{"id":114,"date":"2013-08-28T00:59:31","date_gmt":"2013-08-28T00:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/malaysias-hotel-wildlife-warriors\/"},"modified":"2022-08-08T23:18:39","modified_gmt":"2022-08-08T23:18:39","slug":"malaysias-hotel-wildlife-warriors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/malaysias-hotel-wildlife-warriors\/","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia’s Hotel Wildlife Warriors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five guests are lingering over their dessert. The last spoonfuls of a decadent chocolate cake are slowly picked at while a hot breeze drifts across from the beach. From a beachside, candle-lit dinner at Tanjong Jara Resort<\/a>, the South China Sea is dark in the distance. Aside from the buzz of a mosquito or two, and the hum of couples at dinner, there\u2019s silence.<\/p>\n

Suddenly a phone rings. \u201cIt\u2019s turtle time,\u201d calls the hotel manager. \u201cQuickly, quickly, you must hurry.\u201d This is the only time I\u2019ve ever heard a hotel manager rush guests away from dinner. Cake forgotten, we scramble from the table to the lobby, stopping to spray more insect repellent and grab our cameras.<\/p>\n

Each year the beaches of Terengganu<\/a>, on Malaysia\u2019s eastern coast, are the birthplace for hundreds of turtles. And each year Tanjong Jara Resort\u2019s employees volunteer to take guests out to watch giant Green, Hawksbill and Leatherback turtles undertake the arduous task of laying their eggs in the sand.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 10pm by the time we\u2019re in the minibus. By 10.05pm we\u2019re hurtling down the main road. The turtles are on a strict timeline and the delivery doesn\u2019t wait for anyone. Our driver Isis is a valet by day, passionate turtle conservationist by night. There\u2019s no official association between the resort and Terengganu\u2019s turtle sanctuary, but according to Isis the men who spend each night trawling the beach looking for turtle tracks don\u2019t mind a few spectators.<\/p>\n

The road to the beach is well lit \u2013 at first by fairy lights from roadside bars, then by giant spurts of flame, erupting from the town\u2019s large oil refinery. When we turn off onto a dirt track the sky is a dirty orange, lit up as the balls of flame spurt out.<\/p>\n

 
\n
\nWe find our turtle wedged underneath a log in the shrubbery on the edge of the beach. She flicks sand back towards the sea, her giant flippers slowly grinding out a burrow. An old man with a cigarette in his mouth, a headlight strapped to his head and a machete in his hand hacks clear room for her to move. He\u2019s been here for 44 years, back when there were tigers in the jungles and no oil refinery on the beach. The laying season is from early April until August, and he\u2019s here nearly every night.<\/p>\n

This is an assisted delivery \u2013 once the turtle has laid her eggs, he helps her out of the burrow and back to the water. Once she\u2019s gone, the delicate operation begins. With a long metal rod he gently prods the sand. Elbows deep in the burrow, he locates the eggs and starts scooping them out. One, two, finally 72 ping-pong sized eggs are laid out on the sand. From here they\u2019re reburied in the hatchery \u2013 a covered section of sand further up the beach \u2013 for protection from the elements and the poachers. At the markets turtle eggs fetch a good price, they\u2019re a local delicacy.<\/p>\n

Once the eggs have had time to grow, they\u2019re uncovered and little hatchlings crawl around the sand. The turtles are released during the night \u2013 to keep the birds at bay. Almost 160 000 turtles are released but who knows how many will survive.<\/p>\n

Tonight we\u2019re lucky to see the full cycle \u2013 once the new eggs are buried, we\u2019re lined up along the sand and a fresh batch of hatchlings is released behind us. They follow torch light through our legs, tickling our toes as they clumsily clamber over our feet. They scurry towards the ocean and are swept away.<\/p>\n

By the time we\u2019re back in our beds it\u2019s late. Or early. The morning is already beginning but I won\u2019t be sleeping anyway. A turtle hatching beats any kind of hotel facility or planned activity.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to see turtle hatchings, head to Malaysia during hatching season, or for somewhere closer to home,\u00a0Heron Island<\/a>\u00a0in the Great Barrier Reef sees thousands of hatchlings each season.<\/p>\n

Images by\u00a0Tanjong Jara Resort, YTL Hotels and Lisa Perkovic.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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