Turtle conservation awareness campaign in Sabah ends on a high note

KOTA KINABALU: The organizers of the Turtle Conservations Campaign 2011 are hopeful that awareness would be created among the public on the importance of keeping the endangered sea creatures safe.

According to Sabah Parks Board of Trustees Deputy Chairman, Patrick Jilan, many efforts have been taken to both conserve Sabah’s turtles as well as to create awareness about it. This includes the campaign he officially closed yesterday.

“I am glad to know that some 4,066 people came and visit this campaign and its exhibitions besides participating in the many activities we have organized throughout the three days.

“We did not expect to see this many people to show up and on behalf of Sabah Parks, I would like to express my pleasure to learn of this and thank the organizing committee for doing a good job in executing the campaign,” he said in his closing speech.

He said that the great turnout during the campaign illustrates how much the people of Sabah cares about the environment and specifically to our beloved turtles and that the conservation process is on the right track.

“We have held many activities which catered to people of all ages. For the children, we held a special drawing and coloring competition and saw 87 children happily participating.

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1,000 turtle hatchlings released at Mabul Island

KOTA KINABALU: Scuba Junkie, a dive operator inclined towards the preservation of turtles at Mabul Island off Semporna has released more than 1,000 turtle hatchlings since it began the turtle hatchling project a year ago.

Company director Richard Owen told press members during a conference held in conjunction with the Mabul Marine Week (MMW) 2011 that this was the first ever recorded data collected of the turtle hatchlings released to the sea on the island.

Owen, who is also a marine biologist by profession, said the company had established a 20 feet by 26 feet hatchery on the island and that this could accommodate up to eight turtle nests at any one time.

Turtle eggs take about 60 days to hatch and so far, they have noticed between four and five turtles laying eggs at the Mabul beach every month.

Unfortunately, a lot of the eggs are lost as the island inhabitants do not inform the operator of their find, he said.

The existence of more than one village at the island also exacerbates the problem, he said.
To counter the problem, Scuba Junkie has decided to enlist the island inhabitants to help them care for the turtles and their eggs.

“We hope that by involving them and providing them with incentives, we’d be able to increase the number of eggs that end up at the hatchery and return to the sea,” he said.

The MMW 2011 will be held between Sept 24 and Sept 29, this year.

Scuba Junkie, as this year’s organiser, has lined up an array of conservation projects such as beach cleanup, reef cleanup dive, education awareness with school children and many more.

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Encounters with Borneo’s wildlife

HANG AROUND WITH ORANG-UTANS



Up close and personal: The imposing dominant male in a family of apes may well make an appearance, cheeky juvenile males could swing down from nearby ropes onto the feeding platform from nearby, while a mother and baby might be nestled in the boughs of a tree.



Feeding time at Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre provides a great opportunity to see these fascinating natives of Borneo in their natural habitat, chowing down on their beloved milk and bananas as well as other fruit. A walkway connects visitors to a viewing gallery where they can see these creatures in the semi-wilderness.



What’s the big deal: These creatures are in the process of being re-introduced into their natural habitat; the primary goal at Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre is to rescue orphaned orang-utans from mistreatment in such forms as illegal hunting or being kept as pets. The rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra are the only parts of the world where you can view orang-utans.



Plan your encounter: The Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre is located in Sandakan, in the Malaysian state of Sabah. The apes are fed twice a day at 10am and 3pm by rangers. For the more adventurous, there is also the opportunity to trek through the mangrove forest. As this activity falls under the jurisdiction of the Forestry Department, you will have to get a permit from them before trekking the five kilometre trail. You can also arrange for a boat return or accommodation in chalets in the forest.



SEE SOME TURTLE POWER



Up close and personal: Crouching beside a massive mum-to-be turtle after her slow journey up from the water then watching her dig a nest in the sand and lay perhaps more than 100 eggs, under the cover of darkness, is a profound experience.



Selingan Island is the largest of three islands that make up Turtle Island Park, located one and a half hours by boat from Sandakan. The area is home to the endangered green and hawksbill turtle species. One of the most important turtle breeding grounds in South East Asia, this island is a designated marine park that is home to nesting and hatching turtles every single night of the year. As well as witnessing the nesting process, visitors can get involved with transferring the eggs to a protected hatchery area as well as helping newly hatched turtles make it down to the water safely.

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Green Turtle Hatching at Sabah Turtle Island

The Turtle Islands are located in the Sulu Sea off Sabah in Borneo and were gazetted as a national park in 1977 to protect the hawksbill and green turtles which use the islands as a nesting ground.



The park comprises three small islands—Pulau Selingan, Pulau Bakkungan Kecil, and Pulau Gulisan.



Pulau Selingan is the main nesting area for green turtles (Chelonia Mydas), while Pulau Gulisan is preferred by hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata).



Both species lay their eggs there throughout the year, particularly between July and October.



Female green turtles go ashore to dig a deep hole with their hind flippers, where they lay 40 to 190 eggs, which they bury with sand before returning to the ocean.



Park rangers collect these eggs for incubation to protect them from predation, for example by monitor lizards.



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Land Below the Wind by Cruise

One of the joys of taking a cruise is stopping in exotic ports of call about which you know almost nothing. Such was the case when, during a recent cruise from Bali to Manila, I found myself deposited on the shores of Sandakan, a port city on the island of Borneo in the Malaysian state of Sabah, and couldn’t resist exploring.

Set amid lush tropical rainforests, these days Sandakan is most famous for its eco-tourism — there is an orangutan rehabilitation center, rainforest discovery center and Turtle Islands Park, all in or around the city. What I didn’t know before I spent a day exploring the city, however, is that it has a rich, fascinating colonial history that has left an indelible imprint.

By the end of the 19th century, Sandakan was one of the wealthiest towns in the region thanks to its timber. A group of British businessmen that had bought the land from the sultans of Brunei and Sulu established British North Borneo in 1881. Sandakan was named the capital in 1883, and, by the mid-1930s, the city was said to be home to the highest concentration of millionaires anywhere in the world.

Driving through the streets 80 years later, I found this rather hard to believe — many houses to the left and right of the main road seem neglected and run-down.

There are plenty of coastal fishing villages completely built on mangrove stilts, where one house can be home to three generations, crammed in one or two rooms.

“In earlier times, it was mostly fishermen and sea gypsies who lived in these villages,” said Ayrul, my tour guide. “They spent most of their time at sea. They believed in an old saying — the sea is for the living, while the land is for the dead. They only came to land to bury the dead.”

Nowadays, however, it is not only fishermen living in these quarters. The cheap accommodations have lured other townsfolk to settle there.

Sim Sim fishing village, which faces Sulu Sea, is a wild jumble of lodgings. There is electricity but no sewage system and no privacy whatsoever, it seems. The tiny houses’ walls are so thin that if someone watches television, their neighbor next door can follow the plot of the whole show without a single glance at the screen.

Simple eateries are scattered throughout the village, where the mostly Chinese inhabitants hunker down for a quick bowl of noodle soup or engrossing games of mahjong — a favorite local pastime, according to Ayrul.

The wealth of Sandakan vanished during World War II, when most of the city was destroyed in bombings.

But if one takes a closer look, there are still traces of a rich colonial past to be found throughout town, including many surprisingly well-preserved buildings.

St. Michael’s Anglican Church, first established in 1888, is one of the few buildings in Sandakan that survived destruction during the war. The roof was damaged, but the foundation stood firm during the bombings.

Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: Land Below the Wind by Cruise
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