Raleigh International has been operating in Costa Rica and Nicaragua since 2001 (although Operation Raleigh also ran a one-off expedition to Costa Rica in 1985 when we ran a Millennium Award expedition from Northern Ireland). During the period 2001-2007 1,571 young people and 594 volunteer managers took part in 15 different expeditions.
This is our only expedition with projects in two countries. Costa Rica and Nicaragua are offered together because they present a fantastic combination of challenges and opportunities (please note, Nicaragua is not included on the 5 or 4 week expedition. It may or not be included on 7 week expeditions depending on your project choice. Please contact us us for further information.)
Costa Rica is a relatively wealthy country and boasts a stunning National Park network. Raleigh works alongside the Sistema Nacional de Areas de Conservacion, (SINAC) in Costa Rica to develop environmental projects that fit into the management plans of each protected area.
The projects are often remote, living in either a ranger station or more usually within the forest in a campsite made by the group themselves. The work is often renovating or building ranger stations and trails into the forest. These projects are important to the conservation of eco-systems and biodiversity in Costa Rica. It allows the rangers to better protect the natural resources as well as providing improved access to visitors. The participants will get an incredible opportunity to give something back to the natural environment, helping rangers better manage endangered natural habitats as well as learning about the challenges of conservation whilst living in stunning environments surrounded by the wonders of nature.
Read more about the environmental projects that we have completed or are currently undertaking to give you an indication of what you could be doing.
Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Having been ravaged by several natural disasters over recent years, there is a severe lack of community infrastructure such as schools, medical centres and housing. As such we work in long-term partnership with local grass-roots organisations in the Achuapa and Miraflor areas in Northern Nicaragua to deliver social improvement projects to improve access to clean water, health services and education. For example, in partnership with the Cooperative Juan Francisco Paz Silva our commitment is to ensure that every family in the community of Achuapa has access to clean and safe drinking water.
Our other key partner in Nicaragua is with El Foro Miraflor, where we are providing a crucial element of their strategy to introduce pre-schools, primary schools and community centres into all the villages in the Miraflor Nature Reserve . This will improve the quality of life for the local people and provide a basic education to ensure the conservation of the natural resources. We also deliver community projects in Costa Rica where we are working in partnership with indigenous communities to improve the health and educational services in the Indigenous Reserves.
In nearly all the community projects that we undertake the volunteers will be living with families in the communities and receiving a unique experience getting an insight into the lives of people who live in these two fabulous countries.
We aim to give our participants a challenging 19-day trekking experience which takes them through a variety of different scenery, through agricultural and forested areas, national parks and finishing on the beach.
Read more about the community and adventure projects that we have completed or are currently undertaking to give you an indication of what you could be doing.
Also take a look at past and current blogs from Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
