Taking the road less travelled to explore eco-tourism like this turtle eggs hatchery in Sukamade you not just enjoy nature but help to preserve it. Your visit and support help the wardens here to continue their effort to keep the few remaining places safe for these hundred years old creatures of the sea.
So few places in the world for these fellows to find a place secluded enough from human predators to lay their eggs and bring on the next generation. So if one is so accessible it seems sad that we do not bring ourselves to share a bit that momentous moment in nature. So from Bali i cross by ferry to Java and travelled by car for a couple of hours to Sukamade where i transferred to a jeep to take us through a dirt road through coffee and sugar cane plantation to a remote beach on the easternmost southern beach of Java to witness this once in four years drama in the life of a turtle. Luckily for me there are still enough turtle in the seas off Java for this to happen a couple of times every night – but getting less and less often for reasons i will hint about below.
We sleep in the simple accomodation there and go out at 8pm to see if we can spot these fellows at their act. Most times you will be able to see one – and not more so as to minimise your disturbance to nature. The 10 odd wardens of the park roam the beach all night to collect the eggs before they are devoured by wild pigs, iguanas or birds. These egss are kept in natural conditions in a hatchery and the babies released on the beach as soon as they are hatched.
As a eco-tourist you will be allowed to release 20 of these babies and watch (not interfere) in their struggle to reach the seas – even if they do only one in hundreds will survive predators there.
So do come and see before gold diggers (a 4-star general and the 7 dragons of Indonesia) have their gold and leave the ecology, social and economic milieu of the place changed forever.