Find and Rescue Turtles (Lombok , Indonesia) (Part 2)
In an effort to contribute towards conservation of the marine turtle, specifically the green sea turtle, i brought a group of nine (9) scouts to Gili Meno, an island in the Lombok region of Indonesia. We were assisting Bolong of the Gili Meno Turtle Sanctuary (http://gilimenoturtles.com/) in his efforts. Of these nine, four were on a follow-up mission, as they had previously traveled here with me the previous year.
It was bitter-sweet to know that the money we previously donated towards the sanctuary was used for the purpose we intended. The heartening point was that Bolong had three new tanks along with the original four; the sadness that we denied the actual task of constructing the tanks as was our original plan. Another new improvement was the more efficient pump and well system that was used to fill the tanks after washing.
While the tasks we engaged in during this trip were similar to the first service trip (cleaning, feeding, fishing, reducing litter), the mood was different among the scouts, largely because we were more at ease as we had been here before. The local community also were more receptive towards us - the scouts were happy to be recognised by the locals - both adults and children alike.
Not only were there changes in the sanctuary and the locals, the island itself was cleaner, less rubbish was lying around. It suggested that our previous efforts may have sparked some changes, that perhaps the locals were taking an interest in the presentation of their island.
This trip was rewarding for the scouts (and myself) as we actually managed to see several turtles during our R&R snorkel swims, and we also managed to Find and Rescue Turtles (Eggs), which were then reburied in the sanctuary (update by Bolong was that all but three eggs hatched in February 2016).