We are on the nesting beach every day, and also every night during nesting season.
Early in the morning we:
- check for turtle tracks
- record the position of new nests
- inform tourists about turtles
- clean the beach
During nesting season we also:
- relocate nests if necessary (pictured)
- record nesting attempts
During hatchling season we:
- look for small baby tracks and count them
- look for lost hatchlings (pictured)
- check nest positions and state
- excavate hatched nests after a safe period
- count total and successful eggs in excavations
In the day our volunteers are usually present on the beach distributing leaflets, talking to people and answering questions about the turtles. Look out for our blue t-shirts (see below)!
In the evening we are on the beach again, mainly to check that it is clear from major obstacles for mothers coming to nest or hatchlings going to emerge.
At night, we patrol the beach for nesting turtles from after sunset to sunrise. We collect data for our research into the local population of turtles, and we also discourage people from ‘partying’ on the beach. We measure the general level of disturbance to find ways to reduce it.
We have many other activities: some directly related to the turtle project, like our education programme, and some related to our general concern on the local development.