A Typical Day at the Office
What a big 24hrs we have had here at
Jalova! After discovering a vast selection of snakes around the place including
a large Fer-de-Lance, an Orange-bellied Littersnake and a small Boa
Constrictor, we then received a phone call from the Jag Walk team with some
exciting news….
In the blistering heat, there was a mirage
on the horizon. Were we dreaming? Did we see a jaguar amongst the hordes of
vultures? Wrong! There were two! Of course we only noticed that as we
stealthily approached them from the bushes. It was very difficult to contain
our excitement without disturbing them! The
first jag was protecting his kill, a monstrous leatherback turtle. It was agonisingly close to returning to sea
after completing its mammoth task of nesting.
The predator was getting increasingly agitated with the scavengers
crowding around. Suddenly, out of the
corner of her eye, Nathalie caught a glimpse of the second jaguar emerging from
the jungle. We were gobsmacked! This
surreal moment of being within 50m couldn’t last forever as we were eventually
spotted. As they returned to the jungle,
one of the jags headed straight for us but luckily we didn’t look like big,
tasty turtles, so they swiftly exited through the bushes!
The next morning…
Turtle Hatchlings!
We’d left base at 5:15am to head out for
nest check. No sooner than ¼ mile from base, we came across dozens of tiny
turtle hatchling tracks – Leatherbacks had hatched during the night and headed
for the ocean! We followed the tracks to find the nest and lo and behold, two
little hatchlings had been left behind. Completely buried in sand, all we could
see was one tiny flipper sticking out, desperately trying to break free. We
gently cleared away some of the sand to make a clear opening and after a few
mins 2 perfectly formed little Leatherback hatchlings emerged. They were a bit
disorientated at first but before long, using their amazing turtle instincts,
they started heading down to the sea. Overcoming obstacles such as driftwood
and seaweed they reached the shoreline. As the first wave splashed over them
they frantically started flapping their little flippers. By the third wave they
were off into the big wide world all on their own!
We couldn’t have asked for a better way to say
farewell to Alex and Loraine after a year of hard work and dedication to the
GVI team! Good luck guys!
- Written by Trish, Ros, Nathalie, Jess
& Josh
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