Wildlife & Sustainability Volunteering in Costa Rica

Butterflies, goats, avocado trees and bananas. Sounds like the beginning of a fantasy story. But actually, there is such a place really in Central Costa Rica, or more precisely, at Planet One World where Ken and his family live. I was there for a week with my gooversea program called Ocean College. And I have to say I've traveled a lot, but that was really one of the most beautiful places. Not only the nature, but also the way Ken and his family took care of the nature and animals on the farm, was nice to experience. During the week I learned from Ken how to work with the machete, how to behave and protect the rainforest. He also showed us how to best utilize the raw materials they extract from nature. We were taught and shown a lot, without a lot of bells and whistles, but just as they live there. I felt less like a tourist than an explorer and would recommend it to anyone who wants that feeling too.

Last year I spended some time with Ken and his family in the rainforest at Planet One World with my school Ocean College. I was overwhelmed! Our room had a balcony from which we could see at the nearby trees where howler monkeys were jumping around. His wife made delicious and home-cooked meals for us each day, so we were always well-fortified for our extensive, interesting and beautiful walks through the rainforest. He showed us how to deal with the machete, showed us various Native American rituals with his Native American helper Alfonso and we saw innumerable animals: monkeys, sloths, snakes, beautiful colorful butterflies. I found it particularly interesting how he manages this vast area, cares for his animals, protects the area from poachers and grows and processes their own food. I think it is really a great project, I would definitely go to him again and live with him and his family!

The project "Planet One World" is primarily about protecting and reestablishing sensitive rainforest areas at the carribbean coast, near the village Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. I began my 6 month stay in the end of 2016.
Me and one other german guy where the only volunteers by that time. Our tasks included among others patrols through the forest and taking care of animals and farm, which is located in the middle of the beautiful wildlife territory. Also we set up cameratraps, built a camp in the woods and marked the borders of the protected property with selfmade signs.
Most of the work was physical and quite exhausting, respecting the hot and muggy weather conditions. Since the project was very familial, we, the volunteers, got involved in a variety of different tasks and activities and a lot of responsibility was put in our hands. Also i felt that i was in really good hands with Ken (Carsten), his family and Adolfo, the rainforest expert and worker on the farm. From the beginning on, everyone made us feel welcome and quickly we became part of the team.
In between the work, we enjoyed many different recreational acitivities, frum surfing to meeting locals in the bars of Puerto Viejo to personal Muay Thai lessons with Ken and many more.
If we had any problem, we could always talk to someone and the hierarchy in the project was flat. The nature was overwhelmingly beautiful and living right in the middle of it and in harmony with it changed me.
The experiences i made are priceless and i would never want to miss them.

Crazy Nightwalks

A friend of mine was at Los Gardianes 3 years ago and recommended it to me. Since I am studying Spanish at university and had many seminar on Central and South America I wanted to go to Costa Rica so bad. So of course I visited Planet One and Ken. I was totally overwhelmed. Particulary the walks at night were incedable. When you see nothing and you are in a totally new enviroment it is like a concert for your senses. I also really enjoyed the educational part. At first I didn’t know what to expect but in the end I learned so many new things and i actually realized how important the work is at Planet One World. I have never experienced a Ceremony with a shaman, but thanks tot he BriBri ritual I got to an insight to local culture. It was really amazing. Like my friend, I can only recommend a Visit to Planet One Worl and Los Guardianes

Shareing is Caring 😊
For me it was something totally new working on a farm. It was a bit exaughsting, but Ken and Adolfo were so good teachers and let us now the importance of what we were doing. We had contact to the BriBri culture and also through rafting on the river we got to know the enviroment and the untouched nature. In the end I was happy to get a understanding of how important it is to support such projects to maintain nature like it is. Especially that local culture and animals and plants can further exist. I have a really great respect of what Plante One World is doing and also Ken, Horensio, Adolfo and the other volunteers.They shared so much with us.
All these impressions were quite overwhelming and I am happy to share them here with you. Go to Planet One World, I can recommend it honestly. This will be an adventure you never forget in your live. Sharing is Caring 😊

Planet One World is the real Costa Rica. So many different experiences. From local cultures tot he touristic part in our leisure time on the weekends at the beaches. Puerto Viejo is a really nice hippie travel village. You’ll find a lot of „artesania“ as well as great food and relaxed dudes. The program of One World was really varied and I never got bored. I liked working in the wildlife refuge more. The ranger training fulfilled everything I expected and now I am confident in walking through the rainforest as I know how to move and how to react to different possible situations. Once we found an injured tucan which we brought back to the farm to bring him back to life. So i learned all the process of reintroducing a animal back into the wild. After one week on the farm I knew pretty well what to do and Ken gave me a lot of responsibility. I met awesome people from around the world and the accommodation was perfect, especially the living room where we hang out most of the time! The house was clean and had everything I needed and I never felt unsafe. The food was excellent and I really enjoyed all the organic meals cooked by Jury. The activities we did were just great, Ken and his staff are doing an excellent job and they know the area like their own pocket.

The one thing that I really enjoyed the most was that I was able to teach. After beeing tought so many things by Ken and his family, how to coexist with nature and the enviroment, how to pay attention to every tiny deatil, that everything is built on eachother I was glad to finally give something back. For sure I enjoyed the kayaking, and the nightwalks, not to forget this tasty food, mhhh 😊 but after expieriencing so much warmheartedness and genuine hospitality for which I’m so greatfull I really really wanted to give back something, and teaching the kids gave me the feeling of doing something good. It is like one big family and I feel like part of this family now. Thank you so much, i had a really wonderful time and everything i was able to learn will be part of my whole life :-) this experience gave me a lot opportunity of progress...

I had a great time when i went there in 2016. It is a lot of input you have to deal with but ist great to learn about so many new things. I have never worked on a farm before but Ken and the others were good advisors. And in the middle of the jungle there are so many things and noises I have never seen or heard before. It’s fascinating. I really enjoyed my time there, especially the trips in the boats and the nightwalks – unbelievable how many animals are active at night. I really enjoyed the time I spend at One World. I thought that I saw a lot by travelling asia and south america but Costa Rica was special. It’s hard to describe what I mean. It’s that incredible deep old magical nature down at the beach and up in the rainforest, it really blew my mind and I would go again any time again!