Written by: frank zindel
03.09.2009

From: TEJA MUHA, Slovenia, 2009 Volunteer in Boavista

"Volunteering in Cape Verdian islands and work with turtles was for me the first eye to eye look with the African culture and most important, a new opportunity to work with an incredible creature which exists on this planet for much longer than us. To understand their evolution and survival in such a long period is important for the future of well being.

On the island Boa Vista the Turtle foundation project has a leading role at protecting the turtles while they are nesting on the beach. Because for now there is no research done yet and the project is strictly concentrated on protection of the turtles, in the beginning I thought this would not be an experience which would fulfil my expectation and I wished for greater knowledge of the beautiful species Caretta caretta. Instead of that I got something completely different, which I thought is not important in the science of nowadays work. This knowledge that I got here is basic of every good organization, science project and everyday life. I was absolutely impressed by the cooperation of each and every volunteer and soldiers and the combination of both. The team spirit was amazing. You could feel it running in your veins... and it was addicting. It was so powerful that when we were together despite of the different languages, not understanding the words and different personalities, the problems that appeared in front of us seemed so easy to get rid of as to find solutions at the moment or in the near future to help protect turtles. The participation of the soldiers was a great help and combining their cape verdian local enthusiasm, simplicity and kindness with volunteers ideas, positive energy and willingness to help was the nicest thing that I found, missing like a black hole in the western world. All this energy was dedicated mostly through the night work patrolling on the beaches and protected endangered species from poachers which would otherwise kill massive numbers of innocent turtles which come to the beach.

The work sometimes is not easy. Walking on the sandy beaches in the dark is not the easiest thing to do. It is mentally and physically strenuous. But the reward for the effort is well paid when you find a turtle nesting while she is putting all her strength into next generation that will continue the fight in the non-reliable future. They are so peaceful but still you can see the strength in their eyes.

The reason why the protection is so important is not simply because the poachers can quickly extinguish the whole population of turtles. The reason why there is a sudden strong wish to stop this cruelty is that nowadays there is a big abundance of turtles dying from other reasons, for which most of the well-developed countries are responsible for. The pollution is one of them. The amount of trash that we found on beaches is shocking. All brought by the currents from the sea and by that destroying large space for nesting. The other reason are plastic bags in the sea that turtles confuse for food (jellyfish) and die. Fishing and bycatch has a huge negative impact on the turtle population as well. And the growing tourism in undeveloped countries where nature in its pure state can still be found causes a large impact on the protected nesting environment as well. For instance lights on the beach makes turtles completely disorientated and there should be clear legislation when it comes to the light pollution.

So combining all these factors together, the education of locals and protection from poachers in Boavista is the priority. If locals understand and protect their natural treasures, the developing countries of the world could learn something from that and participate in saving the future of the turtles and as well as ours.

The work is done here by two leaders Joana and Chris who dedicate their life to turtles for almost half of the year. The project started last year and the amount of turtles that was protected from the poachers is amazing comparing to the year before. And with a great help of volunteers and soldiers lets hope that the turtles killed by poaching will come close to zero in the future and by that I alongside with protection, some research can be developed as well. I wish the project all the best in next seasons, with the help of some dedicated group of volunteers and the local soldiers."

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