A volunteer's Diary, 2008 (7)
A Fabulous Week at the Karpaz Base
Hundreds of nests and hatchling tracks
everywhere
MERHABA! This week
I have had the
absolute pleasure of
spending the week
up at the base on the
Karpaz peninsula — it is such a
beautiful place and it has been
thoroughly enjoyable.
At present with the nesting
season coming to a close the
Karpaz has more than 250 nests,
and this is only on the beaches
that we patrol. There is potential
for many more on the others.
Ronnas Bay is the third most
important nesting beach for turtles
in the Mediterranean and this is
clear from the moment you step on
to it. Every inch seems to be
covered with nests and there are
many little hatchling tracks
leading from unfound nests, which
can take forever to trace. On one of
the longer beaches we followed one
little hatchling’s perilous trail
halfway across the beach through
a series of loop the loops and
various detours before it finally
turned in the right direction and
headed down to the water. Golden
Beach is a spectacular sight;
endless golden sands often mostly
devoid of people early in the
mornings and with a walk over the
sand dunes you reach Golden
Beach Two, a haven for green
turtles practically deserted by
beach users.
At the Karpaz the day work is
the same as on the other beaches
across North Cyprus. Each
morning we patrol the beaches and
check for new nests, which are now
few and far between. Now we are
focusing far more on the
hatchlings, checking each nest to
see if it is dipping in the centre —
a sure sign that it is beginning to
hatch — or for the hatchling tracks
themselves. Once we have seen
hatchling tracks we mark the nest
as hatching and record the date.
The nest is then checked every day
and roughly three to five days
after hatching has begun the nest
will be excavated.
Unfortunately predation levels
seem to be at their highest when
the nest has begun to hatch. A
hatching nest emits an odour that
humans can smell if they are close
enough and that dogs and foxes
can smell from much further away.
It is thought that it is the release
of this smell that encourages
predation and allows the dogs to
locate the nests. Sadly, predation
is the fate of more than 30 per cent
of the nests in North Cyprus. It is
always heartbreaking to find a
hatching nest that has been
predated, but we can only hope
that at least some of the
hatchlings have made it to the
water.
Despite all the things that can
go wrong there have been some
definite success stories from the
Karpaz this week. One of the nests
that was excavated was incredibly
successful. In a successful nest
between 80 and 85 per cent of the
eggs hatch, but in this nest of 106
eggs 103 egg fragments were
found, meaning that potentially
103 hatchlings reached the sea —
brilliant news. On Golden Beach
Two we also found a new nest
belonging to a green turtle;
unfortunately she had laid far too
close to the shore, so the nest had
to be relocated further up the
beach out of danger from the tide.
When the eggs were removed we
counted an astounding 174 eggs,
almost double the norm! With any
luck it will be a successful nest.
Karpaz nest excavations are
carried out just the same as they
are at the turtle project’s Alagadi
base, though they are far more
low-key. Nonetheless we do love to
show people what we do, so it is
possible to watch an excavation in
the Karpaz. At present they are
carried out most days either at
dawn or dusk when it is coolest for
the hatchlings. To find out more
information about excavations in
the Karpaz pop into Dek’s
Restaurant on the road between
Yeni Erenkoy and Dipkarpaz,
where Denise, the lovely owner,
will be able to let you know what’s
going on.
The project at the Karpaz is
only able to run so effectively
thanks to the help of a great many
people: the firemen at Yesilkoy,
our base for the area, Denise at
Dek’s (fantastic food and well
worth a stop), and the people at
the Oasis whose breakfasts are by
far the best! Thank you to all these
people for allowing us to make the
satellite base so productive.
Last Friday some of the
volunteers had the pleasure and
privilege of visiting Erenkoy for
the Erenkoy Resistance and
Martyrs’ Day remembrance.
Kutlay Keco who is the chairman
of the Erenkoy Fighters’
Association, is also the president of
Spot, the North Cyprus Society for
the Protection of Turtles. He
enlisted some willing volunteers
from the project to help with
catering at the event— so they are
now fully qualified kebab makers
— and were rewarded with a
lovely dinner on the journey home.
On Sunday, here at Alagadi we
also completed our last session of
night work observing the laying
turtles. This occurs at a different
date each year and is determined
by the level of activity on the
beach. When we have had 10
consecutive nights of no activity by
laying turtles this is known as the
official end of night work — a very
noteworthy date in our diaries. it
means that instead of walking the
beach every 10 minutes we are
now walking the beach only a few
times a night on hatchling patrols.
However, if a laying turtle is seen
on one of these walks it will be
observed in the same way as
before. It is still possible for a few
stragglers to come on to the beach
to lay.
In the past couple of weeks the
volunteers have been spoiled with
amazing hospitality from locals
and tourists alike. We would like
to thank Penny once again for her
sensational barbecue, and Karen
and Rogan Twort, the parents of
one of our volunteers, who also
hosted us at a fantastic barbecue
on Sunday. Both of these events I
am certain kept us fed and
watered for most of the week!
This week has been so
fantastic that it makes me even
more sad that it is my last full
week on the turtle project and I
am due to return to England in the
middle of next week. When! fly
home I will have spent roughly
two-and-a-half months here in
North Cyprus and I’ve loved every
second of it. The beginning of the
project with so few volunteers and
everyone working tirelessly to get
things done seems a world away
from the great team of incredible
volunteers we have now developed
and grown into. I have enjoyed
working on the project so much I
have high hopes of returning next
summer to do it once again.
Fortunately, as well as spending
the vast majority of my time here
working on the project, I did get
the chance to take a few days off
recently and, together with
another volunteer, managed to
complete the Path Open Water
Diver award in a very hectic few
days. I’d really like to thank Turtle
Bay Dive Centre at Lapta and our
fantastic instructor (you know who
you are!) for pushing us so hard
and getting us through it — we
were very fortunate to have such
an enthusiastic instructor. Also,
many thanks to John Plant for
putting me up for a few nights, it
was greatly appreciated.
A lot of the volunteers that
have been here since the early
days back in May and June are
now beginning to leave and head
back to reality, either back to
employment or to university. It is
always a sad day to say goodbye to
these volunteers who have worked
so hard during their time here and
who will all be greatly missed.
Despite my leaving, fear not,
the column will continue! I am
handing over to a new author who
will keep you updated with all the
antics here at Alagadi and at the
other bases until the end of the
season. I hope you have all enjoyed
the columns as much as I have
enjoyed writing them.
Hosca kalin — Emma.
Diary by Emma Dennis
Reprinted from Cyprus Today |