Say Jalo(va), Wave Goodbye

This particular New Year has already seen a lot of change for GVI Costa Rica, as the expedition relocates to new premises within Tortuguero National Park. 18 miles south of the old base at Caño Palma, our new home will be exclusively occupied by the expedition and, with Ministry of Environment approval, is the only inhabited estate within the Park.

The property, which has been modified and added to for our use, was previously a cattle and coconut farm, and parts of it will still be farmed. The new buildings follow the traditional style and we have running water and electricity provided by a generator and solar panel. The view is a little different to the old base, but we’ll take it - through the trees to the beach and the Caribbean Sea. With forest on the other three sides we are truly in the wilds here, and sharing our home with an abundance of wildlife.

Let’s hope the peccary, ocelots, monkeys (three species), coati, deer, jaguars, turtles (4 species) and hundreds of bird species can make room for us…

Walking the trail to base from the boat, our new volunteers will immediately get a sense of the environment in which they will be living and working.

The beach here is already the site of our jaguar predation project, and the second largest green turtle rookery in the world should certainly keep us busy. In addition to this, bird surveys could give us the chance to explore even more remote canals.

With new buildings, facilities and equipment in place, here in the field we are very excited about the first phase of 2010 - all we are waiting for now is the arrival of our fresh-faced new volunteers!

Say Jalo(va), Wave Goodbye