Costa Rica Jaguar Volunteer Expedition

ITINERARY

Project Location & Living Conditions

Your home base for this expedition will be at a field station located in the rainforest of Tortuguero National Park. The park consists of rainforest, wetlands, beach, and ocean that totals just under 30,000 hectares. It is one of the world's most important beaches for sea turtle nesting (from March to October) and is home to hundreds of species of birds and dozens of mammals including jaguars, monkeys, and sloths.

Conditions at the field station are basic and rooms are shared. The work is based in the surrounding forest and on the turtle nesting beach, where jaguars have been known to eat nesting turtles.

Other Activities

In addition to the jaguar research, you may be involved in other research activities in the national park including monitoring of nesting leatherback and green sea turtles or bird monitoring. 

Research Details

Participate in a long-term research study that helps to monitor the jaguar population of this important park. You will help to collect data by searching for signs of jaguars and their prey by setting up remote camera traps and surveying the beach. 

The work includes dawn patrols and analyzing and processing the data you collect. The data will look at jaguar feeding behavior, their prey, and population numbers.