Our first night (Tuesday) at the project involved a patrol of the beach from 8pm until 11pm, however there was a huge thunderstorm and the heavens completely opened.
Neither of us have ever seen a thunderstorm like it and it lasted for hours! We sat with the group and waited for the rain and lightning to stop but unfortunately it didn’t and our patrol was cancelled for safety reasons, lightning and water don’t mix!
So we went to bed and got a great night sleep which was definitely needed, this was definitely a bonus!
Today (Wednesday) we woke up and had a little breakfast and then went to the local school to help put stakes in the ground to protect the newly planted trees around the school grounds. We worked in teams to cut the wood, nailed some staples into the stakes and then tied a network of string around the stakes to protect the trees (from the football that the kids play with).
It was great to do this for the kids, the kids were so happy and excitable and it was a pleasure to join in with the local community and help the school. The main project leader from the community was named Edgar, who was the most passionate man about reforestation, the earth and helping the kids. His motivational speech was very moving.
This took us to lunchtime, and afterwards we underwent turtle training which included how to clean the equipment that is required for turtle monitoring and also what to do in the turtle hatchery. We are also required to measure the rain gauge. The leaders were really informative and made sure we knew what to do!
We then had a little bit of free time before dinner, so we caught the glorious sunset and watched the locals playing volleyball.
After a tasty dinner, we are now waiting for our first patrol (let’s hope it doesn’t get cancelled!), which is from midnight until 3am! Fingers crossed we see some turtles laying their eggs.
By Megan Patel & Tom Morgan
