Hello Steemians friends,
It's been a while I know! We are back from our travels and gallivanting around Hong Kong, it truly was a breath of fresh air to see familiar faces and to experience cold weather again. But it is nice to be back and get back to our usual routine, and it is Wednesday, which means "Wild Wednesday"! YAY!
In this week's blog post I (Becca) will be writing about sea turtles and my time spent volunteering in Crete to help protect this beautiful species Caretta caretta, the loggerhead sea turtle.
As a requirement for my University course, I needed to complete a 6 week working placement in a conservation orientated organisation twice, once in between 1st and 2nd year and again in between 2nd and 3rd year . I could have chosen to work in anything from sustainability and conservation practises within an organisation or go straight into a work placement related to protecting a specific type of animal (species) or environment. Between my 2nd and 3rd year at university, my friend and I decided to apply for the same organisation that was based in Greece protecting sea turtles across many of its islands - ARCHELON, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece. We applied to work on an area near a town called Chania on the island of Crete, and we were lucky to get our first choice :) It turned out that my friend had to stay in the UK for longer so I flew out to Crete on my own and my friend was coming 4 weeks later, so we had at least 2 weeks working together (her first two and my last two weeks). We had obviously read up a bit about the organisation and we liked how they approached the topic of sea turtle protection and conservation. They protect sea turtles in Greece through monitoring and research, developing and implementing management plans, habitat restoration, raising public awareness and rehabilitating sick and injured individuals. Before I flew out, I was given a check list and some background information of the town and how to get to it from the airport. It was a straight dive into getting there yourself on public buses and walking a lot, as there was no one from the organisation waiting to pick you up at the airport or bus stops, I'm not that important and protecting the sea turtles takes priority ;)
Entrance to the Chania research fieldstation
After a series of flights from Lisbon to the UK, to Heraklion, to Chania and then a public bus to the little "village" where the organisation was based, I finally rocked up with my suitcase to the super basic camp site where I would soon meet all the other volunteers. I went in July/August, there were volunteers that had been there since the beginning of the "season" in May! I pitched up my tent next to everyone else's, we were in a small area of land tucked away and a couple of metres away from the beach! I was in-love, I love being outside and even better, near the beach!! So here I was camping for the next 6 weeks!
Campsite
My digs for the next six weeks!
In Crete, the main priority was to implement management plans for the Loggerhead sea turtle's nesting sites around the island. This involves daily monitoring of nesting activity along the 14.5 km beach, protection of the nests and increasing public awareness. The nesting beaches on Crete are under huge pressure from mass tourism and recreation, as sun beds, beach umbrellas and artificial lights are only some of the problems the sea turtles come across whilst trying to nest. The loggerhead reproduction starts in May until the end of September, so I was able to see the later stages of this cycle, lucky me!!
Sunset view from the beach in Crete
Safe passage ways for the little hatchlings, part of the nesting management plan
Kiosk in Chania, raising awareness to the public
Stay Classy Steemians!
Wild Wednesday’s is a post written by the @travelling-two every Wednesday to inform their followers and readers about nature and conservation.
Thank you for taking the time to read our post. If you really like our content, please follow us as we post regularly with different topics from Monday to Friday. How about your followers? Would they like this post? If so, please resteem it! Finally, if you are generous, please give us an Upvote! We thank you in advance! Lots of love / @travelling-two
