I was apart of the Sea turtle conservation project in Greece for two weeks. I have previously been on two other Frontier projects so I already had great expectations for the experience. I was keen to take part in the turtle conservation project as I was eager to learn more about turtles and the protection they needed, which I did to a great extent. I arrived on the project at the beginning of September 2014 so the start of the hatching period. I was able to get involved straight away the next morning after settling in. The very first morning i was up at 6am to go onto a morning survey where i saw my very first baby sea turtle. We patrolled the beaches each morning to see if there were any signs of hatching's over night , most mornings we would see many hatchling tracks and occasionally some baby turtles which hatched late.Seeing a turtle hatchling make it to the see for the first time was the greatest experience of the whole trip! In the evenings we would do nest excavations which is where we would dig up a nest which had been hatched for 10 days. All the eggs inside would be counted and separated into hatched eggs and unhatched eggs, the unhatched ones would be opened up to see what was the cause of the egg not to hatch. You soon learn that turtle eggs have a very distinct smell and it's not a pleasant one, though you do get used to it eventually. when we weren't doing surveys or excavations we spent our free time catching up on sleep or eating endless kinda Buenos and other chocolate. Once i had gained a bit more experience i was able to get hands on with the excavations. Occasionally during excavations we would find live hatchlings which we would gather up in a bucket and release after we had finished. The largest batch of live turtles we had was 47 from one nest , all the turtles couldn't fit inside the bucket so an improvised play pen was constructed to house them till we were ready to release them. To help them on their way we would build a trench to the ocean to keep all the turtles on the right track and to stop them from being disorientated. On camp we had a little competition to see who could get the best baby turtle selfie , with so many turltes there i took my chance and took endless photos. No matter how many times you see it when you get to watch the turtles swim off into the distance it always makes you smile.
I got to see so many turtles and meet a great group of people while i was on the Frontier Greece project I wish i had been able to stay longer. I would 100% recommend this project to others to take part in , it is a conservation project that you are hands on making a difference and it is clear to see ! My experience was great and that was down to the amazing Frontier staff , the other volunteers , the beautiful beaches and of course the baby turtles.
Program:
Volunteer Abroad
Location:
Greece
Posted:
Oct 9, 2014
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