Danger in paradise: ‘People are dying to go up there’
In the dark of night, tiny lights can be seen ascending one of the world’s most active volcanoes, as tourists risk their lives to illegally reach the summit.
“Happy forever”, a customs official says after stamping a visitor’s passport at Costa Rica’s international airport.
It’s a friendly exchange that along with “pura vida” — meaning “pure life” — soon proves to be a common exchange among the locals in this tropical country.
But for some travellers who come here in search of extreme adventure, “forever” and “pure life” are numbered by only a matter of days.
In a country that’s home to the highest density of seismically active volcanoes in the world Costa Rica attracts adventurers and thrillseekers in their droves.
The jewel on the crown is Arenal, in La Fortuna on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica — one of the most active volcanoes on the planet.
It’s biggest eruption in recent years took place in 1968 when it took everyone by surprise and buried three villages. In the decades that followed, Arenal was described as “constantly exploding” until it started “taking a siesta” about eight years ago. But in geological time “that’s nothing”, according to Costa Rican Collette tour guide Juan Pablo “JP” Gonzalez.
“At any time you could have an eruption,” he tells news.com.au at the base of Arenal.
The current lull in activity has given a false sense of security to those eager to peer into the bowels of the sleeping giant and given rise to a dangerous and often deadly trend.
On most clear nights, dim lights carried by the illegal tour groups can be seen ascending the volcano. The hike through hostile terrain takes about four hours and is done under the veil of darkness to avoid detection.
“They charge a couple of hundred dollars for the tour,” JP tells news.com.au of the amateur guides who promote and facilitate the illegal tours.
“One wrong step and you go down.
“And at any time you could have an eruption.”
The volcano, which emits poisonous gases, has no trails and is prone to landslides.
Large, unstable boulders present a constant danger and the temperature near the peak gets extremely high. But it’s that exact mix of elements which attracts thrillseekers and causes some of them to risk — and even lose — their lives.
“People are dying to go up there,” JP says.
“They get away with it until somebody pays the ultimate price.”
Between 2007 and 2011, 29 tourists died on Arenal Volcano, mainly from exposure to volcanic gases but also due to falls from the crater rim and even heart failure. And the numbers have continued climbing.
The National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC) has warned tourists and the general population that tours to the peak of the volcano are not permitted because it’s dangerous.
IMPACT TOURISM
But for those who want to see the magnificent sight that is Arenal Volcano — and greater Costa Rica — up close there are safe ways to do it.
On a boat in the lake below Arenal volcano, a group of mostly American tourists on an impact tour with Collette travel company, glides towards the cone. Howler monkeys swing from the trees as exotic birds frolic in the glassy water.
It’s a pleasant cruise but Collette’s impact tours are also about getting hands dirty - without the hard labour - to give back to the communities where tourists spend time.
Collette travel company offers various types of tours around the globe. But one of its newest offerings - impact tours - combines adventure, sightseeing and volunteer work through hunger and education initiatives in disadvantaged communities to help children and their families. It also gives tourists the opportunity to travel and engage with locals to create positive change by taking part in the volunteer programs.
READ: South Africa impact tour
Collette manager of corporate social responsibility, John Sutherland, tells news.com.au the purpose of impact tourist is to “have a mutually beneficial experience between the guest and the destination”. According to him, impact tourism is “the way of the future because it’s more sustainable”. He says the practice “isn’t necessarily hard work, it’s just impactful” and and normalising it is his goal.
“We give some of our time to Collette partners or places we find specifically for the tour,” he says.
“We consider it impactful as well to do a tour of some of these places so the money that we spend goes to hiring people from the community and creating a sustainable agriculture situation where it benefits the local environment, culture and community.”
“And it’s not necessarily hard work. It’s just impactful.”
The Collette group has come to Arenal from San Jose, a city of mostly flat land surrounded by mountain ranges, coffee farms and seismically active volcanoes, via Guanacaste on the west coast and Montverde in the mountains.
Central America, which sits on the “ring of fire”, is so seismically active that it’s difficult to build high rises in most places within the region. But that’s also what makes Costa Rica one of the most biodiverse nations in the world — and which leads the Collette tour group to start their adventure exploring a lush rainforrest with gushing waterfalls and exotic wildlife, just outside capital city, San Jose.
The rich, volcanic soil is also what has made conditions just right for coffee plantations, - a main driver for the local economy - most of which are flourishing on mountains throughout the country.
The Collette group visits a plantation on day two of the tour, and tastes authentic Costa Rican coffee, also learning how it’s made.
GUANACASTE
The next stop is in the small, coastal town of Guancaste. Guests check-in to a fancy hotel with breathtaking views of the ocean, an infinity pool and swim-up bar.
But soon after taking a dip and sipping on cocktails they’re rolling up the sleeves of their pink Collette polo shirts and tying up their shoelaces, as they prepare to do some volunteer work down the road.
CEPIA is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes culture, health and education for impoverished local children and their families. The Collette group visits the community centre, where they have can choose how they would like to help. Options include painting the walls of a rundown classroom, playing games and doing crafts with the children, or assisting staff with making lunches.
According to Mr Sutherland, deciding which organisations to support is a relatively simple, albeit considered, process.
“On every one of the impact tours, we’ve chosen the destinations based on already having foundation partners in the destination,” Mr Sutherland says.
“We had a few in Ecuador. In South Africa, there’s the Knysna Education Trust. And here we have Cepia.
“And those organisations are chosen by volunteers based on the fact they are in the local community and share our foundation’s objectives to improve educational objectives for kids and to feed people who are hungry.
“Those we’ve worked with are aligned to our mission in our way.”
Later, the group takes part in a walking tour of the area, in a sustainable voluntourism initiative created by Guanacaste youths.
MONTVERDE
After a few days by the seaside, the Collette group heads 600kms for the hills in a coach via windy and mostly unsealed roads, through the middle of scenic Costa Rica.
Along the way they stop to take part in reforestation projects, planting trees in a bid to connect two forrests to eachother, and learning about conservation from local nursery staffers. But it’s soon back to being tourists again as the group visits the Montverde Cloud Forrest where hummingbirds roam free and adventure activities, including canopy ziplining and hanging bridges, await.
The group continues volunteering the next day at one of Costa Rica’s most advanced sustainable farms, Rancho Margot. The eco-friendly property at the foothills of the Children’s Eternal Rainforest is maintained by some 50 employees and propped up by a constant flow of volunteers who come from all over the world to do their bit for conservation - while also going off the grid.
The Collette group tours the 400 acre site, which also boasts a functioning dairy, pig and chicken farm, along with a fruit garden, a medical plant garden and a bio-digester to generate gas and power. Soon after, the tourists help plant seedlings in the organic garden.
ARENAL
The tour continues to nearby Arenal, in La Fortuna, when bus driver Batto spots a sloth. The coach comes to a screaming halt as JP rushes over to a window and points out an adult male sloth swinging upside down from a branch. “Sloths are constantly constipated,” JP tells the group.
“They’re so slow moving there’s actually moss growing on their fur,” he says.
“In Spanish, our name for this is lazy bear.
“It lives most of its life in the trees only comes down once a week but they swim very well and cross rivers.
“Sloths mate in the trees and they do that very slowly too.”
Following an impromptu lesson on sloths, the bus pulls into a jetty at Lake Arenal, where the group sets off on a stunning scenic cruise which glides by Arenal Volcano.
Later, the Collette group stays in self-contained luxury eco-lodges at the base of the mountain with sweeping views of the volcano and a selection of alfresco restaurants which also take in the majestic sight. On the last night of the tour, the group gathers for a farewell dinner and raises their glasses for a toast to an unforgettable experience. In the background, a row of twinkling lights ascends the sleeping giant.
“Pura vida,” JP says.
This writer was a guest in Costa Rica of the Collette travel company.
For more information on the tours it offers, visit here.
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