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.