Above: Token photo from our accommodation in Sur, since photos weren’t allowed with the turtles.
Teaming up
Ammi kindly dropped me off to the bus station this morning for my 7:30 am bus to Sur. Sur is a seaside town that’s often used for excursions to watch the leatherback turtles nesting. Unfortunately Sur is still a considerable distance away from the turtle site and it’s expensive by taxi, so I hope to find other people share an excursion from Sur to the turtles.
On the bus, I ran into a Hungarian and Taiwanese pair who are studying Arabic in Kuwait. They had planned on taxiing further afield to a beachside accommodation near the turtle place. One of them soon saw the wisdom (economy) of my accommodation arrangement. I sensed the tension grow as one had wanted the beach ambience of their original plan while another wanted the economy of mine. In the end they agreed amongst themselves to stay in my hotel.
It worked out really well as with the three of us, we could arrange two excursions by car very economically, one to see the turtles tonight and a second tomorrow.
Turtle Nesting Visit (no photography permitted)
For our first outing together, we set off about 7:30pm to the Ras Al-Jinz Scientific and Visitors Centre some 40 minutes away from Sur. We were lucky as it looked like one night away from full moon.
After some briefing, we were taken out in a group to the beach where we could see endangered giant green turtles in various stages of their egg-laying process. Some were coming ashore, one was digging her pit for laying, another was laying and soon started to cover up and return to sea.
We also saw a couple of baby turtles surface from the sand and make their way to sea. Then there was the hungry fox looking for some baby turtles to eat.
Despite our best efforts, our presence had impacted on one turtle that was coming ashore … it looked like she was turning back. Just as well we didn’t all squat behind a turtle while it was shooting her ping-pong balls (that’s what the eggs look like) into the pit … this is allowed in some place and it has taken its toll with turtles not returning.
We learnt a lot about the general life, reproductive and travel habits of turtles. Eg. Hot temperatures will increase the chance of females being hatched … to the extent that the entire batch of over 100 eggs will be female! Also, male turtles don’t travel while females travel between different continents for three years between each nesting.
It was pretty awesome to see nature at work. I was able to contribute to the conservation efforts … in my own way, of course … this French man asked how turtle eggs tasted like. The guide didn’t know. I answered “they don’t firm up on boiling, they’re like half-boiled eggs but sandy and salty … not nice at all”. I’m hoping my experience has deterred the entire audience from buying and trying!