Tarpon in the jungle. Jaguars on camera. They come home thinking like scientists.

Nine days on the road

Eight students, three leaders and the rivers of Costa Rica. The group starts in the Caribbean lowlands of Sarapiquí, where machaca take fruit off the surface, then heads north to the Jungle Tarpon Reserve, where big tarpon roll in tea-dark lagoons a long way from the sea. Along the way: a world-famous research station, river cleanups, tree planting, a working jaguar study, and immersion in a fully functioning jungle cattle farm.

Costa Rica abolished its army in 1948, the first country to do so, and holds about five percent of the world's species in a country the size of West Virginia. Students see, up close, what it looks like when a country decides to protect what it has.

A Costa Rican student who wants to guide comes along for the whole trip as an apprentice. Past local students include Kane from Quepos, whose dad has guided at the reserve, and Maikell from Barra Parismina on the Caribbean coast. They're the group's bridge into the language and the culture.

Some drives between rivers run up to six hours. With the right company, Archie says, the hours pass quickly.

"In Scotland, it's challenging to find younger people who fly-fish, making trips like this so special."

Day by day

The rough plan. Water levels and weather can shift it.

1. Day 1

   Arrive in San José. Welcome dinner.The group meets over dinner, so earlier flights are better.

2. Day 2

   Morning drive to Sarapiquí. Afternoon hike and nature tour at La Selva Research Station.Team building, and a first look at how scientists study a rainforest.

3. Day 3

   Machaca float in the morning, a social activity in the afternoon, a night hike.

4. Day 4

   Machaca float in the morning, then on to the Jungle Tarpon Reserve.

5. Day 5

   Tarpon fishing and camera trapping in the reserve.The cameras they set feed a working jaguar study.

6. Day 6

   Tarpon fishing and camera trapping, then a night camping on a local farm in the heart of the reserve.

7. Day 7

   A social activity in the morning, tarpon and camera traps in the afternoon.

8. Day 8

   Morning tarpon fishing and camera traps, then back to San José.

9. Day 9

   Fly home from San José.

Where you stay

The trip moves, so the beds and the meals do too: an assortment of food and places to stay over the course of the road trip, with plenty of meals out along the way.

The fishery

Two oceans and a lot of rivers in a small country, so a lot of species within a few hours' drive. This trip goes after the warm-water exotics.

• Fruit flies

  Machaca

  A distant cousin of the piranha, with teeth to match, that turns mostly vegetarian as an adult and eats fruit, flowers and leaves that fall in. Fished from a whitewater raft or river panga, two anglers to a boat.

• 12 weight

  Jungle tarpon

  Adult tarpon that migrate about 150 miles inland from the Caribbean into the reserve's lagoons. Months in tannin-stained water turn them dark. They charge flies.

• Streamers

  Guapote

  The elusive one in the Caribbean lowlands. Plus tropical garfish in the north, alongside sawfish and freshwater bull sharks.

"Out of my 8 years of fly fishing I have never felt a feeling like I did standing on the bow casting at these tarpon."

Your trip leaders

Tom owns Fly Fishing Costa Rica and comes in and out through the trip. Kevin is the trip lead, and August, a Fish for Change alum, is the alumni trip lead. Alumni stay in touch with them long after the trip.

• Tom EnderlinCosta Rica program director, owner of Fly Fishing Costa Rica

  Head guide, filmmaker, photographer, writer and nature nerd, with a lifelong connection to Costa Rica. The educator of the trip.

• Kevin JacksonFly fishing guide and trip leader, Fly Fishing Costa Rica

  From Philadelphia, with a background in fisheries biology and commercial fishing in New England. Moved to Costa Rica in 2017. Teaches catch and release, and how to make ethical calls on the water.

• August BryanAlumni trip leader

  Raised in the western suburbs of Chicago, where fly fishing wasn't a thing. His connections through Fish for Change helped him become a guide in Puerto Rico and the Seychelles.

Off the water

Ten service hours over the trip, signed off for school.

• Jaguar study

  Setting up and checking trail cameras for jaguar research in Caño Negro. It's real fieldwork for a real study, so students find out what science feels like from the inside.

• La Selva Research Station

  A hike and tour at a world-famous biological station in lowland rainforest. They see how researchers learn what lives there.

• Night ecotour

  Out in the forest after dark, learning how much of Costa Rica's biodiversity only moves at night.

• Hiking and wildlife

  Monkeys, caiman, sloths and tree frogs. Sarapiquí is one of the last places to see the endangered great green macaw.

• Tree planting

  Helping with reforestation and learning why it matters. The rivers they fish are only as healthy as the forest around them.

• River cleanups

  Giving something back to the water that hosted them all week.

• Language class

  Swapping English and Spanish with the guide team. Being the beginner in someone else's language builds a lot of patience.

• Evening reflections

  Time to read, write and get the day down in a journal before it blurs into the next, then tie a tarpon fly for the next day's search.

"The Journey of Water helps us create bonds with people from other countries that we only share one thing in common, and that is the passion for fly fishing."

Getting there and home

Students fly in and out of Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) in San José. A Fish for Change representative meets them at the airport, and the group travels by private shuttle van.

Packing list

This trip needs more kinds of gear than any other Fish for Change program. Tick things off as you go; the list saves on this device. Missing something? Ask the staff before the trip and they'll help.

Scholarships

We never want these programs to be cost-prohibitive. Aid runs from $500 to a full ride and is decided on need and drive.

1. Sep
   Financial aid applications open each September.A cover letter (500 words minimum), a one-minute video, a letter of recommendation, the questions on the application, and your family's financial information. Allow about two hours. Nothing is shared outside the team.
2. Feb
   Deadline is the last day of February.Shortlisted candidates do a video interview with Fish for Change.
3. Mar
   Decisions by early March.Book flights, check your passport, practice your cast.