Between June and September each year hundreds of young turtles make their way from the beaches of the Mafia archipelago into the Indian Ocean after hatching from their nests, carefully dug between 45 and 60 days before by their mother.
The start of this amazing journey can be witnessed with the help of Sea Sense, a local Tanzanian NGO. Set up in 2001, Sea Sense has been working in partnership with local coastal communities to promote the protection of marine turtles and their habitats through many projects that include turtle nest protection, hatching success enhancement, net releases, turtle tagging and environmental education. Sea Sense, in conjunction with the Sea Point Dive Centre in Chole Bay will organise a visit for you to Juani Island where this work can be witnessed at first hand
The trip starts with a cruise across Chole Bay in a traditional dhow to Juani Island. A 40-minute walk through a modest Swahili village and along a path surrounded by lush vegetation will take you from the harbour to the eastern beaches where the marine turtles nest. Sea Sense staff will assist the hatching process by removing sand and other materials that have protected the delicate eggs from the voracious monitor lizard.
The tiny turtles emerge from the sand and scramble, with frantically flapping fins, across the beach strip to the surf and the next big step ahead: 24 hours of swimming until they find peace and shelter in sea grass beds where they can safely grow for the next 3 years. Some 30 years later, the fully grown females will return to the same beach to lay their own eggs and start a whole new journey.
The image of the baby turtles crawling from their nests and fighting against the waves will invoke in most the same sense of wonder experienced when first coming face to face with a mountain Gorilla or the migrating Wildebeest. All five sea Turtle species are classed as endangered, two are critical, and will not survive without support for organisations such as Sea Sense.
