The loggerhead turtle has survived almost unchanged for over 100-million years, a challenge equalled by few other species. Every year, these turtles brave incredible dangers to swim the vast seas until they reach their nesting grounds at Bhanga Nek.
In the early 1960's it was found that only a handful of females lumbered onto the Maputaland sands to lay their eggs. Of their companions, the rare leatherbacks, their were even fewer. An urgent cry went up to save these little-known creatures.
The main problem lay with predators, and man in particular. Female turtles, once their egg-laying instincts are roused, are extremely vulnerable, becoming oblivious to surroundings that are furthermore not their natural environment. It is then that the hunters strike.
Nesting is a sensitive business and begins in early summer. A female can lay up to 600 eggs a season (or 3600 over 18 years), burying them carefully in the warm, golden sand. Incubation lasts about two months and conditions must be just right – if the beach temperatures exceed 29,6 degrees celsius in the early stages, most of the hatchlings will be male. The tiny newborns dig their way out of the nest, and set off on what for them is a marathon trek to the sea. The odds against their survival is high, with only two hatchlings in every thousand making it to adulthood.
So, when the already high odds against survival were increased by indiscriminate hunting , the time had come for strict conservation measures. The Natal Parks Board mobilised protection and research teams, and eventually succeeded in halting the killing.
Source: AA Illustrated Guide to the South African Coast Pages p265. AA The Motorist Publications (Pty) Ltd. ISBN 09470084
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