….YOU COME TO OUR NESTING SITES, WELCOME TO LAMU..KARIBU

Every three years turtles swim hundreds of miles
to lay their eggs on the same beaches where they were born.

The male and female turtle mate in the sea. Then the female turtle
swims to shore. With her flippers she digs a deep hole in the sand,
where she lays many round white eggs.In the hole, her eggs will be
safe and warm until they hatch.

During the next ten to thirty days the female turtle returns to the
beach several times to lay as many as 200 eggs. In their secret nest,
the eggs will stay dry and protected.

When she is sure her eggs are safe, the female turtle returns to the sea.
After seven weeks the eggs starts to hatch!
Each baby turtle has a special egg tooth on its beak. This tooth helps
the baby break through the shell.

After they hatch, the babies dig themselves out of the hole at night
and scamper to the sea.

In a few years they will come back to the same
beach and have babies of their own!

Wel come to Lamu Marine Conservation Trust. 

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When Atwaa first came to see us about setting up a blog about marine turtles in the Lamu archipelago I was captivated by his explanations about the project, his personal story, and the life cycle of the turtle. A local of the tiny island of Lamu just off the north coast of Kenya, his work has enormous impact on the local ancient communities and their views of turtles.

So when he came back to the office for training I recorded his stories to produce this podcast so that you can enjoy hearing about his groups work in his own words. Enjoy!

Paula

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Turtle facts

1. Sea turtles are ancient reptiles and have been on Earth for over 130 million years.

2. The sex of a turtle is determined by the sand’s temperature… a cool nest is dominantly male, a hot nest is dominantly female

3. The ‘tears’ a female turtle has in her eyes when she comes to shore help her to get rid of the salt she absorbed in the ocean.

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