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Turtle eggs
Look just like ping pong balls! ...massage it!
Well that's the idea apparently. When I tried it I ended up running circles in the sand, clutching onto 70kg of Loggerhead turtle that was keen to get back to the sea!
I've done 2 night surveys now and they are amazing, even if they do completely shatter you for the next few days. Seeing a turtle laying her eggs is one of the most magical sights I have ever witnessed. I never realised how agile they are. These prehistoric armoured beasts can move their flippers like hands, scooping up sand to dig a deep hole into the sand. Then they lower themselves down and go into a trance as they drop over one hundred perfectly round, shiny, white eggs into the nest. We use ping pong balls in our nest models and they really do look just like that! As each egg lays, the female turtle raises her flippers gently, it sounds silly but when you see it it's totally amazing. You have to watch out when she's finished because then she starts flicking sand everywhere to camouflage her nest and having a mouth full of sand is not so nice! This is when the action
Sunrise
An all too familiar sight! starts, we have to measure and tag all the turtles we see nesting. Some of the old ladies are quite happy to let you do this, but some of the younger turtles are less keen and you have to leap in their pathway and restrain them. They have a muscle on top of their head that you can massage to help calm them, but this only works for about a minute and then they twist out of your grasp! It's such a buzz to be involved though and even I have no trouble staying awake all night when I've had a close encounter like this. I can't wait to go out again tomorrow night!
Other news, we moved camp last week and we're all getting used to roughing it after the luxuries of a real campsite with a taverna overlooking the sea. Our new camp is in the middle of a field and Gerry has helped to build most of it, including spending 3 days creating a shower from scratch! Unfortunately we could really do with a plumber because everytime we turn off the shower the tap in the kitchen explodes! Apart from that we have had to cope
with barely any shade, not good with the hours we work so I've been a bit grumpy the past few days! Most people are getting stuck in though and dealing with it as best we can, but we did lose a couple of new volunteers who were not expecting quite such basic facilities...thank god for African bush camps to toughen me up a bit and make me used to one-pot wonder cooking!
I've also been gaining confidence with public speaking, giving slideshows to up to 50 people and learning how to use a microphone. Now all I need to do is learn to speak slow enough so the German tourists can understand me! Life here isn't always so rough though, every now and then our PA leader feels sympathetic and puts us on information table at one of the 5 star hotels. Then we go mad and feast on the buffet breakfast as if we've been starved for weeks, one morning I even managed to have smoked salmon!
Can't say exactly when we'll be home, looking at flights now so I'll let you know when I know. Hope everyone is ok. If someone could arrange for the weather
Making tracks
this is what we look for when we patrol the beaches in the mornings looking for activity and new nests to improve by the time I get home that would be great, and maybe I'll hang around for more than a month this time. Also if anyone hears of any job vacancies I'm getting a bit desperate! See you all in a few weeks Fxx
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