Students at Highclare Senior School enjoyed the trip of a lifetime when the took part in a Geography visit to Costa Rica.
Geographers aged 14 to 18 took part in the trip which was led by assistant head and 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.
While 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 engaging 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 the trip.
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 Cassell said.
Conservation work during the trip was focused on helping the delicate local marine ecosystem.
A huge clean-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.
