Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula hosts 2.5% of the world’s biodiversity and provides nesting habitats for four of the seven sea turtle species in the world.

On our monitoring beaches, Piro (2.2km) and Pejeperro (4.5km), the most common visitors are the Olive-Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) and Green (Chelonia mydas) sea turtles; Hawksbills (Eretmochelys imbricata) and Leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea) can also nest here sometimes, but they are rare.

The Osa Conservation Sea Turtle Conservation program has an exciting opportunity for early-career conservationists to join them for the 2021 turtle nesting season. Are you passionate about wildlife and conservation? Are you looking for a unique experience in nature? Would you like to get hands-on experience with sea turtle monitoring?

We have two three-month internships available, and are looking for hard-working, passionate people to help us during our day and night monitoring activities, starting as soon as possible.

During your internship you will:

• Perform morning census on two beautiful beaches, recording turtle nesting activity, relocating nests to safer locations, maintaining our purpose-built hatchery, and helping to release turtle hatchlings into the ocean.
• Join our Research Field Assistants on night-time beach patrols, giving you the opportunity to see turtles up-close as they come ashore to nest. Learn how to record valuable morphological data, perform health assessments, and place metal tags on the turtles, increasing our knowledge base of turtle nesting behaviours. These activities are critical to the conservation of Osa’s sea turtle populations.
• Conduct beach clean-ups with the Sea Turtle team and volunteers from local community groups. During these beach cleans you will help to collect, classify, and weigh marine debris, to give us a greater understanding of where the pollution on our beaches is coming from. This information will then be used to address threats to our sea turtles on a greater scale.
• Post on your social media account about the important work you do while being a part of Osa Conservation and engage with a network of like-minded conservationists. Social media is increasingly important in broadening the reach of conservation efforts, and is a great way to support and learn more about Osa Conservation’s different programs. You may also have opportunities to learn more about conservation-based fundraising through online activities and social media.
• Other activities you can participate in could include: cleaning and checking equipment (vital for keeping our program running smoothly!), monitoring the nests in our hatchery that are close to hatching, painting sea turtle facts & conservation practices signs, and creating beautiful artwork with washed-up materials found on the beach to promote sustainability and responsibility. If there are any areas of sea turtle conservation work you are particularly interested in, or if you have particular skills that could benefit the turtles here, we would love to know about them!

You will be an integral part of the sea turtle team, but that’s not all! Two days a week you will join the team working on our Agroecological Farm or Botanic program to gain valuable experience and skills in innovative regenerative agricultural techniques and ecological forest restoration.

Skills and attributes required:

• Highly interested and passionate in conserving wildlife and marine environments.
• Experience or desire to experience living in remote places with basic living conditions.
• Physically fit and able to work long hours on soft sand in a difficult and harsh environment.
• Good team member with excellent communication skills – able to live and work with a multicultural team.
• Hard working and passionate with a desire to learn and improve – willing to put the hard work in and go the extra mile for conservation efforts and personal career development.
• Fluent in English (oral and written). Some Spanish is desired, but not a requirement. This internship will be an excellent opportunity to learn or improve your Spanish.
• Previous experience in sea turtle or wildlife monitoring surveys is desired.

This internship is a great opportunity for early-career conservationists and wildlife biologists to develop skills in key conservation areas and to experience life in a busy rainforest research station. Work side-by-side with experienced conservationists in a beautiful and biologically-diverse part of the world.

Sea Turtle Conservation Interns will need to cover basic food (three cooked meals that blend local Costa Rican cuisine with a variety of international dishes) and accommodation in our rainforest camp equipped with individual tents, which will cost $500/month. Each intern will be responsible for their own travel expenses to the project site and obtaining personal medical insurance suitable for the role and that covers COVID-19 related incidents.

You must be able to commit for the entire three-month period. We especially encourage Costa Rican or Latin American applicants.

How to apply?

To apply for the Sea Turtle Conservation Internship, please send your CV and cover letter outlining your previous experience, the conservation areas you are passionate about, and why you would like to join the Osa Conservation Sea Turtle team, with the subject title “Sea Turtle Internship 2021” to the Sea Turtle Conservation program coordinator Barbara Selles This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Please also include links to your social media accounts. Applications will be reviewed in the order they are received.