Project Directors Jeff and Kate Zylland are devoted to promoting community-based ecotourism, education, and guiding. Since 2010 they have lived the seasonal life, working for up to six months at a time in National Parks and environmental education centers in the US, and volunteering internationally.

While volunteering in Nicaragua during the winter of 2011, Jeff and Kate visited Ometepe Island and met a tour guide named Arlin Hernandez. Arlin spoke of organizing a cooperative of guides on the island to educate and set quality and safety standards for tours. Training and educational resources, Arlin said, could be hard to come by. But as park rangers and environmental educators in the United States, Kate and Jeff had access to training resources. They also saw volunteer opportunities for outdoor professionals who are often underemployed in the USA winter. An idea was born.

Guías Unidos, or “Guides United” has grown from the initial idea to include us, our many partner organizations, and the volunteers who help us out from both sides of the border.

Guías Unidos began pilot projects on Ometepe Island in Nicaragua during the summer of 2016. We developed guide training programs, environmental education for children, and we partnered with local organizations and stakeholders. In November 2017 we began developing our volunteer program and creating an office and resource center to operate and administer our projects. Some of our successes include:

Maintenance, reconnaissance, and planning of trails on Ometepe’s protected areas. Trever, a volunteer intern and seasonal Park Ranger in the USA, focused much of his work on the trails initiative.

Geology field training and training workshop run by Chelsea, a masters student with University of Montana and seasonal park ranger in the USA.

With funds raised from our “Nature Libre” campaign, we are sponsoring school field trips. We have already brought over 400 students, teachers, and parents to natural reserves and other ecotourism hotspots around the island. For most participants, it was their first time there, and their first field trip ever.

After a 2018 political issue and the Covid pandemic, tourism on Ometepe fell precipitously. We shifted our focus from majority guide training and building ecotourism infrastructure, to community education and building local support for ecological preservation.

Our ongoing legacy includes english classes to serve the community, including almost a decade of English Cafe, and over 10,000 tree seedlings planted, and an organic food garden that helps support the cafe. Kids come hang out in Centro PUMA and read books, play with educational toys, learn musical instruments, and have a safe space to be with friends. Tour guides and teachers benefitting from tourism that is slowly returning to the island

Our project model was originally a model for us, as park rangers, to focus our work on Ometepe during the US winter (October-April) when there is less ecotourism work in the USA. We still return in the capacity of helpers and consultants to the project during our winter seasons.

Guias Unidos began as a project of Earth Island Institute (EII), a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. EII is a fiscal sponsor for over 70 environmental and community activism projects.
www.earthisland.org/index.php/projects/by-focus/