Imagine a place hidden in a dense jungle forest along the Caribbean Sea, a quasi-island surrounded by the ocean and canals. You can only get there by boat. A place with no electricity and where howler monkeys, egrets, herons, and kingfishers herald your arrival. No crowds, no traffic, no luxury... All left behind for the unique chance to experience raw nature, to be a part of something great, to observe, to learn, and maybe teach some.

Join Stephanie Arne, in partnership with Ecology Project International, on a conservation mission to monitor the largest sea turtle in the ocean —the leatherback. Pacuare Reserve is a scientifically managed wildlife reserve on Costa Rica's Caribbean Coast. Home to the most important leatherback nesting beach in Costa Rica, the reserve hosts a range of scientists studying sea turtles and other rare wildlife, including the jaguar and agami heron.

Stephanie Arne is an accomplished wildlife conservationist, explorer, and public speaker. She is the former host of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, where she filmed stories on everything from polar bears to penguins. Steph has appeared on the Harry Connick Jr. Show, Animal Planet, and The Drew Barrymore Show. Her community conservation work has taken her to 20+ countries to witness and find creative solutions for human/animal conflict, and now she is thrilled to bring fellow wildlife enthusiasts on conservation trips around the world to share ways to make tangible impacts.

Learn more: https://www.stephaniearne.com/

Payment plan:

• 50% to confirm booking

• 50% to be paid 60 days before check-in date

Cancellation and refund policies (timeframe: before check-in date):

• 31+ days: Deposit fully refunded

• 15–30 days: 50% of the deposit refunded

• <15 days: 25% of deposit refunded

• <9 days: 100% charged

• No-show: No refund

• Late arrival / Early departures: No credit or refund for unused days

• Natural events: No refund or credit. Travel insurance recommended

Day 1

• Pick up at the dock: We will be picking you up by boat at the dock. The trip takes approximately 25 minutes. Enjoy the journey to admire the landscapes and the biodiversity of the rainforest canals.

• Lunch: Enjoy your lunch in our dining room, together with our staff and other visitors of Pacuare Reserve

• Welcome at Pacuare Reserve and beach Protocol: Our staff will welcome you and explain about the mission, vision and objectives of Pacuare Reserve. As well, its history, research projects, community outreach, species which inhabit the ecosystems found in the protected area. Training on the monitoring program protocol allows the visitor to learn about the process for collecting biometric data and the location of the nests, as well as the behavior that must be carried out during the activity.

• Visit to hatchery : You will learn about the importance of the hatchery for marine turtles research. You could watch hatchlings release or an exhumation, a process where the nest is opened (once the days of incubation have been completed) to find hatchlings or non-hatched eggs which are analyzed to determine their embryo development stage and other data. This is an important activity to measure the hatching success.

• Dinner: Enjoy a traditional dinner, this will give you energy to participate in the census.

• Night census to watch marine turtles: This walk is also known as a night census, it consists of walking a large part of the beach of the Pacuare Reserve during the night, which is when the sea turtles come to nest. Participate in a sea turtle census with field assistants and you will learn about sea turtle ecology, the nesting process, collecting the eggs and help collect biometric data.

Day 2

• Breakfast: Enjoy a delicious traditional Costa Rican breakfast

• Walk in the forest and visit Agami Sanctuary: Lead by a staff member, you will have the opportunity to explore and learn about the biodiversity that Reserva Pacuare protects. You will have the opportunity to walk the path through the forest to reach the Agami Sanctuary, a small island within our freshwater lagoon which provides a nesting area for the Agami heron, which is considered one of the few accessible nesting sites in the world. Alongside a researcher who will share with you about its natural history and collect valuable data for research on this species.

• Lunch: Enjoy a traditional Costa Rican lunch

• Boat tour: Get ready to live a unique experience from the moment you board the boat, you will be surrounded by an evergreen landscape and a vast ecosystem of tropical rainforest canals, where you will spot and learn about different species of flora and fauna. such as the howler monkey, spider monkey, white-faced monkey, alligators, herons, crocodiles, turtles among others.

• Dinner

• Night census to watch marine turtles

Day 3

• Breakfast

• Birdwatching in the forest

• Visit to the hatchery and turtle release

• Night exploration to watch flora and fauna

Day 4:

• Breakfast

• Departure

✅ Private bathroom and shower.

✅ Light (provided by solar energy).

✅ Limited WiFi.

✅ Towels.

✅ Mosquito nets.

✅ Bedding.

❌ Switches in the room to charge electronics (switches available only in the Lab).

❌ Soap or personal cleansing items in the bathroom.

❌ Hot water.

❌ Fans in the rooms.

❌ Air condition.

🌦️ Raincoat

🩳 Long pants and a long-sleeved shirt, dark-colored (for turtle census)

🥾 Closed-toe shoes

💧 Water bottle

☀️ Sunscreen

🦟 Insect repellent

💡 Headlamp

🍃 Rubber boots (essential for trail hiking)