October 2017

Hurricane Nate decided to leave a little parting gift for Costa Rica as it passed by on its way northward. Torrential rain came down throughout the country causing landslides, road closures and loss of homes and bridges.
Cloudbridge was also the recipient of rain falling for days from the grey cloudy sky. Our water systems, electrical lines and trails took the brunt of the damage. We are so lucky that we didn’t lose any buildings.

The reserve was closed to the public while trails were cleared and deemed safe again to allow people back in. Some of the landscape looks a bit different with rearranged rocks,  a missing bridge and bench and even visible changes to the path of waterfalls and streams.

Thank you to the staff and volunteers for all of the hard work to clean up the mess and get things back on track.

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Landslide across the river
Water pipe damage

 

Raging Waterfall

 

The Boulder Movers

 

We used to drive up this road.

 

Where the bench used to be.

 

Where the bridge used to be.

 

 

 

New Researchers and volunteers: 

Rob and Malin were fortunate (or unfortunate) to arrive at the beginning of October when the big storm hit.   But they did get to volunteer on a number of different tasks besides storm damage clean up!
«We are Rob and Malin, a Swedish-kiwi couple who are interested in sustainable development and wanted to do something practical for the environment, but also experience and learn about a new setting so Cloudbridge was the perfect choice. We loved the wide range of tasks we were able to get involved with during our short stay, from tree planting to sign making to general work on the infrastructure as well as the chance to explore the reserve and all the unique wildlife it holds. Really cool bunch of people there to keep you company as well. Awesome experience, we learnt heaps, even some unexpected things. «
Rob and Malin

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«Hi there! My name is Katya Creed and I graduated from York with an Archaeological Science degree. I work as a climbing coach across London, which has given me a great appreciation for nature as the city is lamentably short on anything green!

I also chair the International Network for the Young Fabians political think tank. Subsequently, I am very interested in seeing successfully employed environmental policy in action. In general, I just love the opportunity to be immersed in the wilderness and to learn as much as possible from all the passionate and amazing people working here during my time at Cloudbridge.»
Katya

«I’m Jenny from London and I’m on a year of exploration!  I just spent 3 months in Europe: getting qualified to teach English in Spain, hiking in Andorra and swimming in Crete – and now I’m spending 9 months (more or less!) working and travelling in central and south America.

I was looking to work in conservation in Costa Rica and luckily found Cloudbridge. I’m really enjoying volunteering here.  I’m learning a huge amount about reforestation and the cloud forest ecosystem, and having a brilliant time bug spotting with everyone here.  Hiking the trails while carrying machetes, trees and stakes isn’t easy, but hopefully the trees we plant will grow tall and strong, and in 20 years I’ll come back to see them!»

Jenny

Timo Jäger from Karlsruhe (Baden-Württemberg, Germany)

«I’m a student of Geoecology (B.Sc.) at the University in Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe Institut of Technologie) and I am doing an internship for my studies. I wanted to do a research internship in Central or South America. For this reason I came to Cloudbridge, where I’m involved in the Butterfly-Project from October to December 2017.»

Timo in the orange shirt
Setting up a butterfly trap

 

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