Green Sea Turtle Nesting Review

David's Turtle Nesting Trip - Index Tour operator Accommodation & food The weather The actual turtle experience Tips and advice Disappointments Rating: green sea turtle trip

Green Sea Turtle Nesting Operator

My trip was booked direct with Sabah National Park.

There seemed to be a clear emphasis on green sea turtle's welfare and it was made clear at the beginning that the major compromises made would be at the expense of tourist experience.

Given that, however, I felt we were privileged to see quite a lot as a result of their hatchery management programme.

It was disappointing to learn that the reality of protecting turtle species already involves so much human intervention, with all eggs dug up and relocated and all hatchlings transferred back to the beach by hand.

I think there were about two parties up to 20 people on the island each night. The strict limit on the number of visitors is designed to prevent a negative impact on the turtle habitat, and so there is only accommodation for 60 tourists on the island. I believe that they are often oversubscribed, with advanced booking recommended.

We were all well briefed in advance and I think the operation attempted to be eco-friendly in its practices, although the reality is we were all participating in an unnecessary trip by motorboat to an island to which all food and supplies had to be shipped so our tourist activities no doubt have an impact.

There were a number of tourist chalets accommodating 2-8 people, each of which was perfectly pleasant – if anything perhaps too luxurious as air-conditioning seemed a little inappropriate.

Basic drinks were on sale in the evening, which met everyone's expectations.

Surprisingly good.

We were collected on the quay and driven over to the island in the morning, where we had the opportunity to relax, look round the operation, explore and swim in the sea off a beach not used by turtles.

After dinner we were all briefed and sat in the main hall, reading, looking at displays or just chatting. Small groups were taken off to see the egg-hatching programme and also the collecting of that night's hatchlings from the specially protected hatching area.

When a turtle was spotted we were again taken in small groups to see her on the beach, which involved getting remarkably close. People had the opportunity to stay up or head off to bed, and most had turned in by 3am I think – mainly I think because we were fortunate enough for there to be a couple of early turtles that night.

After breakfast in the morning we returned on the boat heading off to pick up the next group.

It was a couple of hours but the programme was well organized, with an opportunity to watch the green sea turtle hatchlings being released in the interim.

We spent about 20 minutes watching.

Selingan is a dedicated turtle island, so all the buildings were deliberately in land and docking away from the turtle-used beaches.

I would hope that anyone participating on such a trip would appreciate that it is an opportunity to witness an amazing natural phenomenon and learn about an important environmental programme, and realize that this might be at the expense of their tourist experience.

I don't think anyone will be disappointed if they bear in mind that to witness the natural world usually requires us to minimize the disturbance we cause, and that the experience is of a different quality to visiting a zoo say: you should not expect too much but be grateful for what there is.

Floating debris in the sea – including plastic rubbish, which had travelled far round the globe - was a stark reminder of the environmental impact we all have.

9/10