Highclare Senior School has always enjoyed a fantastic reputation for organising incredible trips, and the recent Geography trip to Costa Rica did not disappoint!
Geographers aged 14-18 from Highclare Senior School recently experienced the trip of a lifetime with an 11 night visit to Costa Rica. Led by Head of Geography, Mrs Suzanne Cassell and organised by specialist ethical travel company Glo-Ed Travel the 26 students journeyed from the capital San Jose to Tortuguero on the Caribbean coast and then via Arenal and Monteverde to the Pacific coast, staying in seven different hotels on their journey, coast to coast.
Whilst the students enjoyed a vast range of adrenaline-fuelled activities such as white water rafting on class IV rapids, canopy zip lining, sea kayaking and snorkelling as well as spotting amazing wildlife, the real highlight of the trip was the time spent engaged in voluntary and conservation work.
Students across Highclare School, raised money and donated items of stationery in anticipation of voluntary work to be undertaken during this trip. Preparatory School pupils collected a fantastic amount of stationery during a non-uniform day and various fund raising events took place at our Senior School.
This enabled Highclare students volunteering at a remote village primary school in Tortuguero to present every child with their own pencil case filled with essential school supplies. Students also took supplies such as calculators, bilingual books and paper for the school. “The joy on the faces of the young Costa Rican children receiving their gifts and reading with the Highclare School students was amazing to see.” Mrs S Cassell, Head of Geography
Conservation work during the trip was focused on helping the delicate local marine ecosystem, the indigenous sea turtles in particular. A huge clear up of plastic waste on a remote beach in Tortuguero yielded a vast quantity of material which could easily be mistaken for food by turtles, this work will have a huge impact on the fragile ecosystem. During this p[art of the trip students were incredibly lucky to witness a green sea turtle laying over 100 eggs in her nest before camouflaging them and returning to the ocean. This spectacular sight really helped students realise the immense and immediate impact that their conservation work had achieved and, of course, to consider future plastics use.
An action packed and thought provoking trip thoroughly enjoyed by all.
To find out more about what else our students enjoyed during their trip find some of the best moments and photos on the Geography Twitter feed. We hope you enjoy looking at them.
