Crouching in the sand on a moonlit night, watching a female ridley sea turtle slowly climb up the beach is mesmerizing. Watching her dig the nest hole with her hind flippers, laughing when a load of sand lands in your face, and then the ping-pong ball-sized eggs, a hundred of themn, drop from her cloaca into the hole. After covering the eggs, it's a delight to see her thumping the nest site and tossing sand over it to conceal it. Across the Bay of Bengal. in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the giant leatherback presents an equally astonishing sight as she drags her half-ton mass ashore to nest. This is true magic that has occurred over tens of millions of years and we are so lucky to have the honour of their continuing arrival on our beaches.

 

Pioneers like Satish Bhaskar, Vijaya and others made it possible for us to study and understand these animals by surveving beaches across India in the early years. This book wonderfully documents an exciting half century of sea turtle conservation in India - the people, places, programmes and of course the turtles.

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- Rom Whitaker

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Published by: Dakshin Foundation​

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