Turtle Beach

 

On the Thursday night, we slept in a hut next to the beach at Ras Al Haad. The hut comfort was poor but the night included dinner and breakfast which were OK. We wanted to see the turtle nesting at night but the evening tour was full. There were still vacancies for the morning one. The only problem is it starts at 4:00am. However, it is well worth getting up early.

The rules

The entrance fee to Ras Al Jin is RO3. Park rangers bring group to the beach after explaining the rules about the visit. The rules you should abide by are :

• never stand in front of the turtle,
• remain quiet,
• don't touch the animals,
• never stand between the turtles and the sea,
• NO LIGHT !!!

Baby turtles rely on the light to reach the sea. Any flash camera or camp fire will lead them the wrong way to a certain death.

They have changed the rules since November 1st 2008 : no camping, no car, no unaccompanied people, is allowed on the beach. Only 100 people are allowed to enter the park at one time, either at 9pm or at 4am. They are working on turning off the fishermen's mosque light at night time.

The group  we were in was mainly Indian families. Some of them were really annoying and would not abide by the rule. C. almost slammed a kid who was throwing sand at the nesting turtle. However, the park rangers, though being very nice and polite, keep a close control over the situation. We were warned, at the beginning of the visit, that not following the rules would lead to be kicked out of the park.

The park

As far as I remember, the park was created in 1996. It protects 45km of the coastal line, including the shore. Only 2 km of beach are open to the public.

The visit

We went on foot to the first beach. Some lazy people asked to go there using the park minibus (it's a 10min walk in the dark). These same people ended up being pain in the neck for the all group.

We stopped at about 300m of the sea, two rangers went on the beach to see if any turtle was nesting. Unfortunately there was none.

Therefore, we went to a second beach (10min walk). After a short wait, they found 2 green turtles nesting. They are called green turtles because their body fat is green (they are actually killed partly because of that).

They also found two babies hatching. Here are the pictures :

 

You see the eggs under the right flipper.

Baby turtle : only 1 out of 1000 become adult. This one was already wounded by crabs.

The same turtle in the hole she made to nest.

Another baby turtle : this one was eaten before getting to the sea.

Sunset in Oman

Turtle covering the eggs

The covering of the eggs being finished, the turtle made its way to the see.

One of my favorite picture : on the left hand side, you can see the trail of a turtle on the sand.

Almost there

Home !

 

Feelings :

This night will probably be one of the best memories of my stay in Oman. It was wonderful to see nature at work. The Sultanate has a jewel, they should keep up the good work and cut the "bad" tourism to switch to a more responsible one.

I am very thankful to the rangers who were very knowledgeable and kind.

I would definitively recommend this park to anyone planning a trip to Oman.