Study-Abroad in Costa Rica
Travel with a team of BHCC students and experience one of the last pristine lowland tropical rainforests in Central America. This BHCC sponsored study-aboard opportunity will take you to the Osa peninsula on the southwest coast of Costa Rica. We will be staying at Proyecto Campanario Biological Field Station and Nature Reserve. The station is on the edge of the forest and 100 feet from a secluded Pacific Ocean beach.
Past participants have observed and studied cave bats, scarlet macaws, howler monkeys, poison arrow frogs, toucans, eyelash vipers, green iguanas, and an amazing diversity of bird, insect, and plant species.
Through field research and lectures, you will study the rich biodiversity of Costa Rican mangrove swamps, lowland rainforests, costal tide pools, and coral reefs. Native Costa Rican guides will lead you through the forest and explain the efforts of Costa Rica to save their vanishing biodiversity.
Each evening will end with a group discussion of the day’s activities and an introduction to the next day’s projects. Activities will include hiking to Corcovado National Park, snorkeling a coral reef, repelling through the forest canopy on a cable tramway, kayaking in a mangrove swamp, night trekking into the forest, and conducting a field research project. There will also be free time scheduled so you can enjoy the stations secluded beach, play soccer with the local children, or just relax in a hammock under the palm trees.
The trip will also provide you with an opportunity to meet and interact with the local residents and experience their culture and customs. We will eat lunch at a local farm, learn some Spanish, and perform a community service project for a local elementary school.
You will be required to attend four classroom sessions at BHCC prior to the trip and to participate in all lectures, discussions, and activities as outlined in the course overview.
Professor Scott Benjamin and Professor Robert Steeper will be your faculty leaders during the trip. Click the link at the bottom of this page if you wish to contact us.
Trip Duration: 12 days/11 nights
