Saving turtles at Camaronal

By Natalia Graczyk

Arriving at Playa Camaronal, we were excited and eager to set up jungle camp. Little did we know we’d be chopping our own bamboo for the frames and basha beds. That didn’t faze us though as we constructed a camp complete with bamboo cutlery holders. Jungle camp became my home for three weeks and my dry basha bed  was a safe haven from the rain although it didn’t really rain as much until the end of the phase. I was always looking forward to be in bed by 7pm!

Our project consisted of two types of work – building a path from the ranger station to the Mirador lookout and nightly turtle shifts. On the path, Tim taught us the difference between a spade and a shovel. I really enjoyed seeing the progress every day and knowing that tourists and volunteers will use this path for decades to come. Nelson, the park ranger mentioned that a butterfly house just by the path will also be built.

Camaronal National Park was created in 1994 after a local biologist appealed against government plans to urbanise the area. I’m aware of the need to balance environmental conservation with developmental needs but in this case I’m quite happy that Camaronal escaped from being turned into real estate.

Four species of turtles return to the beach to lay their eggs every year; they are all either endangered or critically endangered. I feel it is our responsibility to protect these vulnerable but amazing creatures from extinction. During our three-hour long night shifts we patrolled the beach, collected eggs and transferred then to the hatchery to protect them from poachers and raccoons. It was such a thrill to see  lots of eggs hatching early one morning and we released them into the ocean.  We were extremely lucky to see a leatherback turtle – some of the group, twice! It’s eggs are much bigger than the far more common, Olive Ridley’s, and it was powerful to think  that the leatherback descended from dinosaurs. On the last night at Camaronal, the group saw around 30 turtles come out onto the beach to lay eggs as they got confused by the strong winds.

Aside from the turtles and the path, Alpha 5 had so many amazing moments. Playing mafia became our daily entertainment and by the end of the phase we knew each other so well that it became easy to tell who was lying. On Naz’s birthday Lee made her a bedside stand as a present, which then became our communal lost property area. In the afternoons we played football and volleyball on the beach with the rangers and other volunteers. At our own beach Olympics the boys battled against the girls at limbo, three-legged race, and football, and scraped a 7-4 win.

The Camaronal project was really beautiful and we had great group bonding on the tarp. Te amamos!