Travel Blog - Greenbacked Turtles Hatch

I'm always gratified, when on vacation or traveling, to run across organisations dedicated to conservation issues. On Lamu Island last month (Indian Ocean off the coast of Kenya) I was fortunate to be down by the water one morning when a young man who had been of real help when we arrived asked if we'd be interested in seeing turtles hatch later that day. Wow. What a prospect. Late afternoon we crammed onto a shallow bottomed boat and wended our way through the mangrove swamps to a remote beach. After wading to shore we got the “follow me” signal and set off at a fast clip across a spit of land. Over a hill we came to a small settlement, just a couple of thatched huts, thorn fence to keep out predators, goats, chickens, two scrawny dogs and several equally scrawny children. “A fisherman’s home”, our leader explained. “He used to be a poacher, now he works to save the turtles.” Throughout Rwanda and Kenya I had met several people in conservation work and it was obvious that the key to success was not in preventing poaching but in giving poachers an stake in the success of conservation.

Headed by Atwaa Salim and with the backing of Carol and Lars Korschen of Peponi Hotel in Lamu, the Lamu Marine Conservation Trust was established in 1992 to reduce the illegal trade of sea turtle product on the black market with a stated mission to:
“increase the survival chance of the hatchlings and enhance beach security in Lamu from the regular patrolling, treat sick turtles with barnacles, tumours and other complications spread awareness of the sea turtles as an essential part of the ecosystem and biodiversity promote eco-tourism through the trips to see the hatchling spread awareness amongst the local community through talks in schools schools and video presentations about the importance of turtle conservation” www.tusk.org/lamu-marine-conservation-project.asp

On a pragmatic level this has translated into hiring ex-poachers to patrol the beach, monitor nest sites, tag turtles. There’s a solid financial reward for success and in ten years, the average number of nests hatched has risen from 10 to 70. Local fishermen who catch turtles by mistake now have a financial inducement to bring the animal to the Trust headquarters where they are they are measured, treated if ill, tagged and released back into the ocean. Each fisherman is put on a register and paid an incentive according to the size of the turtle (correlating with how much could be gained from the black market).

As with all conservation efforts I saw in Kenya, success is only as good as the commitment from the local community. On Lamu the Trust works with the local primary school and has established tree nurseries and a bee keeping project, funding for both enterprises coming from donations from visitors to the turtle hatching sites.

Once we were over the hill the roar of waves filled the air and we were loping down the slope to a stretch of wild beach pounded by surf.

A gnarled, weather beaten man waited just up from the water edge. As we approached he began scooping away sand and miracle of miracles – it was amazing, dozens of tiny greenback turtle hatchlings wiggled their way free of the sand and began a wobbly slide and slither down to the surf. The rubbery empty eggshells were counted – 182 hatchlings had survived from a clutch of 193 eggs – the number to survive the first twenty-four hours in the ocean will be a far lesser number.

Our poacher turned conservationist counted the eggshells as he placed them in a sack – his payment would come when he turned that into the trust. I was curious as to how they know when a nest has hatched – apparently there is an indentation in the sand that the keen and trained eye can spot.

It was a once in a lifetime experience for me.

If you are enjoying following this blog and our primary website, www.connectionsforwomen.com, please help us continue by supporting our affiliates and advertisers. Click through the ads to see what they have to offer.