous to not venomous at all.