After 1 and half month delay, and too many turtles unprotected and killed because of this beaurocratic situation, we have been finally granted access to our containers and thus our camp equipment, and are setting up the Curral Velho camp!
This is a relief for all us, who have been stressing out at the sight of the many turtles found dead on the beach of Lacacão until now. Hopefully things will change very soon, as they have in Boa Esperança beach so far. At least 20 turtles were recorded killed this season in this beach before we set up the camp last sunday, but so far no turtles were found dead, which shows that our presence in this beach has been effective.
So finally we will be able to start our camps, and improve dramatically the protection of the beaches in Boa Esperança, Lacacão and Curral Velho.
There have been reports of an increase on attacks on tourists – several people have been held up at knife-point and robbed of their possessions. This mostly occurs on the more remote beaches such as Boa Esperanca and Varandinha, but not always. We hope that one of the “side effects” of our camps, presence on the beach, and patrols by volunteers and soldiers will be that the beaches will be safer for tourists, as well.
On the positive side, we are already day-dreaming about next season, when all the camp equipment will be in Boavista already (we’ll never trust container companies AGAIN), and we can start with our program from day 1!
Turtle Foundation
