A record year for sightings
After many kilometers of navigation, helped by the currents that link the coast of Mauritania with Senegal and Gambia, and by their powerful fins, thousands of sea turtles arrive every year at Poilao (Guinea Bissau), the last island of the Bijagó archipelago, formerly to enter the deep Atlantic Ocean.
This location on the confines of the Joao Vieira and Poilao National Marine Park, and its status as a sacred island, reserved for the celebration of ceremonies of the Bijagó ethnic group, make this place an authentic global sanctuary for sea turtles. They are born there, and there they return when they reach reproductive age, because turtles always return to the beach where they were born to lay their eggs.
For this reason, the Institute of Biodiversity and Protected Areas (IBAP) of Guinea Bissau (IBAP) has a turtle camp on the island, which was built with the collaboration of the CBD-habitat Foundation and the Orango Parque Hotel, whose technicians and counters are in charge of monitoring the sightings of sea turtles every year; of the location of the nests they make and the counting of the number of eggs they lay.
Turtles typically spawn 2 to 8 times each season, laying 100 to 200 eggs, which are incubated in the sand for about 60 days.
According to Castro Barbosa, head of the IBAP Species and Habitat Monitoring section, “in 2023 we sighted a total of 47,937 sea turtles in Poilao, and we counted the hatching of eggs in 6,473 nests”.
Many of the babies born in Poilao do not survive their first weeks of life, suffering attacks from predators such as birds, fish and crabs. For their part, adult specimens are also threatened by sea pollution. This means that this species is currently in danger of extinction.
Marine SOS
The biggest risk they currently face, in addition to trawling, is pollution. Poilao, the most important green turtle nesting site in all of West Africa, and one of the 10 most important in the world, is no stranger to the sea of plastics that little by little spreads through the waters that surround the 5 continents.
And as happens in many other places, its coast receives the garbage that is lost in international waters. On its white sand beaches you can see products of multiple nationalities. The existence of this garbage makes it difficult for turtles to access the beach to lay their eggs; and complicates the journey of the young from their nests to the sea.
Copyright C.Flechtner
Some explain the origin of this waste in the discharges made by neighboring countries; and others with the accidental fall, or not, of containers into the sea, while the ships that transport them cross the planet.
The absence of someone responsible to whom we can complain turns this international problem into an issue that is difficult to solve. Especially when it happens in a remote place where it is not possible to treat the garbage, beyond burning it.
In this regard, the IBAP periodically organizes actions with volunteers, who come to the island to clean the breeding areas, located on the beachfront. Far from resolving the situation, it at least mitigates it and reduces its effect for a time.
Where to see sea turtles
Despite these difficulties, there is nothing as overwhelming as seeing a turtle lays its eggs after having crossed thousands of nautical miles, and after the effort involved in getting out of the water when it weighs up to 250 kilos and measures 1.5 meters.
Nor is there anything as beautiful as watching dozens of baby turtles running along the beach, instinctively heading towards the edge of the water, eager to arrive. And this is, undoubtedly, the most dangerous moment in a turtle’s life, when it is heading for the water, since predators such as palm vultures and crabs catch many of them.
If you are a nature lover, and want to live a memorable experience, participate in the circuits that Orango Parque Hotel organizes to the island of Poilao. They take place during the turtle nesting season, from October to December; and offer one night’s accommodation at the island’s turtle camp.
The experience includes the possibility of observing, with professional guides, the nesting of the turtles when they arrive at night on the island with high tide and, at the same time, the hatching of the nests that the turtles laid 2 months ago.
A magical ritual that one never tires of attending. We will wait for you!
