The Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve, located in Monteverde, is a project that includes conservation, eco-tourism and education. This project is an example of conservation of a protected area that is well administered and managed by a small community (Santa Elena Public High School) with their inhabitants directly benefiting from it.
With an area of 310 hectares, a great biodiversity of species, and the source of many streams and rivers, the Reserve supplies the local communities and their surroundings with a nature preserve among a mosaic of protected neighboring areas: The Children’s Eternal Rain Forest, The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, and Arenal National Park.
Together, these constitute a conservation area of approximately 28,000 hectares of forest, where populations of various animals that had been endangered, such as the tapir, jaguar and quetzal, have been revived. For all of these reasons the Reserve receives an annual visitation of approximately 40,000 tourists.
Thanks to the help of national and international volunteers, people from the community, and students, the Reserve has developed an essential infrastructure of trails, a visitors' center, store, and a small restaurant. Many volunteers with technical and professional experience also help with environmental education, sustainable development projects and the maintenance of the trails and other field works.
At Santa Elena Reserve helping hands are always welcome. You will not only have the unforgettable experience of knowing one of the most world renown centers of conservation and biodiversity, but you will also enjoy the opportunity of meeting a new culture. Costa Ricans, in general, and people from the Monteverde area in particular, are known for their friendship, respect, and kindness.
Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve, Monteverde
- Has to be an organized, structured person,
- Be in good physical conditions,
- Being able to work in a foreign country and adapt to a different culture
- To have the maturity to work following the internal rules in a responsible way
- Interest in environmental issues.
- The volunteer should enjoy working with people and foster good human relations.
- Proactivity is a must.
- Volunteers must be ready to work independently even when the coordinator is not present.
- Honest, responsible, punctual, positive person.
- Leadership Skills.
- Good attitude.
- Open to flexibility of schedules (very important).
The people in the project are very nice and friendly to the volunteers and they try to make them feel really welcome in the project.
The park is a nice place to make friends and also a great place to make good pictures.
Also, Walter as the supervisor speaks amazing English, as he was an international volunteer from Costa Rica, going to England for 1 year.
Most work will be between March and August (lots of groups of visitors)
During high season: More work will be directed towards helping with the attention of the visitors. Low season: More work will be focused on the field and on the trails.
In the low season most people at the reserve will be taking vacations, so there are going to be less people that are working at the Reserve.
The cost of the volunteer project : 500 USD for the first 4 weeks (for shorter periods a specific rate will be done). Then it is 125 USD per extra week.
Each project has a different cost, which includes lodging and 3 meals a day. Note that the program does not include daily local transportation.
This cost includes:
This cost does not include:
Most work is done along with the crew of the Reserve on:
Usually, volunteers work 5 days a week for 7 hours a day from 9:00 to 16:00.
Hosting situation provided by a local family. Food is also provided.
The volunteers will be able to discover the regions and the country during the days off (weekends).
The project is located on the upper area of the Monteverde touristic zone (7km north of the high school of Santa Elena). The area is quite calm but in the high season (December – July) there will be a lot of tourists (in the park and in the town). The park is a pretty humid area, it rains a lot during the rainy season and there is a lot of biodiversity (flora and fauna). Santa Elena is a small, touristic, farming and calm town, it has many tourist attractions in the region, as well as supermarkets, banks and ATMs.
