Aug
23

So, I went to Redang over the weekend to assist my Supervisor conduct two turtle camps for the kids of SK Pulau Redang. The 40+ kids were separated into 4 smaller groups so that they are more manageable. Some of the kids were adorable, some naughty, some sweet, some polite and some, well.. Banyak orang, banyak ragam, they say :)

And I will be going in to Redang again tomorrow, and I will be conducting the camps myself this time around. Yes, I know I promised lots pictures *winks*

I’ll quickly go through the pictures because my eyes are drooping and I need some sleep before subjecting myself to lots of “Kak Pelf! Kak Pelf!”

(1) Berjaya sponsors the boat tranfer from Berjaya Resort to Chagar Hutang beach. But because the dive boat was quite a big boat, we had to use SEATRU’s small boat to transfer everybody onto the beach.

(2) Upon arriving at the campsite, we made the kids introduce themselves. But they never went beyond “Nama saya Siti. Hobi saya ialah bermain bola jaring.” Apparently, most of the girls LOVE to play netball, and most of the boys, computer games.

(3) After the short introduction and a briefing, I took them on a walk down the beach. The main purpose of the walk was to get them to do beach clean-up. But we saw a dead green turtle hatchling trapped in between the net mesh instead :(

(4) We believed that the hatchlings were already emerging from that particular nest, hence a nest excavation was performed. True enough, we managed to rescue most of the hatchlings from being predated by ants.

(5) It was the first time the kids have ever seen a real, live turtle hatchling. They may have eaten turtle eggs throughout their 11 years of living, but they have never been so close to a live turtle.

(6) A nest excavation was performed whenever a nest is suspected of being predated upon, usually by ants. Like in this case, the hatchlings were being forced out of their nest because of the ants.

(7) Some hatchlings have just hatched from their eggs! :)

(8) The eggs that did not hatch were also analyzed. The egg shells were torn open to tell at which stage the embryo died, e.g. whether the vital organs have been formed, or whether the egg was fertilized at all.

(9) The kids found more dead hatchlings along the beach, which was indeed a sad sight. They were believed to have been chased out of their own nest by ants, but did not make it to the sea due to the hot weather (and sand). This is also one of the reasons why we would prefer to release hatchlings at night, during the high tide.

(10) A closer look at one of the dead hatchlings that was predated upon by ants.

(11) At night, we played games with the kids. They were made to swim like a turtle, act like how a female turtle would when she is laying her eggs, etc. After the games, they were all asked to get some rest before we woke them up in the middle of the night to witness a turtle nesting.

(12) The next morning, there was a drawing-and-colouring contest whereby each student was supposed to complete their artwork in an hour. The top three artwork were presented with presents. After that, there was a 10-question quiz and similarly, the three students with the highest marks were given a present each.

(13) The kids posing with their artwork.

(14) This is redundant, but I just wanted to show off the pretty banner *smiles* Before leaving, the students were each presented with a certificate of participation.

THE END.

Good night.


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15 Responses to “Turtle Camps for Redang kids”


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  1. Jason

    So sad to look at the pic of the turtle being bitten by red ants. Ouch!

    pelf: Yes, very sad indeed :(

  2. lilian

    Pelf…my bags are packed and loaded into the car! In 12 hours time, I will be there in KT! Yippee! U have a good time in Redang ya?

    pelf: I enjoyed myself, and I do hope you enjoyed yourself too ;)

  3. lilian

    Kak Pelf! My bags are loaded into the car alreadyl. 6 hrs sleep, 6 hrs travel and I am there in KT! Too bad cannot catch you this time.

    pelf: Yeah, too bad we couldn’t meet :(

  4. Silly Pat

    OMG!!! The baby turtles look so sad! t.t

    pelf: *sob*

  5. spazm

    Good to know there are still souls out there who cares about turtle conservations…

    Good on ya mate…:)

    pelf: *smiles*

  6. merv

    Geez these ants are vicious. Attacking turtles that aren’t even dead yet! Must arm all little hatchlings with little cans of Ridsect haha

    pelf: YES, they are.. Poor hatchlings :( Imagine how it feels to be bitten to death :(

  7. Emmanuel

    Never thought of ants as vicious lil creatures.Always thought of them as cute and cuddly things (Think Antz,A Bug’s Life and Ant Bully)

    pelf: Oh no, ants ARE vicious.. 

  8. dreamer idi*t

    The camp sounds brilliant… the ‘turtle’ themed games and activities… Neat! Some of the photos are really good (especially the 5th and 7th) and would definitely go nicely in the Coffee Book project you are doing.

    BTW. Kak Pelf sounds really sweet… But since you are younger than me, I will address you as Adik Pelf. :)

    pelf: Adik Pelf?! *grins*

  9. Jason

    Kak Pelf! Kak Pelf! Kak Pelf! Kak Pelf! Kak Pelf! Kak Pelf! Kak Pelf! Kak Pelf! Kak Pelf! Kak Pelf! Kak Pelf! Kak Pelf! Kak Pelf! Kak Pelf! Kak Pelf! Kak Pelf!

    Haha! :P

    pelf: Can you believe that I actually dreamt about the kids last night? Sh*t!

  10. Emmanuel

    Pelf sounds really like some powerful sorceror la wei.If mod it a lil bit more to be

    iL-Pel’f- a’ Ny’

    Ah sounds really wizard-like LoL

    pelf: Muahhahaha… Muahahahah.. (can’t stop laughing)

  11. moz monster

    Kak Pelf … kak kena teg … kena berpantun merdeka … dalam Bahasa pulak tu … ha … cepat sempurnakan, ok ?

    pelf: CIS! Jangan panggil saya Kak Pelf!!!! 

  12. Yvy

    woohooo!! good effort pelf - the kids all look so happy n that’s good. :)

    pelf: Muahaha, and I thought I was more a Discipline Mistress than a camp facilitator :)

  13. Laksa

    awwww, so sweet :)
    such adorable kids and equally cute little terrapines…

    pelf: Those are sea turtles, my dear *winks*

  14. Laksa

    oh! my bad, got the little cuties mixed up :P

    sowie…

    pelf: Muahahah ;)

  15. Hijackqueen

    Very interesting pic on the turtles and so sad to see so many of them died!

    pelf: Yes, so sad.. I said “Oh.My.God.” every time I saw a dead hatchling on the sand that even the kampung kids imitated me!! When they saw the dead hatchlings, they went “Oh My God.”