Round the world trip ends on turtle beach

Round the world trip ends on turtle beach

16 January 2013

SEAN Clifford has enjoyed many adventures round the world and is currently enjoying life in the middle of nowhere. He is working on a turtle conservation project on a small island in Costa Rica — with no electricity, running water, phone signal or shops.

The La Tortuga Feliz (LTF) project, translating as ‘The Happy Turtle’, has been running for eight years and to date Sean, who is from Ardglass, is the only Northern Irish man there.

Sean explained that the non-profit organisation helps both the local community and endangered turtles, as well as providing a life changing experience for volunteers who work there.

He first travelled to Costa Rica in 2010 to volunteer on the project following a recommendation from a friend who had been there a few months previously. So with a background in marine biology, including a degree in the subject from Queen’s, and in the stages of planning a round the world trip, Sean decided Costa Rica would be one of his first stops.

“I have always had a passion for travelling since I had a working holiday around Australia in 2008,” he explained. “During that time I was able to travel to Bali and experience life in a developing country too, and I soon discovered life in developing countries is always more exciting than the developed ones.”

After spending “five amazing weeks” at LTF, which is staffed by five full time volunteers and short term volunteers throughout the year, Sean told the project manager that if he ever needed help running the project to let him know.

“Little did I know that a five minute conversation would change my life later on,” he said.

But before he became involved again with LTF, Sean’s adventures around the world continued, funded by the bed and board supplied at various volunteering projects. The time included five months travelling through Central America, volunteering in Nicaragua, helping to build a hostel, and then settling in Honduras. There he lived on a small Caribbean island called Utila and volunteered at an Iguana station for two months helping conserve the island’s endangered, endemic Swamper iguanas.

“Having completed this round the world trip, I thought ‘That is it, I am 27 and time to start a career and be serious now’ as most of my other friends were doing,” said Sean. “No more travelling!”

All went to plan as Sean returned to work for Queen’s University on the turbine in Strangford Lough, helping to protecting its marine mammals. At the same time he worked as a guide at the Exploris Aquarium, which he had also done prior to his trip.

So when he got a call out of the blue inviting him back to the project, it was a jolt to his now settled life, but soon the lure of the island proved too much.

“Most of my family and friends said to go for it as it was a great opportunity and something I would regret not doing,” said Sean. “I came to think ‘OK, just one more adventure’ and off I went again in March 2012.”

The project, of which Sean is now Assistant Manager, is located on the Caribbean coastline near a town called Bataan which is almost four hours away from the capital San Jose.

“The further you travel from Bataan, the poorer the residents and civilisation gradually begins to fade,” said Sean. “As you check your phone during the journey, the signal bar begins to decrease also till you are permanently out of signal. This can be perturbing at first in a modern world where people constantly check their phones for craic.

“The scenery however is stunning and the land is lush and green. The environment is tropical with a lot of sunshine followed by a short sharp burst of rain. On the boat journey in you will see lots of exotic birds, Howler monkeys, sloths and even small Caiman alligators.

“After about an hour on the boat you come to where the project is situated, on an island or technically a sandbar called Pacuare. It is approximately six miles long by about 250 meters at its widest.

“As you come up the canal you see the backs of the local residents’ houses. These are basically simple houses/shacks with chickens running around everywhere. You see huge green iguanas climbing the trees and the local area has a large population of big, blue, fearsome looking crabs.”

Egg laying season on the island runs from March to September, with the largest turtle in the world come up onto shore to lay the eggs.

“This is the Leatherback turtle and they are amazingly huge impressive creatures measuring around the size of a door,” Sean explained. “We also have the beautiful Green turtles which most people will identify with and also Hawksbills too. Very rarely we will have a Loggerhead lay too and that is exciting. So the volunteers patrol with local guides who are men who have been poachers themselves in the past. Now though, the project provides an alternative source of income to killing these endangered animals. They are proud to do this work and pleased that it is a more sustainable source of income.

“Groups walk up and down the beach looking for females coming to lay eggs. Eggs are collected and brought back to a large hatchery where the eggs are buried in a place where the baby turtles can hatch in safety.

“The challenge of the project is for the volunteer groups to get to the turtles before poachers do. As with many conservation projects around the world, we work against the threat of poachers. By threat, I mean threat to the turtles. On Pacuare Island, LTF and the poachers have a non aggression agreement whereby if we get to the turtle first, it is ours and vice versa. This can be a sad situation but it is better than the alternative. I know from other projects in Costa Rica that poachers have been known to attack volunteer groups.

“The poachers are not evil men necessarily. A lot of them are poor Costa Ricans who have been poaching all their lives. A turtle egg fetches around one dollar — Turtle nests have up to 100 eggs in them, the daily wage for a Costa Rican in rural areas can be as low as three dollars — and through urban legend have come to be known as an aphrodisiac. This is nonsense but locals believe it.

“Other volunteer work involves hatchery shifts where you guard the turtle nests and usually will involve releasing babies into the ocean. Wherever turtles are hatched, they will return to that beach when they are fully mature in the future. This is an amazing experience and during my time as a volunteer I released over 1000 babies personally. It can get manic but very enjoyable.”

It’s not all work, however, with plenty of activities for the volunteers to enjoy during their time off — whether its a dip in the ocean, volleyball, football with the locals, or selecting a book from their own library.

In the morning behind the kitchen we can have 15 iguanas munching on leaves right beside our fence and capuchin monkeys up in the trees,” said Sean. “The best part of the experience is meeting people from all over the world and these strangers will very quickly come to be friends for life. It is a unique experience which can be physically and mentally challenging and this forges great friendships fast.

“As we have no electricity, we have no refrigeration and therefore do not use meat in the meals. There is also no alcohol allowed as this can be in violation of your turtle protection license. Most of our volunteers come for a couple of weeks so this is usually a welcome detox. During my six months there, with no meat or booze I lost over two stone which just goes to show you. When I got back to the real world I of course immediately made up for the lack of both.

“It gives you a chance to really get away from it all and enjoy some peace. It is a simple way of living on the project and it is very enjoyable. You talk to people more and get to know them. No one is looking down at their phone every five minutes.”

Sean explained that the project continued to exist because of contributions from the volunteers who pay money to stay.

“Money coming in pays the guides’ wages for patrolling and contributions are made to local schools towards educating the younger generations about the negative impacts of poaching as well as providing clothing, reading and writing materials,” he said. “LTF is a non -profit organisation unlike many other turtle projects and money left over at the end of the season goes into a pot to start up a new charitable project in five years time. On many projects you might pay up to £700 a week to volunteer. At LTF it can be as low as £150 pounds. It is a real bargain.

“I enjoy the peace and quiet of the island and integrating into local community life. All you hear all day is the sound of the waves.

“I wanted to do this piece in the Down Recorder to shine a light on a project that does such good work. It helps the turtles first and foremost. In 2012 we released around 12,000 hatchlings. Secondly it helps the local community.

“For the volunteers from around the world who come, they enjoy the experience of a lifetime. It is a challenge but you will feel like a million dollars after doing it. I call it a retreat with turtles and it does feel like that. If any of you do come out, though, could you bring me some chocolate as the American stuff just doesn’t cut it.

“My family and friends are very supportive of me heading out there but I think at times they get sick of hearing me have so much fun. I always tell them to come out and see for themselves.”

For more information on becoming a volunteer visit www.latortugafeliz.com or their Facebook page.