Turtle Tastic

Playa Hermosa literally means ‘beautiful beach’ but it’s most interesting visitors haven’t come to see the scenery. Thousands of olive ridley and black turtles, plus some rare leatherbacks, come to lay their eggs each year, making this a place of huge ecological interest. Unfortunately the eggs fall prey to natural predators and are at risk from poachers, who steal them to sell at up to $50 each.

We have three tasks during this project. Firstly, we must hold nightly turtle patrols, collecting the eggs and placing them safely into nests in a hatchery . Secondly, when the eggs are hatched, we are responsible for releasing the baby turtles into the sea at a safe time to give them the best possible chance of survival and helping to conserve this very important species. The third task involves planting trees to restore biodiversity, essential after the severe deforestation of the 1970s.  This is an exciting and very important conservation project that Raleigh has been proud to run for many years with long term partners at MINAET.

“The Raleigh groups have been excellent. Without their help we wouldn’t be nearly as successful in our work to help save these incredible creatures”

Marco Vinicio, Ranger