National Parks

Would you like to be at the side of a ranger in one of the many national parks in Costa Rica? One-third of the land is under nature protection. This includes active volcanoes over tropical rainforests, marine protected areas, to cloud forests and mangroves. Volunteers are always needed to support the park rangers and help protect and care for these areas. There are still illegal gold digging, poaching and logging in the protected areas. This project gives you a chance to look behind the scenes, discover parts of parks that are not accessible to regular visitors and experience an adventure that others only dream of.

Quick Facts

Locations:                    Pacific coast, Inland

Availability:                  Year-round

Minimum stay:           2 weeks

Work time:                  6 days/ week

Accommodation:       Shared room in volunteer house

Food:                            Full board 3 meals/ day

About the project

Costa Rica is one of the most biodiverse region in the world. Home to an plethora of exotic and tropical flora and fauna. In an effort to preserve this natural beauty, 30% of the country’s land has been set aside and turned into protective parks and reserves. As a volunteer in one of the many national parks, you can experience the feeling of real wilderness. Each national park can offer a different highlight. Depending on the area, tropical rainforests, cloud forests, mangroves or kilometers of beaches await you. The national parks around the volcanoes invite you to take a look at and into the crater. In others you can see a diverse range of animal species or admire the giant trees of an ancient rainforest. In the national park on the Pacific side, the rare squirrel monkeys can still be observed in their natural environment swinging in the branches. Some of the national parks are located in well-visited tourist areas, others are remote natural oases where you can spend days away from civilization. Volunteering has an important role in helping to monitor and maintain the natural resources in the parks. The care of tourists and park visitors can be just as much a part of your tasks as maintenance, monitoring animal populations, mending hiking trails or administrative tasks in the administrative building. Together with the Rangers you will do patrols in the park to prevent illegal poaching or logging. Meetings with wildlife such as monkeys, sloths, coatis and other rare species are guaranteed.

Your tasks

– Informing and receiving visitors

– Care and cleaning of the hiking trails

– Support the park ranger in daily tasks

– Animal conservation

– Monitoring of the area to prevent environmental damage and illegal activities

– Maintenance and cleaning of green areas

– Control of tourism

– Repairing / cleaning of installations

Accommodation

You live within the park at the ranger station. Mostly there is a separate house for the volunteers where you will sleep in a dormitory. The volunteer housing and ranger housing are very basic and have a bathroom attached with a cold water shower. The stations have a common area, partly equipped with TV and DVD player, where everyone eats together. You will get 3 meals a day. The houses are in the middle of nature and it can take some time to get to the next village.

Costs for participation in this project

from  $290,-/ 2 weeks

(plus organization fee)