On 8th May we were surprised to find a hawksbill turtle laying eggs in Marsa Nakari. We sought advice from the National Parks rangers, in particular Islam Elsadek, who is a turtle expert who showed us how to protect the nest and gave us a lot of tips about when we could expect the eggs to hatch. We learnt that the eggs should hatch within 60-80 days.
Michaela, Environmental Manager from the Marketing team based herself at Nakari from 4th July and monitored the nest day and night with the help of other staff and guests. On Friday 11th July at 5:20pm, she noticed some movement in the sand and sure enough the eggs had started to hatch. Within minutes the turtles became visible but in the beginning the baby turtles were totally still. As the sun went down, the eggs became more exposed and when it was totally dark the turtles began to move in the nest and head to the sea. Islam from the rangers lent us in infrared camera so we could record the whole event on video and Miky made sure that she saw every turtle into the water.
It was an incredibly special event -- not only at RSDS but this is the first recorded hawksbill turtle nest in the Southern Red Sea area and we feel very blessed that it happened in one of our villages.
