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Published: September 27th 2008
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Lynne´s work
determined to see a turtle here so she makes one! We have just finished 2 weeks at Matapalo Town and Beach. This small community thrives on the tourist industry. As the tourist season is now over, the main source of income is from the few stray tourists and the volunteers of the ASVO turtle conservation project.
During the day we helped repair and maintain the hatchery, and clean up around the common areas of the buildings. David was to repair the roof on the shelter outside the hatchery where the night duty teams sit. I would be up at odd hours of the night either to be part of the hatchery duty or on patrol. I preferred the patrol as it kept me awake.
My first night patrol was fruitful with one green turtle and we took 73 eggs for the new nest in the hatchery. This was my only experience with a turtle for the whole 2 weeks. Their were hatchlings but not on my shift. But after our experience in Tortuguero I don´t feel like I´ve missed anything.
There are some things to be considered when volunteering for a turtle project. It is quite scary at night when you know there are poachers around. Many times
The view of a bridge from the bus ride to Matapalo
From the back door of the bus.
Does not instil confidence in the strength! the patrols see the poachers. Bia, our co-ordinator, has negotiated with them and has come away with a partial amount of eggs. Many times we arrived too late and find a hole where the eggs have already been dug up. And even during the day when we are in the cage (lunch room), men have approached us to buy the eggs from them. One night while on hatchery duty we were approached by 2 men. These men were the subject of much discussion on the 2 way radio, and Denise (another Aussie) and I were listening in. Some men had walked by earlier on and the patrol was about 3 minutes behind them. We saw the silhouette of 2 people walking up to the hatchery. I was behind a palm tree and Denise in the hut. As the men got to about 20 feet from me, I shone my torch in their faces and called out - who´s that? They stopped, apparently considering their options, turned and walked further up the beach. I can be very scary too. They walked away with a bag of eggs over their shoulder. That was my last night shift anyway as David and I
The hatchery
this is the shelter from the weather for volunteers watching the hatchery. were teaching english at the local school for the second week.
This was our first chance to have some practice before work in China. It was great to get the experience. We had lots of fun with the kids in and out of the classroom. It is unfortunate for these kids that they don´t have consistent lessons in English. Volunteers come and go so often that they don´t get enough practice in speaking and each volunteer teacher is different in their method.
Another thing to consider when volunteering is the diversity of the people that you will be living with of all ages and maturity. Be very flexible and accepting of others as they can get on your nerves after a while in a place where there´s not much else to do.
An important thing about volunteering at this project. They need volunteers to help maintain the entire facililty not just being a guard for the hatchery or extra man power on the patrols for 3 hours a night. Work is required every day. The few permanent staff don´t have the time to do everything themselves. The amount of money you pay barely covers the cost of
keeping you. Unfortunately some volunteers think this is just a cheap holiday camp and that someone else should clean up after them. That said, volunteer for the right reasons and don´t wait to be told what to do. Every little bit helps. You will have a more positive and rewarding time at this project if you consider the bigger picture and give 100 percent effort.
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