I have been here on the Perhentian Islands at the Jungle Trekking and Sea Turtle Conservation project for about one month and I’m still excited for the beautiful landscape, the warm people and of course the amazing turtles we are working with daily. On the 10th my teammate Joel, Kinsey and Elliot and me saw the first turtle nesting at Tiga Ruang during our night patrol. It was so amazing seeing the turtle laying her eggs in the sand, measuring her carapace and taking photos of her for photo identification! We found her at 0:25 am, she laid 105 eggs and submerged to the sea at 1:35 am.
On 19th April we finished the huts at Tiga Ruang and Connaugh and me had the first dinner watching the sunset. We can now stay there on rotation for a couple of nights so that every team stays there for three or four nights to assist the fishery department in patrolling the beach, digging for the eggs and collecting data to identify the nesting turtles.
On April 30th, we were assisting the Nomad Nation with their annual festival at Teluk Keke. We did an awareness campaign about sea rules and how to behave in the water when there are turtles, fish, corals, etc. Of course we told all visitors how awesome turtles are. Furthermore, we had some games like guessing the number of turtle eggs (of course just table tennis balls looking like turtle eggs) in a glass where the person with the right answer won an Ecoteer shirt. The weather was perfect, the sun was shining and the water activities like human launcher so much fun, that there was a great atmosphere. It was an amazing day and we thank the Nomad Nation for joining the event.
