Nathalie the new turtle volunteer

truly enjoying the experience

My name is Nathalie and I've come here for a voluntary mission of 1 month. I am really interested in conservation issues since I decided to make drastic changes in my life, quitting my work in finance to dedicate myself in marine environmental sciences. Coming here is providing me with a good insight of different activities and projects that can be done within a conservation center. I am mainly taking part in Vanessa's project with Nina, performing patrols and monitoring turtles (populating the database, using software faces recognition...). More than helping them directly on the field, the final aim is trying to get a better understanding of turtles' behavior, in order to create the best Temporal Protected Areas for a sustainable preservation. This relates with other current studies like beach profiling, mapping, fauna, flora and sand analysis.

turtle encounter on the nesting beach

Since being here, I had the luck to see 5 nesting Hawksbill turtles, including two which were laying and 2 hatchlings emerging from their nest. It's always emotional moments and I feel really privileged to be able to assist that, especially since the Hawksbill is a critically endangered species.

clearing the path for the little ones

I am also helping to educate classes from primary schools when they come to visit the centre. Raising children's awareness is very important as we can expect them to feel more involved in preserving the environment in the future, be it in Seychelles or anywhere else.

Another thing that is really enjoyable here is wildlife centre and the ability to welcome wild animals for rehabilitation. The care is not only provided to terrapins, sea and land turtles, but also to any animal that can be properly nursed, like baby birds. Pets are also welcome and an X rays is accessible to anybody who needs a diagnostic of their lovely animal.

checking out the terrapins

welcoming the land tortoises for rehabilitation

My wishes for MCSS and Seychelles is that legislation will support all the efforts made by NGOs and take appropriate measures to help to fight against poaching as much as possible.  

Nick's adventure with MCSS has come to an end

Only a few days left! After 20 weeks my adventure here is over, it has been amazing, with a lot of nice experiences and amazing people! 

Selfie with the drone!

Besides having a nice time some work had to be done as well of course, but this never felt like actual work because it is so relaxed and nice. Walking on the beaches looking for turtles, tracks and nests, terrapin trapping and building a terrapin and tortoise pen, these are the activities I have done the last 20 weeks which was lovely! I have seen a lot of turtles and fortunately even hatchlings.

Spotting the turtle with the drone

Spot the up and down track

 Flying the drone was also a lot of fun but not always as easy due to weather conditions. Unfortunately I have also encountered some poached turtles which was very sad, but it is almost inevitable when you work in conservation. But this made me more interested in the turtles and very excited whenever there was an up and down track instead of only up, at least we knew the turtle made it back into the sea safely.

In a few days I fly back to the cold and wet Netherlands and I know for sure that I will miss the nice relaxed lifestyle, the sun and all the people here! 

Introducing Nina - the newest member of the Ninja Turtles team!

Hey, I’m Nina  

I have recently finished my masters in Marine Environmental Protection and I am two weeks into an internship at MCSS. I am taking part in Vanessa’s project, where she focuses on creating temporal protected areas and legislation in relation to turtle distribution and their critical nesting beaches.

During my first day at the centre I was lucky enough to experience my first turtle encounter of 2018, which was also MCSS’s first turtle of the new year. 

digging the egg chamber

The following week, a turtle which was missing her hind right fin due to a shark attack attempted to nest on Anse Cachee. After making 4 body pits and failing to dig a nest due to too many roots, she finally found the right spot and nested. Her initial struggle paid off as she successfully laid 113 eggs (although they were much smaller than expected) and began to make her way back to the ocean. 

struggling to get over the rocks

With a little help to make it over the rocks she had finally completed her laying process. This took between 3-4 hours, which is a lot longer than the usual turtle nesting behaviour. The appropriate data was collected during this encounter including GPS location of the nest, photos of her face for use in the photo identification software (I3S) and carapace measurements. 

The monitoring and the data collected will contribute towards the development of management plans for nesting turtles.

So far this was most beautiful Hawksbill turtle and the most eventful encounter I have experienced. I hope my time at MCSS will continue to be as interesting and full of turtle encounters.

All about learning and making the most of the school holidays

Hi all .... My name is Shea and I’ve been volunteering at MCSS for about one week so far during my school holidays.  In the mornings I help with the turtle patrols along 5 of the main nesting beaches down at Takamaka which we are currently doing 3 times a week. We have not been as lucky as to see a nesting turtle yet although we’ve spotted a few turtle tracks, where some had managed to actually lay. Hopefully my luck changes before my time here at MCSS comes to an end and I get to see a nesting turtle. 

learning to use the Trimble

digging up a hatched nest for data collection

In my short time here, I’ve got to learn and done things I haven’t done before which to me is a great experience. This morning we dug up a turtle nest from which had already hatched to record the egg clutch survival data.

 It was quite a successful nest where we found 161 hatched eggshells and only 5 rotten ones which is pretty good news. Now that it is nesting season hopefully we’ll start to see more and more turtles coming up the beach to lay or at least get to witness some hatchlings as they emerge from the nest and start their life journey.