The magic unfolds during the dark hours of the night. Visits times at Ras Al Jinz are 9pm for an evening tour or 4am, just before sunrise. We did them both, you cannot take chances with nature. When it comes to wild animals as always, a sighting is never guaranteed. Apart from the tiredness that resulted from this it was was all well worth it.
At 9pm we turned up at the visitors centre, got out tickets and waited patiently for our group's turn. You cannot use your own torches on the beach to avoid disturbing the nesting turtles or confusing hatching little ones that follow the light of the horizon to find the sea. With no moon on sight we stumbled towards the beach following the beam coming from our guide's torch.
Turtles turn up on the beach between sunset and sunrise to lay their eggs. They engage into an exausting feat lasting two hours during which they dig a meter deep hole to cover it again once the eggs are laid and then leaving another disguising hole a few meters away (to confuse the numerous predators that turn up with in the hope of finding a nutritious banquet).
It is a privilege to witness such magnificent creatures lay their eggs or the small hatchlings frantically moving about on the sand instinctively following the call of the sea. One cannot stop wondering at the amazing ways nature manages its caulderon of life.
It is an amazing story of survival, our guide gives an informative talk. Apparently from 1000 eggs only a handful turtles survive to reach adulthood; seagulls, crabs, foxes, fish, man (fishermen nets, boats and other stress), pollution (especially plastic bags in the sea) everything conspires against these magnificent animals that only start laying eggs at around 30-40 yrs of age and live to approximately 80 yrs of age.
At 9pm we turned up at the visitors centre, got out tickets and waited patiently for our group's turn. You cannot use your own torches on the beach to avoid disturbing the nesting turtles or confusing hatching little ones that follow the light of the horizon to find the sea. With no moon on sight we stumbled towards the beach following the beam coming from our guide's torch.
Turtles turn up on the beach between sunset and sunrise to lay their eggs. They engage into an exausting feat lasting two hours during which they dig a meter deep hole to cover it again once the eggs are laid and then leaving another disguising hole a few meters away (to confuse the numerous predators that turn up with in the hope of finding a nutritious banquet).
It is a privilege to witness such magnificent creatures lay their eggs or the small hatchlings frantically moving about on the sand instinctively following the call of the sea. One cannot stop wondering at the amazing ways nature manages its caulderon of life.
It is an amazing story of survival, our guide gives an informative talk. Apparently from 1000 eggs only a handful turtles survive to reach adulthood; seagulls, crabs, foxes, fish, man (fishermen nets, boats and other stress), pollution (especially plastic bags in the sea) everything conspires against these magnificent animals that only start laying eggs at around 30-40 yrs of age and live to approximately 80 yrs of age.
Their name (green), the guide explains, is due to the colour of their fat caused by their mostly vegetarian diet. The eggs hatch after about 2 months and although they are laid at the same time (about 100-200 eggs per nest) it will take about 3 to 5 days for all the turtles to leave the nest as they leave in small groups.They only come out in the darkness of the night. The guide explains that as they dig their way up they will only surface the last few inches if the sand is cool. Warm sand indicating that the sun is still shining.
The most amazing piece of information however must be that the sex of the turtles is determined by the temperature of the sand during the incubation period: if the sand temperature is under 29c the eggs will produce all male turtles, if the sand is over 29c only femails will be born; however if the temperature is 29c then the sex of the turtles from that nest will be mixed. That is why the nests closer to the water will tend to produce male turtles and the ones further away will most likely produce females.
Once the little turtles reach the sea they will have the energy to swim without stopping for 3 days. They will swim to safer places into the deep sea. They will wander the seas travelling for thousands of miles (tagged turtles from Oman have apparently reached Australia) to come back to the very same beach they were born on to lay their eggs every 3 years once they reach their mature mating age.
We finished our night tour at about 11pm. At 11:30 pm we were back at our hotel along the beach in Ras Al Hadd only to get out of bed again at 3:30 am for another visit to Ras Al Jinz.
The dawn viewing was very different. Firstly we had a bit more light with the moon up and the sun not far under the horizon and then we were allowed to stay on the beach at the end of the viewing, watching sun rise on this beautiful stretch of coast. The best bit however was probably seeing one last small turtle that having lost completely its way (probably from the night before) and incredibly surviving against all the odds a long way from the sea, it was saved by a spanish couple who was there with us. They placed it delicately on the beach near the shore and we watched it using its last energy to frantically reach the sea and swim away.
We'll never know if it made it but it was such an amazing spectacle to see it clearly under the light of the sun rising.
We spent the rest of the day swimming and hiking in Wadi Shab. Needless to say we were exausted by the end of the day and we were in bed by 9pm. It was all worth it!
The most amazing piece of information however must be that the sex of the turtles is determined by the temperature of the sand during the incubation period: if the sand temperature is under 29c the eggs will produce all male turtles, if the sand is over 29c only femails will be born; however if the temperature is 29c then the sex of the turtles from that nest will be mixed. That is why the nests closer to the water will tend to produce male turtles and the ones further away will most likely produce females.
Once the little turtles reach the sea they will have the energy to swim without stopping for 3 days. They will swim to safer places into the deep sea. They will wander the seas travelling for thousands of miles (tagged turtles from Oman have apparently reached Australia) to come back to the very same beach they were born on to lay their eggs every 3 years once they reach their mature mating age.
We finished our night tour at about 11pm. At 11:30 pm we were back at our hotel along the beach in Ras Al Hadd only to get out of bed again at 3:30 am for another visit to Ras Al Jinz.
The dawn viewing was very different. Firstly we had a bit more light with the moon up and the sun not far under the horizon and then we were allowed to stay on the beach at the end of the viewing, watching sun rise on this beautiful stretch of coast. The best bit however was probably seeing one last small turtle that having lost completely its way (probably from the night before) and incredibly surviving against all the odds a long way from the sea, it was saved by a spanish couple who was there with us. They placed it delicately on the beach near the shore and we watched it using its last energy to frantically reach the sea and swim away.
We'll never know if it made it but it was such an amazing spectacle to see it clearly under the light of the sun rising.
We spent the rest of the day swimming and hiking in Wadi Shab. Needless to say we were exausted by the end of the day and we were in bed by 9pm. It was all worth it!
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