With visitors up from Victoria, I find myself playing tourist in my home town. Relucantly, although I didn't let on because I didn't want them to think I didn't care about endangered species, I went off to see the turtles at Mon Repos. My first surprise was that we weren't the only people there. There were hundreds of people queing to see the turtles laying their eggs or the hatchlings making their way back into the ocean. Who would have thought?
The tourist guide told us way too often that turtles were wild animals and that we had to fit in with their timetable, not the other way around. Personally I think somebody needs to have a word with the turtles. Because of the huge number of people keen to see the turtles, we were in Group 3. Again, the guide told us that if there was any activity on the beach we would be ushered down in groups.
Bloody Group 1 got their call up within minutes of the gate opening. Group 2 had to sit around for another good hour before getting "the call". The rest of us were left to entertain ourselves in the ampitheatre in the semi-darkness. After about an hour, I'd read everything there was to know about turtles, studied their skeletons etc. etc. You could pretty much call me a turtle expert now. We were actually doing turtle impersonations for each other - just in case we didn't get "the call" that's how sad it was.
Just as I was losing the will to live, Group 3 got "the call". Yelling "Bingo" we lept to our feet and headed to the beach with our guide. Apparently, there were a number of loggerhead turtle hatchlings ready to make their way into the wild and we were to witness this journey first hand.
All of a sudden I started to get a little bit excited as well as a bit sad. Having become an instant turtle expert I knew that only 1 in a 1000 of these hatchlings was going to make it to adulthood. Our group got to OOH & AAH over the tiny turtles before we built the "tunnel of light" to guide the little hatchlings into the ocean to begin their journey, or in most cases, get scoffed down by the first preadator that is bigger than it. Let me tell you, they are very small so most things in the ocean are bigger than they are so you work it out!
Of course I didn't have a torch otherwise I could have been one of the lucky ones who got to form the tunnel of light and have the little ninja turtles scurrying betwen their legs and over their feet. They looked so cute and as they bravely went into the ocean I shed a tear for them and thought how lucky I was to be able to bid these brave and magnificent animals farewell as they began their journey.
I felt a little like a wildlife warrior and was so glad I stayed to watch the beauty of the little loggerhead turtle head off into the world against all odds. I need to take a lesson from these little ninja turtles. Like us, they don't know exactly what is out there in the world to harm them but they still bravely march off down the beach - they don't stay lurking on the sidelines of life, too scared to give it a 'shot'.
You go turtles ....
The tourist guide told us way too often that turtles were wild animals and that we had to fit in with their timetable, not the other way around. Personally I think somebody needs to have a word with the turtles. Because of the huge number of people keen to see the turtles, we were in Group 3. Again, the guide told us that if there was any activity on the beach we would be ushered down in groups.
Bloody Group 1 got their call up within minutes of the gate opening. Group 2 had to sit around for another good hour before getting "the call". The rest of us were left to entertain ourselves in the ampitheatre in the semi-darkness. After about an hour, I'd read everything there was to know about turtles, studied their skeletons etc. etc. You could pretty much call me a turtle expert now. We were actually doing turtle impersonations for each other - just in case we didn't get "the call" that's how sad it was.
Just as I was losing the will to live, Group 3 got "the call". Yelling "Bingo" we lept to our feet and headed to the beach with our guide. Apparently, there were a number of loggerhead turtle hatchlings ready to make their way into the wild and we were to witness this journey first hand.
All of a sudden I started to get a little bit excited as well as a bit sad. Having become an instant turtle expert I knew that only 1 in a 1000 of these hatchlings was going to make it to adulthood. Our group got to OOH & AAH over the tiny turtles before we built the "tunnel of light" to guide the little hatchlings into the ocean to begin their journey, or in most cases, get scoffed down by the first preadator that is bigger than it. Let me tell you, they are very small so most things in the ocean are bigger than they are so you work it out!
Of course I didn't have a torch otherwise I could have been one of the lucky ones who got to form the tunnel of light and have the little ninja turtles scurrying betwen their legs and over their feet. They looked so cute and as they bravely went into the ocean I shed a tear for them and thought how lucky I was to be able to bid these brave and magnificent animals farewell as they began their journey.
I felt a little like a wildlife warrior and was so glad I stayed to watch the beauty of the little loggerhead turtle head off into the world against all odds. I need to take a lesson from these little ninja turtles. Like us, they don't know exactly what is out there in the world to harm them but they still bravely march off down the beach - they don't stay lurking on the sidelines of life, too scared to give it a 'shot'.
You go turtles ....
