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Published: December 24th 2007
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Beach patrol
Although it is low season when it comes to the nesting, there are still turtles nesting, and beach patrols are performed round the clock by the nest protectors. I can join them at any time, but now I have a schedule to join them at least three times a week. I will be there mainly at the time when tourists are there. It is fruitful for tourists to have a fluent English speaker at the beach, telling them all about turtles. Tourists arrive normally from eight in the evening and onwards, and stay as long as they want, sitting still around the area of the ‘turtle hut’. The place of the ‘turtle hut’ which is where all the action is centered, is also in the middle of the stretch of beach which is patrolled. The beach patrol is done on two km of a sanctuary which in total is four km. The beach itself is not attractive to tourists because the waves are huge! When a turtle comes nesting, the beach patrollers flash a signal with the torch and the tourists can come and see the event. So far I have not experienced this. Patrolling is also
Nest excavation
Stinky, but fun! done daytime because the nests are sometimes subject to egg poachers such as feral dogs and monitors etc. Beach patrol is done by ‘nest protectors’ (who were earlier nest poachers) and all the time there is also a ‘research officer’ which does the measuring of the turtle, this is to minimize error, I presume. Titles are very important, and it is not appreciated to confuse them.
Excavation
A smelly experience! Nest excavations are done in order to get data on the hatching success among other things. With triangulation we reach the approximate location of the nest some week or two after estimated hatch date which is normally two months. By using a stick we poke the sand, and where it is comparably looser and a reeking odour can be smelled from the end of the stick, we start digging. Half a meter deep we find the round leathery ping pong ball sized eggs. In successful nesting, over 75%!h(MISSING)ave hatched and a majority of empty shells can be found. The unopened ping pong balls must however be opened, bringing a cloud of flies to the location. The eggs where there are turtle remains must be classified into the
dead baby
Not all make it T.O.D. (time of death) i.e. the different stages of development. When this is done, we gladly throw the smelly eggs back into the pit and cover it with sand again. Regardless of these efforts the likelihood of it being dug up again is high, due to the high number of stray dogs roaming around.
Tourists in Sri Lanka
There are actually tourists in Sri Lanka, now I have seen them with my own eyes! After one week of being with only Sri Lankan’s I very much enjoyed speaking a more proper English, and the tourists were very inquisitive and was totally enjoying myself! The tourists left some donations so I guess it was appreciated from their side as well. I met a guy from London who is traveling in Sri Lanka, he told me he’ll be around for at least a week, so we decided we’d get together sometime in the future, possibly for Christmas. The tourist behavior is nearly as interesting as turtle behavior, because they (tourists) come in all different kinds. Wearing white, drinking, being noisy… not very easy to see turtles then. So I will make a sigh with the appropriate turtle watch behaviors
At the hospital
Nurse cleaning my wound when it comes to the tourists.
Rabies shot
One week after having been in Sri Lanka an incident brings me to the hospital. I was sitting working with the batik group and got up towards a table, without caution to where I stepped, because I stepped on the dog of the house, (which always growls at me when I show up - I can’t get him to like me) and he howls. I can feel a slight stinge on my foot, and when I look at it, it is bleeding. The ladies do frowning sounds and rush to get me to the tap to clean the wound, it bleeds quite a lot, but it is not a big wound. They bring gas and wrap me up nicely while some other ladies ask for Banda’s number. Banda comes and we explain, nobody seems to have seen what happened, some think it was the dog, and some a nail on the table. It is nevertheless certain that a visit at the hospital is good, which of course I would have insisted on anyway. I was very calm all the time, I knew I had prepared with my rabies protection at home, and was in part enjoying the break of routine, because I had been starting to feel rather alone, not being able to keep very busy. We got to the hospital, by motorbike, bus and then ‘tuck tuck’ (three wheeled motorbike). And I got to cut the waiting line and saw a doctor who told me it was appropriate to take rabies shot although it was not a stray dog that bit me, if indeed it was a bite. Then I was taken to a round, very dark nurse and she gave me rabies and tetanus shots. She cleaned the wound and I me and Banda left the hospital. We did not pay, it was a government hospital! Imagine I paid about 75 euro for each of my rabies shots in Europe! The nest day when I got back, all the ladies were caring and wanted to see my foot, and the dog was on a leash.
Community programs
I did not come here only to do turtle work. I am a volunteer in an NGO and as well as bringing some revenue to the project I am also supposed to do some work. I came here to see the network of programs held in order to give people alternative income to turtle poaching. Here in Rekawa they have an ornamental fish breeding program, a batik program, a community library and an English teaching program. Possibly I will also start a computer class. Currently I have started three English classes, that are to be held each week. I do NOT know how to teach English to people whose native language I do not know, but I am creative, and having fun. Numbers, colors and weekdays are a good start I think. I too, am learning some Singhalese, however, like I wrote earlier, it is not easy. They have six syllables to say Tuesday and five to say Thursday - angaharuada and brahaspatinda. They greeted me with flowers, and in the end they stood up and say the national song. Then they came and knealed down in front of me, touched my feet, blessing me, and thanking me for spending my time with them.
The ornamental fish breeding has successful breeding of the live-bearers such as molly and guppy, but also goldfish and zebra fish, possibly Oscar cichlid and Malawi, but I am still waiting for some ‘real’ evidence. They keep the fish in tanks of ranging from 1 by 1 m with a water level of ca 30 cm, in an enclosed open air area, so after a rainy night I saw why he did not keep more water in the cement tanks, it was pretty full after the rain! All in all, I think there are twenty tanks. Almost every morning I go there to help with moving baby fish from breeding tanks to growing tanks, cleaning or just feeding the fish. The Oscars get fish meat every morning, and by the looks of it, they love it!
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