Awwww! Baby Turtles

When you open a travel magazine, watch a wildlife documentary or even read about baby turtles making their way into the sea in print in a book, you cannot fail but think or even say 'Awwww'!

Several months ago I planned a trip to Oman with a good friend, Ali. We soon came to realise that visiting a turtle reserve was one activity possible and, indeed, one that many people included in their itinerary whilst in the country. The main area for watching turtles next and baby ones hatch was Ras al Jinz, close to Ras al Hadd, south east along the coast from Muscat. So, with our minds set on turtle watching we book a nights accommodation at the Turtle Beach resort and the early morning turtle watching at the Ras al Jinz Turtle Reserve. With our own 4WD we enjoyed an afternoon and night at the resort, then awoke at 4am for the 20min drive to the turtle reserve.

Cameras at the ready, we arrived at the reserve and were shipped by minibus to the beach. Standing in two groups, each with a guide, we awaited any movement on the beach. Other guides were searching for turtles that may still be on the beach. At last we found one - an adult, still making her way down to the sea. It was a rush back onto the bus, a short drive and we had about 2 minutes of her making her way into the sea. Amazing but not the babies we had hoped for.

All was not lost as a few minutes later we were taken by the guide to a turtle nesting hole where two tiny baby turtles were digging their way to the surface. They still had sandy eyes and were not completely sure of the right direction to the sea however with some help from the guide they were soon set on their way. With their little flippers flipping and flapping they made their way down the beach. Occasionally falling into footsteps left on the beach they made quite slow progress, despite their flippers working at a rate of knots. One at a time they entered the water for the very first time. How they knew what to do, where to go and even how to swim is incredible as they were the size of my palm. But as quickly as they had emerged from the sand a few minutes earlier they disappeared into the water.

A brilliant and once in a lifetime experience. Amazing does not describe it.