TURTLE ISLANDS (20/11/09)
Before setting off to the jungle we were first spending the night on the island of Selingaan, one of Borneo's three Turtle Islands. Since the islands are off the coast of Borneo, well out to sea we were surprised when our bus dropped us off at this tiny river port.
Nevertheless we were assured that we were in the right place and sure enough, after about half an hour, a boat arrived to take us to the island.
The boat set off at break-neck speed down the narrow river and we all thoroughly enjoyed both the ride and the scenery.
After 20 minutes on the river we still didn't know how we were getting to an island in the sea. However all of a sudden we shot out of a narrow estuary and into the Celebes Sea.
The excitement of the river combined with the monotony of the open sea (and an early start) was too much for Adam and he allowed the small waves to rock him to sleep like a big hairy baby.
On arrival at Selingaan Island we were amazed to find that for the first time in several days it wasn't raining- in fact there was sun!
Not wanting to waste the opportunity we headed straight for the beautiful beach which encircles the tiny island and provides the turtles with their nesting ground.
Elinor borrowed some snorkelling gear and was straight in the sea looking at the wide variety of fish that live on the reefs around the island.
More interested in exploring than swimming Adam and Liz set off around the island. Some times of year are better than others for seeing the turtles and we were here in low season. Because there was the chance that we might not see any turtles at all we were both looking out for signs that they were about. Here we found a very good sign, very recent turtle tracks, perhaps from the night before.
Another good sign, a hatched turtle egg shell.
Despite these optimistic signs we had to wait until nearly 9pm until we finally got the call from the Rangers that a female was laying on the beach. We hurried out to the beach as quick as we could and were over the moon when we saw what we had come here to see- a female Green Turtle laying eggs on the beach. Liz had been desperate to see this since we tried, and failed, in Costa Rica all the way back in March so you can imagine how happy she was that we had finally done it so near to the end of our trip.
During the egg laying process the female goes into a kind of trance, oblivious of movement and noise around her. This is the only reason that tourists such as ourselves are allowed to get so close during this sensitive moment. The Rangers must judge carefully- if she is disturbed before she starts laying she may return to the sea without laying at all.
As she finished laying her eggs the Rangers allowed us a quick look at the whole turtle.
She really was huge, for an animal so at home in the sea it takes an immense amount of effort to drag their heavy shell all the way up the beach to lay the eggs in the safest possible place.
In the Turtle we were watching laid 84 eggs. Green Turtles are an endangered species due largely to bad fishing practices and pollution. To give the eggs an even better chance the rangers remove them immediately from the beach and take them to their hatchery. Here they bury the eggs in a similar way to the mother but away from unusually high tides and protected from predators.
There is quite a rush after collecting the eggs- they must be buried again within two hours to stand a good chance of growing into a hatchling turtle.
The final part of our evening's Turtle experience. The days hatchlings, from eggs buried around 50 days before, were brought to the beach in a basket. At the edge of the sea they were tipped onto the beach where they scuttled into the sea. Probably only one or two of these baby turtles will manage to survive the harsh sea world and become adult Green Turtles but if they do there is a high chance that when their turn to lay eggs comes, it will be on this same beach.
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