After 9 weeks of volunteering with MCSS this amazing experience is
coming to an end and I have to go back home to Germany. During the last weeks,
I learned a lot about sea turtles and their nesting behaviour (hawksbill and
green turtles) as well as about their small relatives the freshwater terrapins.
Especially in the last weeks we were lucky to find some new green turtle nests
in AnseBazarca and Grand Police. It is really impressing to see how much effort
a mother turtle takes to protect her offspring, digging multiple holes to
camouflage the actual nest. Of course, as soon as the mother is done with
laying up to 200 eggs in the nest (multiple times per nesting season)her job is
done and she probably won´t see her offspring again.
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| Green turtle track on Grand Police |
Also, the hatchlings have a hard time to survive their first days,
digging out of the nest, escaping the crabs, and finally surviving the dangers
of the open ocean. Sadly, not all of them even make it to the ocean.
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| Dead Hawksbill hatchling on Anse Cachee |
Furthermore, I participated in several other projects like the
AnseForbans terrapin monitoring project, the bird monitoring project in the
Banyan Tree Seychelles Resort and the clearing of invasive water plants in the
wetlands.
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Black mud terrapin
caught in AnseForbans, marked for identification if recaptured
|
I really enjoyed the time volunteering with MCSS and because of
the possibility to participate in different project I could archive many new
and diverse skills. I am very happy for meeting all the people working for MCSS
and for spending time with the other volunteers hiking, diving and of course
working.
Thanks everyone for the great experience,
Tarek
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