Conservation

Marine Conservation and Turtle Watch

In 2006 we created a Turtle Protected area, some 4 kilometres long, on Bureni Beach. At that time the local fishermen saw turtles as a tasty addition to their diet. But having been shown how a live turtle could be far more financially beneficial to them than a dead one, they soon became aware that this was something positive that they were doing, not only for themselves but for their children.

Today we have an amazingly active group of Turtle Watch Wardens who are paid to report, protect and tag the turtles. This data is recorded and used in international research which is helping protect these vulnerable creatures. Indeed a really exciting event occurred when one of our turtles, Bureni Beauty, was satellite tagged by the Kenya Wildlife Service. During the time that the tag was active she was tracked up the coast of Somalia and travelled over 2,000 kilometres. 

Above: Helping a mature breeding female back into the sea

We are currently one of the most successful breeding beaches along the coast and this year we have had 134 successful nests hatched with another 34 to go, resulting in approximately 13,000 hatchlings finding their way back to the sea.

All this needs a lot of money and we raise funds in various ways - one of which is selling sponsored T shirts. Like everyone else working for the Vipingo Village Fund our head of Conservation, Nicola Clarke, works on a purely voluntary basis. To contact Nicola or to order T-Shirts please email marine@vipingovillagefund.org or use the contact form.