Come protect sea turtles and sloths while relaxing by the beach on Costa Rica's Pacific coast.
Like all of our sites the main focus of the Matapalo site is the conservation of sea turtles such as leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea), green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas), olive ridley (Lepidochelys kempii), and hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) turtles. The site also closely monitors the movement of local sloth populations so volunteers can expect to participate in 4 or 5 "sloth walks" per week. Another important responsibility of the project is the cleaning of the local beach and recycling of bottles and cans.
project information
accommodations
The Matapalo site offers hostel-style accommodations. There are mixed gender accommodations with shared bathrooms.
Three meals per day are provided at 8 am, 12 pm, and 6 pm. Coffee is served at breakfast and juice is served at lunch and dinner. 100% vegetarian food
There is a restaurant and bar located nearby the site if volunteers would like to go there for a meal. The building beside the restaurant is a convenience store which is ideal for volunteers wanting a small snack or necessities such as shampoo and deodorant.
free time activities
Saturday afternoons and all day Sunday are free for volunteers to explore the local region. There are surfing and beach horseback riding lessons available within 100 meters of the site. Additionally, if volunteers wish to do longer trips, the nearby city of Quepos and the Manuel Antonio National Park are among the most popular choices. There is also a beautiful swimming hole and waterfall about a 30 minute hike from the site.
a typical day
Volunteers can expect six to ten hours of work per day (depending on the season and the current projects). There are rotating duties such as sea turtle patrol, hatchery watch, kitchen cleaning, and room cleaning.
Normally the day begins at 08:00 in the morning with breakfast, between 09:00 and 10:00 in the morning there are activities related to the maintenance of the volunteer house, where each volunteer is expected to participate in cleaning their room, bathrooms, and common areas.
Daily in alternate shifts, a person will start the day earlier, from 06:00 in the morning and until 12:00 noon, he must report covering the nursery shift, however, between 08:30 and 09:00 he will have a break to go to the camp for breakfast. That half-hour will be covered by the person who has the shift from 12:00 noon to 06:00 in the afternoon.
The day continues at 11:30 in the morning when the person who will perform the shift from 12:00 noon to 6:00 in the afternoon takes their lunch to go to work.
At noon all the rest of the volunteers and staff take their lunch.
Between 03:30 and 05:00 in the afternoon, various jobs are normally carried out depending on the day. These jobs can be: Beach cleaning, tree planting, tree cleaning in the reforestation area, nursery cleaning and maintenance, wildlife monitoring, beautification of green areas of the camp.
05:30 two volunteers have dinner to take the first night shift of the hatchery.
06:00 in the afternoon all volunteers and staff take their dinner.
From 06:00 to 12:00 midnight, two volunteers perform the first night shift at the hatchery.
From 12:00 midnight to 06:00 in the morning, two volunteers perform the second night shift of the hatchery.
During the night the beach patrols are carried out, depending on the tide the hours will be different each night, these patrols last between 3.5 and 5 hours, the time will depend on the number of turtles that are found during the tour.
