About Gandoca

Gandoca is a small community of around 350 inhabitants nestled between the jungle and the beach in the south-eastern corner of Costa Rica's Caribbean just a few kilometres from the Panamanian boarder.  The town itself is mostly made up of one gravel road that ends at the beach with small family farms. On each side of town are protected areas of high ecological importance.  To the north is the primary rainforest and wetlands of the Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge and to the south is a mangrove lagoon teeming with wildlife. 

 

The majority of the families have lived there for generations. It is a fairly isolated and removed from conventional tourism and yet still very vibrant and full of children's laughter. The remote nature of Gandoca has built a mostly self reliant community for generations. While the community is not rich within their economy, most people are land owners and the surrounding nature makes for a one of a kind environment. 

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From the early 1990's into the mid 2010's Ecotourism became the main industry in town with Turtle conservation projects leading the way.  Gandoca was home to one of the first turtle projects in the world.  At it's peak Gandoca hosted over 800 people during nesting season.  Sadly, as climate change took its course the beaches became smaller and steeper making it harder for many of the turtles to nest.  Though there are still some Leatherback turtles nesting on the beaches, most have left to find more hospitable nesting grounds.  Additionally, some corruption was uncovered within the turtle projects which led to a falling out with the community.  These forces collectively led to a collapse in their ecotourism activities. 

 

Reccently biologists have returned to Gandoca where they are working collect data on the turtle populations.  While the Leatherback nests are drastically lower than what they were 20 years ago, the project has found a surprising number of nests from the critically endangered Hawksbill turtles.