Costa Rica: Not Just Another Service Project

Editor’s Note

This student reflection was written by Liam after a school service trip to Costa Rica. During the trip, he joined a sea turtle conservation experience on the Caribbean coast, where students learned about night patrols, egg protection, hatcheries, and the challenges sea turtles face in the wild.

Conservation Note

The turtle and egg handling described in this blog took place as part of a supervised conservation program. Travelers should never touch sea turtles, eggs, or hatchlings on their own. Wildlife experiences should always be guided by trained conservation staff and follow local rules that protect the animals.

Sea Turtle laying eggs

At the end of the school year, our school allows for a 1-2 week trip you can choose to go on.

I wanted to explore new countries, and so I chose the only option that was out of country, a trip to Costa Rica.

From the moment I stepped off the plane I knew something was different. Maybe it was the humid weather or the houses made out of cargo boxes but I knew the trip would be special. 

The drive to our first stop was 4 hours, leaving the capital of San Jose to the Caribbean Coast. Leaving the urban jungle into the real jungle allowed me to see some of the most beautiful sights of the rainforest, like large overflowing trees and beautiful waterfalls.

This would be a trip to remember.

The Turtle Reservation

I heard of the Turtle Reservation from past years of the trip. 2 AM shifts walking along the beach, sleepless nights protecting the turtles. I couldn’t lie, that frightened me a bit.

Later I’d learn how important this job really was.

There were already a ton of volunteers at the place, spending months at a time in this place. Not just that but the area had no wifi, the showers had no shower heads, and there was only one bottle of soap.

When we entered our room we instantly saw it inhabited by a family of bats, and we had to bang on the door to get them to leave. I thought “how could anyone do this for 3 months, I don’t even know if I can do it for a day”.

What was the big deal?

Our Mission

During the night, when turtles were laying their eggs, poachers would come to steal the eggs. To prevent the baby turtle’s a chance at life just to sell them for a quick buck. Our job would be to get to the turtles first and move the eggs to a hatchery, where they would be safe.

Interestingly we learned that there was a golden rule between the conservationists and poachers, whoever got to the turtle first got to keep the eggs. 

Even if we didn’t like the poachers and what they were doing we still had to respect one another.

Their numbers were also dwindling. With climate change making the environment hotter, and more plastic in the ocean it was harder for these turtles to live. Interestingly, the temperature of the sand determines if a turtle is a boy or a girl, so as the environment gets hotter the amount of turtles of one gender gets more one sided. 

The hatchery we were at controls the temperature of the sand in order to make sure the turtles have enough of each gender.

The Night Shift

That night, I knew how important it was to protect the turtles now. Me and a small group walked up and down the beach for a couple of hours, not seeing any turtles. 

Will we even see a turtle tonight, I thought.

At midnight though, a miracle happened. 

A huge leatherback turtle appeared. It looked to be twice my size and 10x as heavy, at over 1000 pounds. We were able to get there just in time before the poachers, who scurried away after seeing our presence.

The turtle laid around 100 eggs that night, and I went to bed proud, knowing that I saved a small generation of turtles.

Baby Turtles

The Miracle of Life.

That morning, we were woken up at 7 AM. All of my peers were confused as we weren’t supposed to wake up for another hour. 

The news: a batch of baby turtles just hatched, and we would be able to release them to the ocean.

We rushed over to the beach, carefully picking up a baby turtle in our hand. At the same time we all released the baby turtles, watching them navigate their way to the waves. This is important for turtles as they have a sort of compass in their brain to allow them to come back to where they were born, where they lay their eggs and repeat the cycle of life.

My Effort

I realized that conservation doesn’t just take effort, but willpower. You have to put others before yourself. You have to make sacrifices of your vanity in order to allow life to flourish.

The reward is worth it. Watching those turtles go into the ocean made me feel accomplished, like what I did made a difference. 

You don’t have to go to another country to make a difference, but you sometimes have to go outside your comfort zone. In the end, these sacrifices will be worth it, for our planet and for our children.

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Meet the Scholar: Liam

Grade: 10th

Home Base: California, USA

Dream Destination: Tel Aviv

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