23 Oct My Experience in the Osa

Hello my name is Kenroy and I am a student at the Professional Technical College Sabalito (Costa Rica), a school in which students can study rural tourism. Over the past three years of studying in this program, I have learned the importance of tourism in Costa Rica.

At the end of our three year program, students choose a place for supervised practice, in my case I chose Osa Conservation. This organization carries out projects related to volunteerism and research, in addition to the monitoring and conservation of wildlife. Osa Conservation opened the doors for me to practice my skills. I arrived on October 6th to the organization’s field station located in Piro, one of several properties that Osa Conservation has in this area.

Simply arriving was a great adventure, because I took many forms of transportation to get there from my home in Sabalito. One of the most interesting legs of this is the boat leaving Golfito crossing the Golfo Dulce. In the 30 minutes it takes the boat to reach Jimenez you can admire many beautiful landscapes. If you’re lucky you might even catch a glimpse of dolphins and whales!

I also found the “colectivo” to be an interesting and unique travel experience. This is the only form of public transport used to reach the station in Piro and is a large truck with benches in the back. Although the journey is long and bumpy, it’s very important and worth it because it allows tourists and locals to travel around Osa and to Piro.

In this organization, volunteers help with projects such as beach cleaning, turtle patrols, monitoring big cats, working in the nursery, sustainable agriculture, reforestation, and general conservation. One of the most exciting things is the work done with sea turtles.  I have seen very few turtles in my life, so this is a great opportunity to learn many things about them and their conservation.

The work done in the vivero, or sea turtle nursery, is also very important, because each time you find a nest in a vulnerable area, where the tide can expose turtle eggs, they are extracted and taken to the nursery. Here they are in one place safe, in the right temperature and without predators. This is a way to ensure the successful birth of most of the turtles.

It is a beautiful experience because when the turtles hatch they are released on the beach, where they swim out to sea to begin what we hope is a long life. I have also been working with camera traps, which are a form of wildlife monitoring that runs 24 hours a day. Thanks to the camera traps, Osa Conservation can keep track of cats and other mammals that would otherwise be difficult to observe.

These cameras are placed at strategic points throughout the property and Osa Conservation is encouraging and training other landowners of the Peninsula so that they can monitor their properties in order to create a larger network of eyes on the Osa.

Cleaning of the beaches has been one of the most rewarding experiences I have had since I came to the the Piro station. I hope to have many more amazing experiences in the next two months, to contribute as much as possible to this organization and of course the conservation of the Osa Peninsula.