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Gandoca Beach
Ecological Garden and Turtle Sanctuary
Guard the Giants of Gandoca: Protect a Priceless Costa Rican Sanctuary
Deep in the southeasternmost corner of Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast lies Gandoca—a place where the ancient rhythm of the wild remains unbroken. Shielded by the Jairo Mora Sandoval Gandoca-Manzanillo Mixed Wildlife Refuge, this raw, 20,000-acre eco-preserve stands as one of the planet’s final strongholds for pristine tropical rainforests, rare marine wetlands, and endangered wildlife. But, Gandoca is facing a critical crossroads, and its future relies entirely on global conservation support.
The Last Safe Haven for the World’s Largest Sea Turtle
Playa Gandoca is a majestic, high-energy stretch of dark sand. Its deep, unobstructed ocean access makes it a globally vital nesting ground for the endangered leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea).
For more than 100 million years, leatherback sea turtles have crossed Earth's oceans, surviving the extinction of the dinosaurs and countless changes to our planet.
Every few years, under the cover of darkness, a female leatherback returns to the very beach where she was born. She doesn't use a map. She doesn't need directions. She simply comes home.
On Costa Rica's Caribbean coast, Playa Gandoca is one of the most important leatherback nesting beaches in the region. Over fifteen years of research, scientists documented 2,751 individual nesting females and 8,766 nests, demonstrating just how vital this beach is to the future of these incredible animals.
When a nesting beach is lost, it's not just a beach that's lost. It's a homecoming that has been taking place for millions of years.
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The Ancient Ritual: Every year from March to July, prehistoric giants weighing up to 1,500 pounds pull themselves from the surf under the cover of total darkness to lay their eggs in the sand.
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A Sanctuary Under Threat: Beyond leatherbacks, this coastline serves as a critical nesting refuge for three other endangered species: hawksbill, green, and loggerhead sea turtles. These beautiful animals face growing threats. Beach erosion, coastal disturbance, pollution, marine debris, artificial lights, and poaching all reduce the chances that mothers can successfully nest and that hatchlings will safely reach the sea.
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The Fragile Circle of Life: From the moment eggs are laid to the fragile scramble of hatchlings racing toward the ocean, these creatures face immediate threats from climate change, habitat erosion, and ocean debris.
Beyond the Beach: A Lifeline for Rare Ecosystems
Your support does more than save sea turtles; it protects a web of critically endangered Caribbean habitats that exist nowhere else in Costa Rica:
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The Gandoca Estuary: The Caribbean coast's only intact red mangrove forest, providing a crucial nursery for the endangered West Indian manatee.
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Vibrant Coral Reefs: A 5-square-kilometer underwater marine sanctuary safeguarding over 500 species of tropical fish and native oyster beds.
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Jungle Superhighways: Dense coastal rainforests that shelter jaguars, ocelots, sloths, and howler monkeys.
A Model of True Community-Led Conservation
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Unlike heavily commercialized tourist parks, Gandoca operates as a unique "mixed" refuge. Here, local families work hand-in-hand with conservationists to actively defend their backyard ecosystems.
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Wildlife poaching has left turtle eggs with a mere 5% chance of survival. Today, thanks to grassroots community patrols, night watches, and managed beach nurseries, egg survival rates have improved significantly, but not enough. We will establish a permanent protective presence to improve survival
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Zero Commercialization: The village of Gandoca remains proudly off-grid, featuring a single gravel road, small family farms, and basic eco-lodges. There are no mega-resorts here—only raw nature and dedicated stewards. We will protect this multi hectare property to maintain this natural marvel.
The Gandoca Ecological Garden and Turtle Sanctuary will be situated in one of the only unprotected areas adjacent to the Gandoca -Manzanillo reserve. This effort will preserve this 6 hectare area and protect the turtles that nest on the beach who fall prey to poachers. The Gandoca Ecological Garden and Turtle Sanctuary was created to protect this extraordinary place—not only for the turtles, but for future generations of people who will learn from, restore, and steward this remarkable ecosystem.
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How Your Donation Makes an Immediate Impact
Help us keep Gandoca wild. Donate today to safeguard the giants of the ocean and empower the community fighting to keep them alive.
Our immediate goals include:
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Creating the local fundación for a long-term conservation and education center.
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Working with local conservation experts to plan and build thoughtful access to the area needed for restoration and monitoring.
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Protecting the surrounding habitat before it is lost by posting monitors during nesting season.
How You Can Help
Become a Monthly Guardian
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$20 USD per month or more helps support ongoing habitat monitoring, conservation planning, and the daily work needed to protect Gandoca's nesting beach. Every monthly gift provides dependable support that allows this work to continue year after year.
Make a Lasting Impact
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$100 helps provide equipment and supplies used to protect nesting habitat.
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$1,000 helps fund critical early infrastructure that makes long-term conservation possible.
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$6,000 funds one of the first essential milestones required to move this conservation project forward and begin protecting this land.
Donations will also help gather the necessary permits, establish conservation facilities, support scientific research, and create a permanent sanctuary where wildlife, indigenous knowledge, conservation, and regenerative tourism work together to protect one of Costa Rica's most important nesting beaches.
A leatherback turtle will never know your name. But because of you, she may find a safe place to return when she comes home. Every donation—large or small—helps ensure that this ancient journey continues.
Donate today. Protect Gandoca. Protect the next generation of leatherback sea turtles.
The Gandoca Project is more than a sea turtle conservation effort. It is a partnership between a Costa Rican family who has cared for this land for generations and who will lead the new Fundación and Medicine Everyone Deserves, a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission for nearly a decade has been to improve health and well-being for all. Together, we're working toward a vision where conservation and community thrive side by side. The facility will include a reciprocal healing center to provide healing spaces for humans as well. A place where you can ground in nature. The funding gathered through the human healing efforts will go directly back into the improvement of our protection efforts, creating a reciprocity of healing between us humans and the natural world.
By protecting this land, we can preserve one of the Caribbean's most important leatherback nesting beaches while creating a place where people from around the world can reconnect with nature, learn from Indigenous knowledge, experience regenerative tourism, and support the local economy.
Our project is about creating a place where every visitor directly contributes to protecting endangered wildlife, restoring rainforest habitat, supporting local families, and ensuring that this extraordinary landscape remains wild for generations to come.
Your donation doesn't just help save sea turtles. It helps create meaningful jobs for local residents, supports long-term stewardship of protected land, welcomes researchers and students, and builds a center where people can come to heal while helping nature heal too.
When people and nature flourish together, everyone benefits. That's the future we're building at Gandoca. We hope you'll help us build it.
Photo Courtesy of NOAA