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Planet One World

Why choose Planet One World?

Planet One World is a permaculture farm with a private tropical rainforest refuge, called “Los Guardianes”. Our mission consists of two parts. Protect nature and educate on how we can coexist with our environment by working with it and not against. Our "Educational Voluntourism" consists of three components: Volunteering, education and tourism at accessible prices. During your stay, you as participants study sustainability in the sectors of organic permaculture, sustainable agroforestry and alternative technologies based on modern scientific research. Additionally you have the unique opportunity to become a park ranger to protect our private tropical rainforest refuge, which hosts plant and animal species in danger of extinction. At the same time, you will explore and study the exotic wildlife of this coastal rainforest refuge alongside experts and scientists.

All this will be realized on the Coast of Costa Rica, famous for its beaches, coral reef, surfing, nightlife and much more.

Reviews

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Wanda
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Garden of eden

Butterflies, goats, avocado trees and bananas. Sounds like the beginning of a fantasy story. But actually, there is such a place really in Central Costa Rica, or more precisely, at Planet One World where Ken and his family live. I was there for a week with my gooversea program called Ocean College. And I have to say I've traveled a lot, but that was really one of the most beautiful places. Not only the nature, but also the way Ken and his family took care of the nature and animals on the farm, was nice to experience. During the week I learned from Ken how to work with the machete, how to behave and protect the rainforest. He also showed us how to best utilize the raw materials they extract from nature. We were taught and shown a lot, without a lot of bells and whistles, but just as they live there. I felt less like a tourist than an explorer and would recommend it to anyone who wants that feeling too.

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Charlotte
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Would definitely do it again

Last year I spended some time with Ken and his family in the rainforest at Planet One World with my school Ocean College. I was overwhelmed! Our room had a balcony from which we could see at the nearby trees where howler monkeys were jumping around. His wife made delicious and home-cooked meals for us each day, so we were always well-fortified for our extensive, interesting and beautiful walks through the rainforest. He showed us how to deal with the machete, showed us various Native American rituals with his Native American helper Alfonso and we saw innumerable animals: monkeys, sloths, snakes, beautiful colorful butterflies. I found it particularly interesting how he manages this vast area, cares for his animals, protects the area from poachers and grows and processes their own food. I think it is really a great project, I would definitely go to him again and live with him and his family!

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Mischa
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Amazing time, lifechanging experience

The project "Planet One World" is primarily about protecting and reestablishing sensitive rainforest areas at the carribbean coast, near the village Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. I began my 6 month stay in the end of 2016.
Me and one other german guy where the only volunteers by that time. Our tasks included among others patrols through the forest and taking care of animals and farm, which is located in the middle of the beautiful wildlife territory. Also we set up cameratraps, built a camp in the woods and marked the borders of the protected property with selfmade signs.
Most of the work was physical and quite exhausting, respecting the hot and muggy weather conditions. Since the project was very familial, we, the volunteers, got involved in a variety of different tasks and activities and a lot of responsibility was put in our hands. Also i felt that i was in really good hands with Ken (Carsten), his family and Adolfo, the rainforest expert and worker on the farm. From the beginning on, everyone made us feel welcome and quickly we became part of the team.
In between the work, we enjoyed many different recreational acitivities, frum surfing to meeting locals in the bars of Puerto Viejo to personal Muay Thai lessons with Ken and many more.
If we had any problem, we could always talk to someone and the hierarchy in the project was flat. The nature was overwhelmingly beautiful and living right in the middle of it and in harmony with it changed me.
The experiences i made are priceless and i would never want to miss them.

What would you improve about this program?
This program is still in an early stage of development, meaning it basically needs help on different levels. First of course there is the need for volunteers that are motivated to work locally for change (i really reccommend doing that). Second of all it needs to become more professional; people who professionally do something that could help the project (If you think it could, contact Carsten Tiemann), should work together with them. Also Planet One World needs to be more connected with other projects and volunteer distribution organizations and generally presence in the internet could be higher.
Of course money donations will also always help funding equipment or paying local workers.
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Andreas
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

fun fun fun

Crazy Nightwalks

A friend of mine was at Los Gardianes 3 years ago and recommended it to me. Since I am studying Spanish at university and had many seminar on Central and South America I wanted to go to Costa Rica so bad. So of course I visited Planet One and Ken. I was totally overwhelmed. Particulary the walks at night were incedable. When you see nothing and you are in a totally new enviroment it is like a concert for your senses. I also really enjoyed the educational part. At first I didn’t know what to expect but in the end I learned so many new things and i actually realized how important the work is at Planet One World. I have never experienced a Ceremony with a shaman, but thanks tot he BriBri ritual I got to an insight to local culture. It was really amazing. Like my friend, I can only recommend a Visit to Planet One Worl and Los Guardianes

Philipp
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Sharing is caring

Shareing is Caring 😊
For me it was something totally new working on a farm. It was a bit exaughsting, but Ken and Adolfo were so good teachers and let us now the importance of what we were doing. We had contact to the BriBri culture and also through rafting on the river we got to know the enviroment and the untouched nature. In the end I was happy to get a understanding of how important it is to support such projects to maintain nature like it is. Especially that local culture and animals and plants can further exist. I have a really great respect of what Plante One World is doing and also Ken, Horensio, Adolfo and the other volunteers.They shared so much with us.
All these impressions were quite overwhelming and I am happy to share them here with you. Go to Planet One World, I can recommend it honestly. This will be an adventure you never forget in your live. Sharing is Caring 😊

Programs

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Staff Interviews

These are in-depth Q&A sessions with program leaders.

Carsten Tiemann

Job Title
Founder
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Carsten has a diploma in Applied World Trade Languages and studied two years of Ethnic City/Komaki Music Co. Tokyo, Japan. He has spent seventeen years running his educational farm and hotel on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica and four years teaching languages and environmental education in local schools.

What is your favorite travel memory?

Having met and becoming friend with Dennis Banks, founder of the AIM (American Indian Movement) shortly after having studied with Masanobu Fukuoka (founder of Natural Farming) has surely been my favorite travel memory. I will never forget when Dennis started to drum his frame drum and singing a traditional Arishnabe / Lakota warrior song in the famous Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto.

First we only saw Dennis shadow on the Paper walls, but just a few moments after he started singing and the paper walls have slided open outside of the famous Zen Temple, it started to snow,

Within the next few days the modern part of Kyoto was silenced with a thick layer of snow and I had the privilege of meeting many incredibly spiritual friends of Dennis.

It really felt like being put back in time and space. Dennis and Fukuoka-san since then have been my most importand mentors.

Since then I am trying to carry their message of being stewards of our planet and being relatives to all other species.

Believing in God and that the indigenous cosmovision of co-existing is the positive message that I am trying to transfer to everybody visiting us.

How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?

Being in contact with indigenous people from around the world since I have visited really remote communities in South East Asia and later in Latin America has profoundly changed the way I see life.

It also has changed the way I see the future of humankind.

We are living in a period of time we have to decide were we stand.

We have to decide whether we become passive or active mechanical pieces in a vast machinery that will destroy much of our planet's biodiversity and most likely humanity itself, or if we step out of the system and find new social, ecologic and economic ways to realistically change towards a sustainable management of our natural resources.

I have also learned that it is not enough to only criticize others, but important to stand, experiment, fail, stand up and up again and finally succeed in establishing new systems that work towards a sustainable, livable future.

Especially in business, this is a never-ending struggle, but I am convinced that it is the only alternative we have if we do not want to give up and become robotic like the majority of people nowadays. Only God gives us hope, but meeting all those like minded people coming through One World is creating a creative positivity that is growing everyday.

What is the best story you've heard from a return student?

That his experience was definitely life changing.

After having been with us for about seven month, Kolja Hagenow, who has always been a passionate warrior for conservation, told me that the time with us will change the way he will live and work in the future.

He has told me that, before he came to us at the age of eighteen, he had chained himself as a Greenpeace activist to trees in Checheslovakia at freezing temperatures or immobilized gasoline stations of a famous fossil fuel company in Holland.

Now Kolja believes he will be more effective in his future, working for life on our planet by showing sustainable alternatives to companies and individuals closely.

Kolja is close to do his master in Ecology/Biodiversity Studies and Natural Resource Management.

Another stunning story is of Aki, a Canadian with Russian family background, who now settled close to Puerto Viejo near our Sustainable Community S.E.E.D (a community led by professionals in sustainable sciences).

While we have been overseeing some volunteers from work away, we took a pause and we spotted a group of very rare spider monkeys.

We talked about Costa Rica not having an Army and, during the conversation, we found out that his grandpa was a high officer in the Soviet Army who had to use torture at times to get info from Wehrmacht officers for the Soviet Army.

Both of my biological grandfathers fell in the battle of Stalingrad... The same city were Aki's grandfather served on the opposite side.

Aki and me are still good friends.

If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?

Well, I have to lie a bit now.

It always sounds stupid to talk marvelous things about your own company or organization. I think all my team members believe in their work.

My family, Adolfo (my indigenous right hand), his grandpa (who is a leader of the 38 remaining AWAPA doctors of the Highlands), and each and every project and program we visit and support is worth to be joined.

Many of their students said One World Land's program was the best of all during their experience. They have changed their school rooms together with their teacher with a pirate style sailing ship and visited many countries during half a year around the Atlantic Ocean.

That is not all: they also did serious scientific studies, had helped many sustainable projects and, on top of it, finished all their normal school related duties successfully.

WOW, respect! I know what their team's work must have been-gigantic!

What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?

Well, our team did not fall from the sky. Over 17 years, me, my family and all the other team members, either staff or befriended projects, had to struggle to get were we are now. Our cooperation had to grow organically. Now we work well together.

We had to overcome cultural, ethnical, educational, spiritual, social and many other differences until we found the right balance to become successful TOGETHER.

Let me put it like this: It is always easy and quick to criticize others, but it is hard work and self analysis to actually really make things better.

For example we are working with another Sustainable Community called S.E.E.D. (Society for Environmental Education and Development). All founders and all participants in this community are coming from totally different backgrounds and believe the only thing that we all really have in common is the wish to find better more sustainable ways to create a better future.

I am especially proud of all those teams that we work with that up to this day we never gave up and continue swimming against the stream.

We need to start a domino effect that in the future others can easier join and change the direction of the stream!

What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?

The biggest factor of being a successful company means for me changing the way we see success in itself.

If we continue to see success the way universities teach economy, for instance, you see that still we see the goal in gaining maximum profit out of minimum investment.

Natural resources, the well-being of all workers, consumers, entrepreneurs alike, well-being of other species plants and animals... All that is not taken into consideration. Those egocentric, monetary profit focused systems are not sustainable and doomed to collapse. These systems apply as well to agriculture, pharmaceutical industry, security, military and many more.

Without leaving realistic economic business plans out of consideration, we need to find new, integral systems that are based on diversity and coexistence. Nature is our teacher. We are part of nature and a successful company must be based on a realistic use of all natural resources and respecting co existence.