The Ostional Wildlife Refuge protects marine turtles and is located on the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica. The nesting beach at Ostional can be covered with thousands of turtles during an arribada. With a local guide we learned about the Olive Ridley (Lora) sea turtles and the community who protects them.

So many turtles come onto the beach in a short time span that most of the first nests are destroyed by later turtles. Therefore, in 1987, a project was initiated to allow local people the right to collect and sell a percentage of the eggs from the first three days of each arribada. This is the only place in the world where it is legal to harvest turtle eggs. This practice is designed prevent poaching and to help the local community.