GVI Costa Rica Coastal Rainforest and Community Programmes

Bird Survey on Sierpe Viejo Canal

2012-01-28T07:46:00.001-06:00

Getting up early at 4 in the morning was a challenge for the team as Mark and Karen stayed up all night writing their BTEC assignments. We had breakfast, porridge as usual, then had to get our gear together including water bottles, rain proofs and binoculars for spotting the target species. We walked through the forest to the location where the boat was waiting for our arrival. We gathered and got into the boat and were then driven to the Ranger Station to pick up the canoe. The canoe was put onto the boat and driven up the river to the canal where we dropped off the canoe and started the survey. Once in the canoe, we spotted a few species including the Northern Jacana, Great Blue Heron and a good spot by Mark who spotted a Green Kingfisher, what a guy!

We carried on further up the canal and arrived at a reed bed that we had to row through. This exciting but hard-going section of the canal took 20 minutes to pass through but with Mark and Steven’s unique strength we had the man power to fight our way through the reeds with no mercy (no birds were harmed in the making of this!)

We arrived at the dense and overgrown area of the canal where we had to use Karen’s super sonar navigation eyes to prevent us from getting stuck on the floating logs and fallen trees. We arrived at an area of the canal where we saw 9 Boat-billed Herons, some of which were nesting and building their nests. Karen spotted one Boat-billed Heron that had a stick in it's beak that indicated the building of a nest and was recorded on the survey. After recording the species, we went further on and came to an impassable section of the canal due to a tree that seemed to have been pulled down, blocking our path. We decided to call it a day but the jungle manly madness took over and we decided to find a way through. Assassin Alex pulled his rugged knife from his veiny shin and Ramboed his way through the fallen tree. We all held our breath in amazement and idolized him from the back of the canoe, (what a guy!).

After the passage way was clear, we canoed our way through the humid, compact, jagged and overpowering tunnel under the remaining tree. We got through and with Grace getting a slap in the face by a branch, we were free to meander on through the canal. We had a quick toilet break in the bushes where Assassin Alex encountered a suspected Agami Heron that flew into the undergrowth. We got to the end of the survey and we had to head back. We rowed and sing and made a great rowing team almost good enough for the Olympics with Assassin Alex steering at the back (what a guy!). We traveled back down the canal and headed back through the dense reeds and painfully all the way back to the boat where we met Holly and James. We traveled back to the Ranger Station where we gave back the canoe and Karen almost got decapitated by the boat. (No humans were harmed in the making of this).

-Karen and Mark, GVI Interns

2012 Off to a Good Start

2012-01-25T16:25:00.003-06:00

Boat-billed Herons, Lineated Woodpeckers, Parachuting Red-Eyed Tree Frogs and Purple Gallinules. 2012 is kicking off with a lot of exciting things that would have sounded totally foreign and bizarre to the volunteers just a couple weeks ago. Nevertheless, people have not only already gotten accustomed to the rustic living/heat/humidty/insects but have made it through all of the first aid training and eagerly embraced the surveys that started this week. Already, all the volunteers have participated in various surveys including our Biological Assessments in the jungle, canal bird surveys, and jaguar track surveys on the beach, not to mention general duties such as trail clearing and building a covered outdoor structure to enjoy the open air at night. Tomorrow, the first group of the phase will take part in the first Jag Walk, walking 15 miles on the beach to the town of Tortuguero, collecting data on Jaguar activity. So far we have been largely problem-free which is quite nice! And needless to say, people have been very excited about the work so it's looking like it'll be an especially productive phase.

Some exciting things that have happened recently have included the arrival of a new diesel generator which has been much more reliable and fuel-efficient than the previous machine and the arrival of a car battery which enables us to carry out moth surveys in the forest where the types of moths we're looking for reside, instead of being limited to the length of our extension cord. Also, it was decided to attempt a bird survey on Sierpe Viejo this morning, a canal that has been utterly impassible due to reeds blanketing the water's surface. To everyone's surprise, the attempt was successful, and another blog will be posted shortly about their adventure this morning. Aside from that, we have an opossum attempting to call our kitchen and staff house it's home, and an Eyelash Viper that did call the quad-bike shed home for an unknown amount of time! Both have been dealt with properly fortunately!

A group of volunteers on a BAS survey

Additionally, preparations are underway for some environmental education classes in the elementary school of Parismina, a small town on the way to Jalova. 70+ students will participate in group activities relating to relevant environmental studies such as jungle animals, marine life, food chains, etc. The hope is to have monthly classes starting in February, and we're all excited to start reaching out to the community like we've been wanting to. Along the lines of community outreach, we also have completed our first bilingual newsletter called La Voz de la Selva (The Voice of the Forest) and are in the process of distributing them throughout the area.

Like normal, we have quite a diverse group of people on base at the moment. There are people from the US, Australia, Canada, the UK, and like usual a great deal of cultural exchange is happening. We have people putting sugar and lemon on their pancakes that have only ever considered using maple syrup! We're talking about major breakthroughs here!! Regardless of their origin, everyone is quite pleased with the nice weather we've had lately. Most days have been beautiful and sunny, a welcome change from the end of last phase which was very wet indeed. We never know what the near future will hold while living in the jungle but thus far it seems as though we have a strong start to the phase and promising things to come! Stay tuned!

-Kevin, field staff

First week back at El Cocal.

2012-01-25T11:10:00.000-06:00

We hit the ground running back at El Cocal this week!

Our new volunteers are super happy to be here and doing a great job. Their Spanish is coming along in leaps and bounds with their intensive Spanish course coming in really handy in trying to work out what the little ones are saying.

Our summer school has been a big hit, particularly with the younger kids. Gemmeke and Miriam have been starting the morning of with some sports, then giving some English classes and finally some practice with maths and reading. The kids have learnt the body parts, colours and animals in English this week. They also created some very imaginative stories inspired by hippos and pandas.

Our kinder is up and running again, now with 10 kids. It has been great to see how quickly they have developed in such a short time. Little Jesus is actually using words now…hooray. Courtney has been doing a great job working with them and developing their hand eye co-ordination and teaching them basic vocabulary.

After a successful first week in the community the volunteers had a great first weekend in Manuel Antonio, culminating on Sunday evening with a lovely bonfire and impromptu salsa lesson on the beach!

Here’s to a great weekend and hopefully another great week to come...

Community program staff - Quepos

New Year, Fresh Faces, Exciting Times

2012-01-13T21:31:00.001-06:00

A very happy new year from everyone working in the Caribbean rainforest of Tortuguero National Park. 9 very happy staff members returned to the base in Jalova this week to start preparations for the first volunteers of 2012 to arrive in just a few days time. Things have obviously been very calm in the area since we left for our vacation as capuchin monkeys have decided to set up home in the grapefruit tree to the rear of base and a couple of opossums were found in the kitchen (don’t worry, we have thoroughly cleaned after them). We were also relieved to see that there was no standing water left on base as things have no returned to their gloriously sunny best (but will it last?).

2012 is going to be an exciting one. We now welcome James Guilder to the staff team, an inhabitant of our previous base at Caño Palma. It’s great to see that he’s returned, although it did take him 5 years. Also our interns, Leo, Zach and Yannie, are refreshed from their Christmas holiday and also fluent in Spanish from their language lessons in the Nicaraguan town of Estelí. With Rich, Loraine, Alex, Benji and Kevin returning for the start of this year we are all ready to go. All we need now are some volunteers…

-Rich, Base Manager

Summer School launch....

2012-01-12T10:21:00.000-06:00

The GVI staff team hopes you all had a great Christmas and new years over this holiday season! Thank you to all of our 2011 volunteers who have helped us out so much over the year- hopefully we will see some of you again!

We are back to work in Quepos and El Cocal again getting everything ready for our summer school. The kids are on vacation until the end of February, so we wanted to give them something fun and educational to do during their holiday.

Our summer school program, ‘Vacaciones Utiles’ will be starting on Monday, offering kids free English classes, sports and art activities as well as reinforcement for reading and maths, we don’t want them forgetting what they have learned over the past school year!

Our kinder program will also be kicking off next Monday with 5 more kids signed up!

With 7 new volunteers arriving this Saturday I’m sure we will be off to a great start! Here’s to 2012!

Quepos Community Program Staff.

Incidental Animal Sightings Closing for the Year

2012-01-09T14:37:00.000-06:00

A Rufous-tailed Hummingbird on base

We see a lot of animals on our various surveys, and exciting as it is, it’s to be expected because we’re out there looking for them. Fortunately, there are so many animals in Tortuguero National Park that we see them even when we’re not out on a survey. This is where our Incidentals project comes in. It answers the question: “What kinds of animals do we incidentally see in our everyday lives in Jalova?” It helps us to understand the abundance and diversity of the animals in the park because incidentals are recorded in various places including the beach, forest and on base, and are recorded at any time in the day.

Phase 114, the last phase of 2011, yielded some impressive results in our Incidentals database. This was fueled by the presence of volunteers and interns who were very passionate about learning as much as they could about the animals in the area and would use their spare time to ID birds or anoles or frogs. In this last phase alone we recorded 1,884 individuals split into 239 different species, quite a high number even for Costa Rica. In fact, this is even more species than what was recorded during our Biological Assessment Surveys, for understandable reasons described below.

Birds accounted for the majority of the incidentals, because of the fact that many different birds are visible from base, and are some of the most easily seen animals. If we sit and wait on our porch, various birds will come to feed on the plants that are nearby, whereas the amphibians and mammals are much more elusive. We counted 160 different species of bird, almost 4 times the number of the second place category: reptiles (at 42 species). Third was mammals at 21 species and last was amphibians at 16.

In addition to spotting these many different species, several species were recorded this phase for the first time this year. We were able to add various birds such as the Swainson’s Thrush, Crimson-fronted Parakeet, Gray Catbird, and Cinnamon Becard, as well as several mammals including the West Indian Manatee and Kinkajou, in addition to several reptiles including the Carpenter’s Anole and the Common Bluntheaded Snake.

Our Incidentals database will continue to grow as we live in the National Park, and this phase was definitely another strong step forward.
-Kevin, Expedition Field Staff

Jaguar Camera Traps: A Tale of Jungle Paparazzi

2012-01-05T14:32:00.001-06:00

A Jaguar smelling our scent station

Ok, so we’re not selling these pictures to the tabloids, but we easily could because this phase was absolutely outstanding for our Jaguar camera-trapping project. We never really know how successful a given camera trap will be because the Jaguar(s) have to use that specific path and also stroll by slowly enough for the camera to catch a clear shot, and both are things we have only limited control over. Nonetheless, we had a huge amount of luck this last phase of 2011!

Our cameras spent a total of 106 nights out on the trails, active and waiting for animals. Throughout these nights, the cameras took a huge amount of pictures, yielding 86 pictures of 6 different Jaguars. Not only is this a very high number, it also was enough material to discover several key things. Perhaps most importantly, 2 new Jaguars were identified, bringing the total number of different individuals that GVI is aware of to 9. This is quite a large increase for 1 phase and is extremely useful information. Additionally, we had 11 recaptures, meaning that we’re now able to know a lot more about how far they move from day to day and even within a single night, and also which ones come back to this area the most. One individual, referred to as Luca by GVI, was captured a total of 6 times, giving us very insightful data into his behavior and activities.

We decided to try the video-capture feature of our cameras this phase, something that we had tried before but experienced frustrating and disappointing results over and over. However, we had amazing luck, and captured 11 videos with incredible clarity (see several posts ago for an awesome clip!) One thing that helped this work was the use of “scent stations,” something Benji, our Jaguar project leader, learned from Panthera. The cologne Calvin Klein: Obsession was sprayed onto a rag and stuck to a stick to attract Jaguars. It sounds ridiculous but it actually works! We captured several good videos of Jaguars not only stopping to smell it but pawing at it, rubbing their face and neck in it, and overall clearly being attracted to it!

Aside from the spectacular Jaguar footage, we also captured various pictures of other animals that happened to wander past such as Deer, Great Curassow (a big bird), an Agouti with babies, and even an Ocelot! Needless to say, this was a fantastic phase for our Jaguar camera-trapping project.

-Kevin, Expedition Field Staff

Turtles Done Nesting, Jaguars Done Feasting, People Done Walking

2012-01-01T14:28:00.000-06:00

Jaguar tracks on Tortuguero beach

Our GVI-Jalova Biological Station in Tortuguero National Park helps to provide field data on a variety of different conservation areas, but a select few stand out because of scarcity of such data collection around the world. Perhaps the best example of this is the jaguar predation of sea turtles that is witnessed every year on the beaches of Tortuguero. The sheer number of jaguars identified, along with the fact that the predation of sea turtles is quite a new phenomenon, makes this project particularly important and exciting. This is why we walked a total of 123 miles this phase alone, recording information on this topic.

We were able to conduct 9 “Jag Walks” over the phase, each one beginning at our base in Jalova at the south end of the park and ending in the town of Tortuguero at the north end of the park. 3 Jaguars were actually seen by participants during these walks, and jaguar footprints were seen on every walk. In fact, the footprints were found in nearly every part of the 15-mile section and many of the subsections had more than one individual that had walked there the previous night. Even though we’ve been here for almost 2 years, the prevalence of Jaguars still amazes us.

The beginning of the phase had quite a high number of jaguar-predated Sea Turtles, with 48 being found in total (all of them Green Sea Turtles). As the turtle nesting season slowed down, so did the amount of predated turtles. We still made some good discoveries though, even as the turtles became more and more rare. We have been finding quite a lot of scat samples on the beach, which is a rare place to find Jaguar scat. Some have included bones and hair of various animals, and one even contained sea turtle hatchlings, something never before documented. In the New Year we are looking to work with an organization called Panthera which will help us tremendously in analyzing these samples.

As the months go by, we continue to learn more and more about the jaguar predation of sea turtles, and this phase didn’t disappoint in the least for this research.

-Kevin, Expedition Field Staff

Happy New Year Tico style...

2012-01-01T10:26:00.027-06:00

We hope everyone had a fabulous New Years Eve full of fun and merriment!

New Years Eve is just as big in Costa Rica as anywhere else, with parties on the beach, family gatherings, music and food.

But if you want an epic party the place to be is Las Fiestas de Zapote, just south east of San Jose. It is a party of all things Costa Rican, from rodeos and cowboys to loud music and alcohol.

Las Fiestas de Zapote marks the end of the year and is basically a four-day-long New Year's Eve celebration.

If you are spending New Year in Costa Rica don't expect a huge roast dinner. Due to the heat the traditional New Year's eve meal of choice is tamales filled with spiced pork. You can see them being made around town and people putting up signs on their house that they have the best tamales for sale.

The Ticos also love their fireworks and fire crackers, you can hear them day and night for the whole month of December! It takes a while of getting used to but certainly puts you in the spirit.

Like all Latin American countries there is a healthy dose of superstition and tradition rolled into the festivities.

Here are some examples of of Tico New Year superstitions:

1. Want to get a fresh start and remove evil from the past, spend the day of the 31^st sweeping them out of your house.

2. To ensure all bad events are behind you, put water in a pan and throw it over your shoulder.

3. Wearing yellow on New Year’s eve is said to bring good luck.

4. To add a little spice, wear red underwear this will ensure your love life takes off over the next 12 months.

5. If you want more travel in your life over the next year, take your luggage and walk around your house 2 times.

6. Eating 12 grapes at midnight will grant you 12 wishes and good luck.

Enjoy... and if you made a New Year's resolution try and stick to it for at least a week!

The world according to Imer

2011-12-29T10:33:00.000-06:00

Imer, a 6 year old boy is one of our regular attendees at the GVI community centre. He never stops talking and is always a favourite of the volunteers due to his vivid and wild imagination. He tends to see the world slightly differently then the other kids and loves telling volunteers certain “facts” according to the world of Imer.

Here are some facts he has informed us of:

1. Glitter is bad for your heart. While most of the kids go crazy over glitter and will use as much of it as possible, Imer avoids using it too much, when asked why, he frankly told us it was bad for your heart.

2. Last week, Imer shocked us with the sad news that Santa Claus was dead. Mrs. Claus was alive and well but sad to have lost her husband. Thankfully Imer made her a Christmas card to cheer her up.

3. You always have to bring an umbrella to the Cinema….. no explanation given.

4. The moon is made of cheese. He is very certain of this, he then told us how much he liked cheese but that he would never eat the moon as other wise the sky would be too dark at night.

Imer’s stories always put a smile on everyones face in the centre. Sadly he is moving to Nicaragua in the new year, he will be sorely missed by his classmates and the volunteers.

P.S If any of you are familiar with the TV show 'Modern Family', Manny Delgado is Imer in a couple of years time...

Biological Assessment Surveys Wrap Up for the Year

2011-12-28T14:24:00.000-06:00

3 volunteers from Phase 114 on a BAS survey

The Biological Assessment Surveys (BAS) carried out at the GVI Jalova Biological Station this last phase were in full swing and ended up yielding some exciting results. These surveys are typically the source of a lot of conversation around base because of the fact that much of the rare and exotic wildlife seen while participating with GVI is seen while on these BAS surveys. While they can be physically challenging (long hikes to the survey site, wading through knee-high ponds, toughing through pounding rain), they end up being quite rewarding experiences.

This last phase we were able to conduct 86 individual surveys over our 8 trails, which gave us a quite a large amount of time on the trails. Our teams identified 174 individual species, an astonishing number for those of us that don’t come originally from the tropics. Between those 174 species, we were able to record 1,335 individuals seen and positively identified. In addition to this, we were able to positively identify 157 individuals from their calls alone, and another 24 animals were identified from their footprints alone.

Of these recordings, birds accounted for the most sightings, with the Black Vulture being spotted the most. Birds were followed closely by reptiles with the Slender Anole being seen the most. In third place was the mammals, whose top contender was the Central American Spider Monkey. Finally, amphibians were spotted the least, with the Red-Eyed Treefrog (the wildlife symbol of Costa Rica) being seen the most. Overall, the most spotted animal was the Slender Anole, followed by the Central American Spider Monkey, followed by the Eyelash Palm Pitviper.

The diversity of animals in Tortuguero National Park is simply astounding, and it’s nice to have our data collected in the field reflect this. Our BAS teams, dealing with such obstacles as numerous Eyelash Vipers sitting right at eye-level, Fer-de-lances sleeping in the middle of the path, and monkeys literally throwing things at us to defend their territory, did an excellent job and collected solid data that will help with the protection of the park in the coming months and years.

-Kevin, Expedition Field Staff

Merry Christmas from Tortuguero National Park and the GVI Charitable Trust!

2011-12-24T14:11:00.000-06:00

Rich, Base Manager, carrying petrol in front of the Ranger Station

Everyone at GVI Jalova would like to wish all of our readers a very Merry Christmas!

Along with the festivities happening around the world, work continues in Tortuguero National Park as the rangers are still on duty protecting the rainforest and the jaguars that are found within. GVI are attempting to help the rangers in the future by providing them with the means to perform extra patrols. This means that the wildlife of the beaches and forests will continue to receive the fullest protection available.

If you would like to make a festive donation or perhaps are thinking about a sponsored challenge as part of a new year’s resolution, then follow this link for more information:

http://www.gvi.org/protect-caribbean-rainforest-costa-rica

Rich - Base Manager

Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad

2011-12-23T09:24:00.001-06:00

Here’s to a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to everyone in El Cocal and all of the volunteers that have helped to develop and improve our Community project over the last year.

We are very excited to be welcoming a new bunch volunteers in January ! As the school in El Cocal is closed until the second week of February we have an exciting Summer School planned for the kids. The principal is allowing us to use the school to run our ‘Vacaciones Utiles’. So far 27 kids have signed up and we will be offering English classes, reading math and sports.We really want to give the kids some fun and learning over their vacation so that they don’t just hang around all day every day.

It is at times like this that you can truly see why our project is needed in El Cocal. We launched the community project on the GVI Charitable Trust website in order to buy more educational supplies and support the school and community centre.

If you would like to help please visit our Charitable Trust project page on:

http://www.gvi.org/community-development-education-in-quepos-costa-rica

The Community Programs team in Quepos wishes you a very Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo!

Bird Surveys Finish Off With Flying Colors

2011-12-20T14:05:00.000-06:00

Green Heron in the vegetation

Ahhh, the bird surveys. Many volunteers talk about the bird surveys as being one of their highlights of their time at Jalova. Not only are they a nice break from the mosquitoes of the jungle, they’re also an amazing opportunity to see some incredible wildlife along the canals of Tortuguero. After all, it’s this spectacular diversity of animals in the canals that draws thousands of visitors to the park every year. Some (sunny) days it seems that if we were accidentally “stranded” and had to slowly drift along all day, it might not be such a bummer…

This phase was quite successful for our bird teams. Despite some challenges (see below), we carried out 26 individual surveys (which would be about 720 man-hours in total!). Among these 26 surveys, we spotted 23 of the 30 target species, and recorded 1186 individual birds. This phase the bird we saw the most was the Snowy Egret which we counted 234 times, followed by the Little Blue Heron which we counted 197 times, leaving 3^rd place to the Northern Jacana which we counted 184 times. We were very fortunate to have some sightings of rare birds this phase too. These included the Purple Gallinule, Gray-necked Wood-rail, Limpkin and the Sunbittern.

We were lucky to be able to have such a successful phase with the canal surveys because we had several big obstacles in our way. Our boat, which we use to shuttle our bird teams, was out of service for a good portion of the beginning of the phase so we had to change our logistics quite a bit. Then, at times the rain became so intense (remember, it rains up to 21 feet a year here!) that the canals, which usually are mostly stagnant, became rather fast moving rivers, forcing us to end surveys early on multiple occasions. There was also an unexpected bloom of aquatic plants on one of our survey canals, making it impossible for our canoe to pass through (despite the valiant efforts of several teams to attempt anyway!). However, despite having various setbacks and challenges, we finished this phase on quite a good note. We also saw loads of other interesting animals in the canals, including Manatee, Toucans, Tayra, Basilisks and all three kinds of monkey present in the Park.

All in all, everybody at the Jalova Biological Station is quite content with the information we got and what we’ll be able to learn from it. Because the birds make up a very crucial part of the fauna in Tortuguero National Park, this data will be especially useful in providing proof for the need for continued protection of the park in the future.

-Kevin, Expedition Field Staff

Christmas Party and Graduation!

2011-12-19T09:23:00.000-06:00

Well Friday was finally the last day of school in El Cocal!

The kids are excited the teachers are tired...but in true Tico style this means it’s time for a party.

What a party it was…the school courtyard was packed with kids playing games, singing and dancing. The teachers organized goody bags for all the kids and a local Latin drumming band preformed nonstop for 2 hours! The morning started off relatively calmly but with a procession of candy, ice-cream , cake and extremely loud music the kids energy levels skyrocketed.

That same afternoon at 4pm was a more serious occasion, 8 students from the 6th grade graduated! The ceremony was held in the church where we run our community center. The graduates and their families were all dressed up for the occasion. It was so nice to see the parents so happy and proud of their children. We were particularly touched to see Moises graduate, he is the son the lovely Nicaraguan lady, Eneida who makes us delicious food everyday for lunch. She has been looking forward to this day for weeks and it was so lovely so her all dressed up and proud.

They also held a ceremony for the pre-school kids graduating to the first grade. They were all dressed up wearing the school sash with either beaming smiles or terrified looks on their little faces, obviously not used to being up on stage in front of a big crowd. These are a lot of the same children we work with at the Community Center, it will be really interesting to see and support their transition into ‘big’ school over the coming year.

Well all in all a great last day at the community before the Christmas break… happy parents, students and teachers and the Quepos field staff feeling privileged to be a part of such an important day!

Turtles and People Both Burrow Out of the Sand for the Holidays!

2011-12-16T13:55:00.000-06:00

Volunteer Karin escorts a hatchling to the sea.

As the last phase of the year wraps up and the holidays approach, the Green Sea Turtle nesting season does so as well (conveniently!). The work being done with the turtles shifts during this period from tagging turtles, marking new nests, and looking for fresh turtle tracks to keeping a watchful eye on the already laid nests, watching for signs of hatchlings, and excavating already hatched nests to better understand how well the nest did.

Although the only turtles being seen are hatchlings at this point, this second half of the conservation work is equally important and ends up revealing quite a bit of useful data. This work is done until the last of the nests have hatched and been excavated, usually in mid-December. Despite the jaguars continuing to patrol the beach almost every night in hopes of finding a meal, the beach is relatively quiet and empty until the Leatherback season starts in several months.

This phase was quite successful for our Sea Turtle program. Not only did we have a good number of nests of the critically endangered Hawksbill Turtle, we also had several Green Sea Turtles nest multiple times on our section of the beach during this single season, which is a very good sign. We had no major setbacks and it seems that everyone is content with the data we were able to get.

There were plenty of unusual encounters this phase as well. 2 different Leatherback Sea Turtle tracks were found, which is utterly confusing because we are right in the middle of the off-season for that species of turtle. Hopefully over time our data collection here will help reveal why that might happen. We also found some startling things in the excavated nests, including albino hatchlings and twins (fraternal AND Siamese!).

Despite the unfortunate discoveries of signs of poaching at several points throughout the season, it undoubtedly turned out to be a successful season and phase for GVI’s turtle program. We were lucky to have an especially enthusiastic group of volunteers and interns which made this possible. Everybody was able to be involved in the turtle work and nearly everybody was lucky enough to witness hatchlings dashing for the sea, truly a magical moment when you remember that the females won’t return for over a decade and the males never will.

-Kevin, Expedition Field Staff

Experiences as a GVI Volunteer in El Cocal

2011-12-14T08:11:00.004-06:00

I had the opportunity to be involved for a 4 week period within the GVI project working with children aged between 2 and 10.

Children in general at this age need lots of attention but I think those of El Cocal even more in the sense that they may not receive enough at home. It is important to share the attention equally and not show preferences, even if it is human. It is also important to guide them in their education which implies consequences to their actions such as not letting them do whatever they want without limits or rules. This can make you come across as the bad guy at times but it is important that the children see us as not only friends but role models.

The children from our Kinder need constant attention and supervision, whereas the older children can play independently in small groups. Nevertheless, they all still want you to give them attention and be constantly interested in what they do and say.

At the beginning of my adventure, I met an adorable 2 year old called Jesus. He can't speak and communicates through gestures, sounds and squeaks. Yet over the course of a few weeks I noticed his evolution with the beginning of new words other than 'si or 'no' and this makes me smile. I get so excited when he tries to say a new word.

Derek is a child with lots of sparkling energy that requires a lot of affection which you give him wholeheartedly because he gives you a look that you can't say no to. Winer, 6 years old loves to color and paint, he is a quite child with a lot of intellectual capabilities and watching him play and learn is simply a pleasure.

These are my last few days on the project before I go home for Christmas, I will take home such fond memories and thinking about leaving the children brings a little tear to my eye. I hope I have been able to bring something lasting to these children over the last month....I might just have to come back and carry on where I left off!

Astrid Vanderhoydonck - Volunteer

End of Phase 114 - End of Phases

2011-12-12T13:48:00.003-06:00

Unfortunately torrential rain has hit camp since all of the volunteers left on Friday, ushering us into the office to get our phase-end work done. However the sun somehow managed to come out for the last few days of phase and allow us to tidy up. For most the main benefit of that sun will have been having some dry clothes to travel back to San Jose in.

The 6 month volunteers and Noel left on Wednesday and they were all to be quickly followed by the rest of the gang on Friday. This has rounded up the end of phase 114 which has once again been terrific, allowing us to make good moves forward in our research of the National Park. Now just the staff is left on base for one more week as we attempt to wrap everything up. Over the coming weeks we will be posting results blogs from our phase report which is being collated as I type by the wonderful staff of the Jalova project. It should surely whet your appetite if you are coming out in the New Year and will also serve as a reminder if you were one of the lucky ones here since October.

This marks the end of the year for us here, but also the end of the current format of volunteering with GVI in Jalova. From 2012 people will be able to volunteer for 4, 8 and 12 weeks instead of the current 5 or 10. This allows us to maintain a constant presence in the park and mean we can add to our turtle monitoring teams from what we had in 2010 and 2011. All of this makes for great news for our partners as we will enhance our datasets from extra surveys.

Thanks to everyone who has made phase 114 and 2011 so great here in Tortuguero National Park. Without all of you, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve any of what we have.

-Rich, Base Manager

GVI Charitable Trust: Assist the Rangers of Tortuguero National Park

2011-12-07T11:11:00.005-06:00

GVI has been working with the rangers in Tortuguero National Park for coming up to 2 years now. During this time we have seen what a positive impact the patrols of the rangers can have on the habitat of the forest and the beach. During the turtle seasons the rangers regularly stop poaching activity of the nests and the sight of handcuffed poachers at the rangers station is one that we will never grow tired of.

For this reason we are pleased to announce that GVI Jalova has recently launched a charitable trust page to raise extra funds for the National Park Rangers. We aim to provide the resources to boost the number of patrols and, in turn, help protect the animals that call the National Park home.

In the coming year the park ranger’s budget will be cut, yet the cost of fuel continues to rise. Combine this with the fact that rangers have to pay for their food whilst working and you can see that many of the patrols will come under threat in 2012.

To donate money to this cause or to simply find out more information about this project and the many others that GVI Charitable Trust looks to support, visit:

http://www.gvi.org/protect-caribbean-rainforest-costa-rica

The Gold at the End of the Rainbow

2011-12-06T15:10:00.004-06:00

Authors note: The following events have not been exaggerated or embellished. Seriously.

Picture a grey morning, the sun has just risen above the sea, despite the cloud’s best efforts to mask it. Picture three men, three miles in to a proposed twelve mile hike, straining their eyes towards the horizon. Picture a lone ray of sunlight breaking through the clouds, illuminating the prize they’ve been seeking for weeks.

Nest check, 28/11/11 Messers Benjamin Barca, Thomas Edwards and myself (Zachary Halter) have just reached the mile 15 marker. Normally this is where nest check ends but we’ve decided to continue to mile 12, which is where the most jags have been seen the last few weeks. We’ve been scanning the horizon every half mile and again all we see are logs and driftwood. Then the sun comes out down by mile 15 and two logs that had looked black, suddenly are shown to be orange. After further inspection they also appear to be moving.

Though excited we know this is nothing definitive so we carry on down the beach. Just past 14 4/8 we checked the horizon again. After seeing nothing for about two minutes almost simultaneously Tom and I look down the beach and shout in shock. Just over 100m away are two jags. We immediately drop to the ground and when the jags are looking away we dash to an old turtle nest along the vegetation. We lie down and keep watching through the binoculars. When we get another opportunity we run up to another nest 15m further up the beach, this one directly behind a tree and some shrubs. To our disbelief the jags begin walking towards us. A few times it seemed they would stop and stare right at us, then continue walking our way. All three of us were laughing, sweating, just trying to hold the binoculars steady. After 10 minutes they were within 50 meters and our professionalism kicked in. We decided to try to ID these jags, which required us to go back to our bags and get our cameras. Tom and I got low to the ground and, hugging the tree line, ran back to our bags. We got the cameras and headed back. Unfortunately, we were spotted on our return trip, and the jags ran back into the forest, not to return again.

After a very necessary 15-minute cool down session, we went to the spot where the jags had started. There we took victory photos of ourselves, as well as their paw prints in the sand. Then, triumphant and victorious, we began our long walk back to base.

Picture a grey morning. Picture 3 men, taking their time on a long walk home, ear to ear smiles on their faces. See these men turn after 2 miles, wanting to see again the place that brought them such happiness. Picture again a lone ray of sunlight breaking through the clouds, illuminated that place that now is so dear to their hearts. Picture a rainbow forming above the ray of light, becoming maybe the first rainbow in history to accurately show a place where a treasure was found.

-Zach H, intern

A bit of culture and goodbyes!

2011-12-05T14:11:00.004-06:00

Well most of our volunteers have now left Quepos and gone home for Christmas! Luckily we still have the lovely Astrid holding down the fort at El Cocal…

As a send off for Lore, Lydia, Felicia and Sean we all decided to go see Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet (El Cascanueces) at the National Theatre in San Jose!

We had a very civilized and cultured evening; the highlight of the ballet was definitely the battle between the rat king and the toy soldiers. The dance of the sugar plum fairies was another classic moment. We kept wondering how the kids would have reacted to the dancers, costumes and music…we though some of them might explode from imagination overload!

As far as architecture goes the National Theatre is probably the most beautiful Neoclassical building in San Jose. It was built between 1890-1897 and was inaugurated in 1897 with a performance of the opera Faust. The interior is decorated in an Italian Renaissance style making it feel very grand indeed.

San Jose was already geared up for Christmas with music festivals and markets all over the streets.

We are now back home in sleepy Quepos happy to be back with the kids in El Cocal….

Christina and Patrick

GVICommunity Program Staff

More Calvin Klein Obsession For Jags

2011-12-03T11:36:00.002-06:00

The camera traps down at Mile 15 have now been active for a while and as seen in a previous post have produced some good results. The CK Obsession has been seen to stop some of the jaguars, meaning that we have a higher chance of getting a clear shot of one of the cats.

To change things up a bit before the Christmas break we decided to change the setting of the cameras to video and see who came along to show their face.

It's fair to say that we were very excited by what we saw. Previously we doubted how much the scent of CK really worked, but now we can't argue that the jags aren't obsessed by it!

This is an amazing reward for what has also been an awesome year for the camera trapping project. We have grown from the point of not getting many photos to regularly having several each time that we check the memory cards. This is great news for both the jaguars and Tortuguero National Park as knowing the number of jaguars that use the coastal rainforest is imperative for being able to manage the area successfully.

Hopefully in 2012 we can expand our connections with the organizations working locally and share our photos to see where the jaguars go when they are not on the lookout for turtles on the beach.

Quepos Community Program launched on GVI Charitable Trust

2011-12-01T09:37:00.011-06:00

We are very excited to have launched our Community Program in El Cocal Quepos onto the GVI Charitable Trust!

follow this link for further details:

http://www.gvi.org/community-development-education-in-quepos-costa-rica

GVI has been working in El Cocal for 8 months now and the program is evolving and going from strength to strength.

We are currently raising funds to improve the facilities at the school and community center allowing GVI to further develop the diversity and quality of educational programs we are offering the community.

The public school in El Cocal has recently agreed to dedicate a room in the school to the GVI volunteers! We are so excited because this means that we can work more closely with the teachers and students. We are working with the teachers to deliver a good standard of English lessons, literacy and numeracy reinforcement for the kids that are struggling and developing an environmental education program.

The room is currently being renovated and with the funds we raise we aim to make this space a truly educational, interactive and engaging environment for the kids and volunteers.We would like to invest in materials such as Spanish and English books for different reading levels, posters, educational games, arts and crafts supplies etc…

If you would like to participate and raise funds for our program please visit our Charitable Trust project page (see link above).

Any amount is appreciated and will be put to good use so Thank YOU all in advance for your support!

The Community Program Team in Quepos

Calvin Klein Obsession: For Jaguars

2011-11-30T15:00:00.004-06:00

Since we’ve been having so many jag-spotting related posts lately, with at least 1 more amazing one (mine!) to come later this week, it seemed like a good time for an update on our jaguar camera-trapping project. We’ve actually been getting excellent results on all our trap locations. We’ve had 2 cameras at the mile 15 beach entrance for all of Phase 114 (October-December 2011), and have consistently been getting shots of passing jags. The results from Nov. 28 may have set a GVI record for pictures with jags caught. Two jaguars, named by GVI as Luca and Alex, were both caught entering the beach, as well as leaving the beach, spending about an hour on the beach. This amount of pictures clear enough to ID the jaguars is uncommon and was an exciting moment back on base while going through the camera memory cards.

One reason for our increased success rate is that we’ve begun using scent stations to help slow down jags as they run past the cameras. Going off a tip from a PANTHERA (a wildcat conservation organization) worker, we’ve been using rags sprayed with Calvin Klein Obsession and placing them on stakes between the 2 cameras at mile 15. Jags are intrigued by the smell and are more likely to stop to investigate when passing through. In the past, even when a jag was caught on camera, it was often moving too fast to be identified. Since starting to use the scent stations, we’ve successfully re-identified 4 returning jags: Luca, Alex, Molly and Lyra. We also have caught a new, as-yet-unnamed jag and an ocelot using that entrance to the beach.

As if this wasn’t exciting enough, we also have caught both Luca and Molly passing our cameras stationed on our South Boundary Trail. Not only does this mean that they’re traveling right past our base, but Molly was captured at 4 PM, which would be right around the time a Biological Assessment Survey team on South Boundary would be returning. Needless to say, people are much more hopeful to be sent to South Boundary now.

Finally, we’ve also begun encountering jaguar scat on the beach, which is largely undocumented previously. We’re hoping to begin collecting scat and extracting hair and bone samples from it during our next phases. In preparation for this, we’ve already begun experimenting with the scat and have found some surprising results. We’ve discovered that jags have begun eating sea turtle hatchlings, which has never been recorded for Costa Rican jaguars. We’re excited to see if this is an anomaly or if jaguars are going to start consistently going after hatchlings, which obviously raises questions about how much this will affect sea turtle population sizes. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as we continue to expand our jaguar projects.

-Zach H, Intern

Exciting Nest Check

2011-11-26T13:08:00.003-06:00

At five in the morning we embarked on a daily nest check. Although there were no signs of hatchlings, there was still plenty to discover.

Around 600 meters from the Jalova base we found jaguar tracks leading to fresh jaguar scat. We found two whole Green Sea Turtle hatchlings in the jaguar scat. Jaguars are a common predator of Green Sea Turtles in Tortuguero National Park, however it was unknown whether they prey on turtle hatchlings until that morning.

Roughly 50 meters beyond the jaguar scat we saw a sudden movement in the vegetation. As we walked towards the commotion we discovered two sets of fresh jaguar tracks with claws drawn ascending from the surf. This indicates that the jaguar was running. The tracks looked as though they were of an adult jaguar and its cub.

On the perimeter of the vegetation we found a wounded opossum with two puncture wounds – indicative of canine teeth – on its back. Because the attack was noticeably recent, there was a possibility that the jaguar might return.

Partially spur of the moment, but mostly the opportunity to see such an elusive animal, we decided to lay in the surf and wait for the jaguar to come back.

After almost 30 minutes and soaked pants, there was still no sign of a jaguar. Since the jaguar duo did not come back to claim its prey, it is a possibility that the adult was training the cub to hunt.

The trudge back to Jalova was glorious as we regaled the events of the morning. The moment was even worthy of a victory photo set amongst the sunrise.

- Kristen Byrne and Rachael Downes, Volunteers

Kinder at El Cocal

2011-11-25T10:00:00.001-06:00

After seeing so many little ones simply wandering the streets of El Cocal in the mornings, we decided to set up a kinder program for children aged 2-6, offering them a fun, safe and interactive area for these kids to play and learn.

Although it was off to a slow start with only 2 kids on day one, more and more kids have been registering every day and it looks likes it’s going to be a great success.

Lydia, a volunteer from Sweden, has been teaching them colours, numbers, pencil control and other essential preschool skills. This should give the kids a great head start once they finally start school, which means they will be able to make the most of what little school time they receive.

The kinder kids have had such fun playing and learning with Lydia and her sparkling enthusiasm has kept them smiling and laughing all throughout the day!

Whitewater rafting down the Pacuare

2011-11-21T10:30:00.001-06:00

After along week at the Community we went for drinks at Café Milagro ... I treated myself to a "Jugo de Maracuya", which is somewhat similar to passion fruit juice ...yumm!

Then we caught the bus and were off for a weekend of thrills rafting/canyoning down the Pacuare River. After a long journey we finally arrived in Turrialba after a good sleep our morning pick up was at 8:30 am. We only end up leaving at around 9.30... But hey, no problem ... we're on Tico Time!

And we're off! But first we still need to pick up Manuel our guide, the rafting boats and food for the weekend.

The adventure begins…First, we load our backpacks and stuff into waterproof bags and we do a short training to learn the commands. There is not much to it just …paddle, back paddle, stop, back paddle left / right and high fives (the high fives are just for fun)!

After several hours of rafting, a few stops at a waterfall and a river walk, we have arrived. We unpacked the boat and started our ascent to the campsite, A beautiful tented area with everything we could want, except electricity and hot water but who cares.

It is now around 2pm and our guide made a delicious lunch ... Simple but delicious, and plenty of it. After a refreshing nap, it is suddenly seriously dark. So we have dinner by candlelight surrounded by such beautiful unspoilt countryside, just blissful!
Of course less for me, because wilderness means 'mosquitoes' and they love me but hey what can you do! We finish our evening with a game of cards and a glass of white wine or a beer ...

On Sunday the alarm clock went off at a quarter to eight.
After breakfast we continue rafting trip, more rapids and lovely scenery.
It was a gorgeous weekend! Luckily it was raining all day because otherwise I wouldn’t have wanted to leave….
We made it back to the house at around 10pm, exhausted but happy!

Lore Tuytens - Volunteer

Cooking Tico style

2011-11-18T18:04:00.000-06:00

Every day at lunch time the GVI Quepos volunteers are treated to a delicious lunch cooked by Aneida, who lives in El Cocal, the community we work in. Her cooking is certainly one of the yummier ones in Quepos, so we decided to take some cooking lessons from here to spice up the dishes in the GV house and also for some recipes to bring back home!

Volunteers cooked Costa Rican dishes such as Gallo Pinto con Papaya as well as Empanadas, Tamales, Tanelas and other pastries. During the classes Aneida regaled us with stories from her past and plenty of anecdotes about her family. Aneida moved to Costa Rica over 15 years ago from Nicaragua in search for a better life for both herself and her family. She is one of the kindest and happiest people GVI works with here in Costa Rica and she loves having the volunteers over to lend her a hand in the kitchen- It seems she’s even got her eye on volunteers Lydia and Felicia as future assistants!

It looks like we will be eating very well in the GVI house over the next few weeks!

Phase 114B - All Change

2011-11-17T14:48:00.001-06:00

We are now into the second half of phase 114 and the last time that we have the pleasure of 5 week volunteers! The 7 ‘newbies’ to our group have navigated their way through all the training and have been enjoying their first surveys this week. These recruits have swelled our ranks back to 17 and base seems to be very full once more.

This second half of phase has seen a small change to the structure of our surveys. Loraine is trying out some methods of extending our species list to include moths, an under-represented portion of our species list so far. This has seen us adding an extra night survey to the rota to replace the turtle walks that disappeared at the end of October. But if you ask the crazy leatherback that has been nesting on the beach recently (see previous jag walk post) we should be carrying them on for a little while yet!

We have also welcomed back the GVI boat, Iriria, to our base. This has allowed us to recommence bird surveys on our more distant routes, as well as provide easier access to the land of pizza and milkshakes at the weekends.

Finally, Benji (our jag man) is hoping that the lack of turtle tracks will make the jaguar tracks more evident but the weather is trying to have its say on that! So we are trying to photograph tracks again and identify the jaguars on the beach this year. Hopefully this will provide us with the ability to compare results to last year’s project which should provide an interesting insight into the jaguar make-up of the area.

All this makes for an action packed last few weeks of the year, hopefully we will have some exciting stories to post in the coming weeks!
-Rich, Base Manager

More English Classes in El Cocal

2011-11-16T08:00:00.001-06:00

This week we introduced more English classes at GVI’s community centre in El Cocal. We now offer daily morning and afternoon classes for both Kids and Adults. This means students receive more one on one attention and smaller class sizes, helping them to learn English much faster.

Moises, aged 16, has been our star performer in the newly introduced English for children classes. He has received some fantastic one on one class from our volunteer, Sofia. Sofia has taught him basic greetings, food vocabulary and how to form basic questions. Moises has enjoyed the classes so much that he even came after he had been fishing since 3am!

And with more and more children coming to the community centre its looking like our English programme is going to become more and more successful every week!

Jungle Fashion at Jalova

2011-11-14T16:14:00.004-06:00

At the end of last week we had to say a sad farewell to our merry bunch of five weekers, however this week we had the pleasure of greeting a new bunch of volunteers on to base to fill their shoes! There were some very big (and very fashionable) shoes to fill but everyone seems to be settling in to life here in the jungle/beach paradise that is Jalova.

Speaking of shoes… with new people arriving on base seeing the place and its inhabitants with a fresh pair of eyes, it made me wonder just what they might be thinking when they encountered their first Jalovian…

We are a very fashionable bunch, it has to be said! We regularly rock the “socks and crocs” or, the slightly cooler but more tricky to pull off “socks and thongs (flip-flops)” look. Gum boots (wellie/rubber boots) are making a real statement this season. Worn with knee-high socks and shorts or with tucked in trousers, this look is going to be dominating the trails here in Tortuguero. Another hot look that is really easy to achieve here in the rainforest is the “Dirty Shirt”. All that’s needed to get this look is a few BAS (Biological Assessment Survey) outings followed by a Nest Excavation without washing your shirt. This look can easily be applied to trousers with the effect being accentuated if your trousers are originally pale in colour. This is particularly favoured by the Italian on base who also shows us how to perfect the one buttoned shirt/half zipped hoodie look that not everyone can get away with.

Jungle hair styles are BIG! The bigger the better! Humidity, salt water, biodegradable shampoo and sweat are all that’s needed to perfect the “Big Hair” statement. The most popular and practical hair accessories tend to be the “Head torch Headband” or the “Mosquito Net Veil”. A special hairy mention goes out to the men of Jalova who are attempting to grow moustaches for MOvember. There are some brave facial hair endeavours going on here at the moment including one impressive handlebar, a couple of convincing “fairly hairy lips” and a handful of “fake it until you make it barely there” fluffy lips that might one day be called moustaches.

In addition to looking good we also smell great! This seasons must have scent is DEET, unless of course you’re a jaguar and in which case it’s Calvin Klein Obsession…

-Helen, intern

Unforgettable Wildlife

2011-11-10T23:11:00.003-06:00

It was a quiet morning on the daily nest check. Green Turtle nesting season is drawing to a close and the number of nests requiring our monitoring has dwindled to only a handful. Kevin and I left base at around 5:15 with the first grey light of morning just creeping onto the beach as we set out. The sun was rising on a clear day as we walked the three-mile stretch of beach and it promised to be another scorcher. We chatted as we walked and checked the nests, one or two of which had indeed hatched since the previous morning; tiny flipper tracks in the sand revealing the little hatchlings’ frenzied dash toward the sea. We also noticed an abundance of fresh jaguar tracks on many parts of the beach, indicating high levels of big cat activity close to our base.

We had reached the end of the survey area and were well on our way back when we had an incredible and unexpected encounter. Kevin was scanning the beach with his binoculars when all of a sudden “There’s a jag!!”. Looking into the distance, I could not see where he meant, thinking it must be some way off. “Look right here, by the bushes” he whispered, pointing. Sure enough, to my utter astonishment, there sat the very animal I had hardly dared hope to see. The jaguar can barely have been more than 100 metres from where we stood and was sitting in the shade of the vegetation where it bordered the beach. Powerful and majestic, and not in the least perturbed by our presence, he beheld us calmly for some time before casually getting up and strolling back into the forest. Then he was gone, leaving me with a feeling of excitement and disbelief, and an experience that I shall never forget.

-Leo, Intern

Jag Walk - Strange Sightings

2011-11-09T05:00:00.001-06:00

Without having been on one, my first thoughts on the jag walk were: Good grief, I might die. After feeling the weight of my bag pre-jag walk my first thoughts were: Good grief, I am DEFINITELY going to die! 15 miles is daunting to say. The least anyone is right to feel is nervous, perhaps a little bit scared…and a big bit excited.

The big day came: armed with animal shaped welsh cakes, and a whopping 37 litres of water between us; we were set to go and at the very social hour of 5am, off we went.

The first 6 miles we were robust – drenched but robust. With the help of various genres of music, dancing (from Yannie BOOM BOOM BOOM, TAKE YOUR MONEY as well as Lizzy “I’ll pop a cap in your butt” Ames) and general mischief. We made it 4 miles more to mile 10 and lunch. Our animal cakes didn’t disappoint; 30 minutes later and we were off again.

The magic mile marker 11 yielded 2 spectacular sightings, first of which was what appeared to be a very hectic and/or confused half moon. The tracks came up like a regular track, would then wiggle around and then appear to burrow underground for a good few metres just to reappear again and head off to sea. After determining that it wasn’t a) a fight between a victorious turtle and a jag or b) a new species of mole-turtle; I realized I was looking at my very first (and very out of season) leatherback nest. Post diagnosis it all made sense: the location mid-beach, the buried nest and the irregular tracks. After a few snapshots we reluctantly left the scene.

The second sighting came shortly – upon spotting the elusive creatures, Alex yelled: Jag! Jag! Lizzy, jubilant at realizing what she saw, was also yelling while the rest of the unlucky ones hurried up to the site and right enough there they were: 2 fresh jaguar prints. From that moment on, Alex (whose birthday was in 2 days) dubbed them as ‘Birthday Jags’.

Motivated by our luck, the last 4 miles flew by and we’d reached Tortuguero and the end of the survey. It’s difficult to describe the feeling of having finished a 15 mile walk; jubilant, relieved, a sense of pride…and extreme hunger! Nothing a large sandwich and a pie in Tort can’t fix!

-Yannie Cheung, Intern