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What you need to know before visit us

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What you need to know

Here you will find some important information on how our turtle watch evening is organized, as well as some useful pointers. In short:

The Turtle Watch evenings take place on every day of the year. A booking in advance is (not yet) necessary.
We have the opportunity to see turtles every day, but the chance depends on which season you are visiting:
- High season for turtles: April – July. Approximately 5-15 turtles between sunset and sunrise.
- Low season for turtles: October – January. Approximately 1-2 turtles between sunset and sunrise.

We start daily at 8.30pm. Please make sure to arrive before 9.00pm latest to make sure you don’t miss any early turtles.To keep the disturbance to turtles low, we usually only try to show you one nesting turtle. We only show turtles that arrive before midnight.
As long as there is no turtle spotted by our nest protectors, we remain waiting at the Visitor Center. If, especially in low season, no turtle has arrived before 11.30pm, the guide will usually call it bad luck and end the turtle watch.
At the beach we put the interests of the turtles first. This means we wait until she is finished digging her nest and only watch her when laying eggs (in smaller groups) or when she is going back (only from behind). Waiting for the turtle might take one to two hours or more. You are NOT allowed to use flash or white/yellow torches.
If a turtle is on the beach, you can get your admission ticket before entering the beach. If by any chance you won’t see a turtle (e.g. it returned to sea before you arrived on location), you can ask for a refund (by handing in your ticket) but all support for conservation is still very welcome – this is a self-sustainable community project, with no external funding.
Tickets are 1500 Rupee per person, 500 for children, when seeing a turtle. Locals (Sri Lankans) pay 500 Rupee.With the money you help protect the beach and turtles. If there is no turtle, all donations are highly appreciated.

Please take some time to go through the subpages here, to manage expectations and for useful suggestions.

Expectations

What to expect on a turtle watch evening:

Upon arrival, our local guide or a volunteer (if available) will welcome you and explain about the program, the rules of the evenings and any other relevant info.

We will be waiting at the visitor center until a turtle is spotted by one of our nest protectors. Our nest protectors are on the beach all night watching for arriving turtles and protecting them. They will give the guide a sign as soon as there is a turtle on the beach – then he will take you there.
Please keep in mind that Rekawa is a rural village and most men don’t speak any English. Our guides speak English to a decent extent – if a volunteer is on site, he/she might help explain some more. We also have a summary with most relevant information translated in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese and Polish.
In the visitor center, you can find a lot of information on sea turtles, their behavior and their threats. You are of course also very welcome to ask our guide or volunteers any questions.
Normally, you can watch a documentary about the project and sea turtles around Sri Lanka, while waiting for a turtle. The documentary is made by the BBC, as part of the Saving Planet Earth series.
If there still isn’t a turtle on the beach by 11.30pm, it is not worth waiting any longer. Since we don’t directly approach the turtle after arrival, bear in mind it will always be around an hour later before you see the turtle.

On the beach: walking, waiting, watching, waving

When entering the beach, please follow the guide’s instructions at all times. We protect 2,5 km of beach, so sometimes we have to walk a fair bit. We wait at a safe distance (15m+) until the turtle is finished digging the nest and starts to lay her eggs – it is a bit of a patience game. Every turtle responds differently and it is not easy to predict how long she will take digging a nest, laying her eggs and covering them up.

We can come close to the turtle when she starts laying her eggs, because she enters a ‘trance’ and is not easily disturbed by us. Please follow the guide quietly and do not use your own torches. Do NOT use any flash when you want to take a picture. It is better to enjoy the experience since getting a good picture is very difficult. The guide will show you where to stand to get the best and safest view and see the eggs drop. Please do not stand in front of the turtle or near her head, and please move aside to let other visitors have a good view too. This part will usually take between 10 and 20 minutes, so you are only able to have a quick look.

Depending on the number of visitors, we will always try to split the group of tourists into smaller batches of 10 before getting close to the turtle. This is in the interest of the turtle but also to improve the experience of both visitors and staff. Please cooperate and wait again on safe distance after you have had a look.

When she is finished laying and starts to cover her nest, we can see the first stage of covering (max 5 mins.) but will soon move away again to safe distance. You are welcome to wait until she returns to sea. Depending on how much energy she has left, covering the nest and returning to sea can take between 30 and 180 minutes. When she goes back to sea we will then turn a red torch on again and you can watch her until she is swept away by the sea (still no flash photography!). Please stand behind the turtle (at least 2-3 meters) at all times to leave a clear path for her to the sea.

It is possible that the turtle fails to dig a nest, because the sand is either too wet or too dry or she stumbles upon too many roots or rocks. This happens in about 50% of the attempts. We call this a ‘False Crawl’. In that case she will not lay eggs, end her nesting process (without laying eggs), and return to sea – usually to try again either later that night or 24 hours later. When a false crawl happens, we can watch her return, always staying well behind the turtle’s head, forming half a circle with at least 2-3 meters of space between you and her.

When everyone follow these rules we can both protect the turtles while giving guests a chance to see this wonderful sight. We close the evening and beach around midnight, when we will ask everyone to leave. As turtle conservation comes first, we usually show only one turtle and leave the other turtles undisturbed – but this will be decided by the guide. It is rare to see hatchlings at the beginning of the night (they usually come out early mornings) and we prefer to leave them undisturbed, but you might be lucky.

Facilities

Rules and tips

Our rules and helpful tips

Please keep in mind that this nature spectacle is very special. Turtles are a vulnerable (even endangered) species and we are guests on their beach – not the other way around.

Please follow any instruction of our guides and/or volunteers at all times.
Flash photography or bright lights are NOT ALLOWED AT ALL TIMES. Bright white light is very harsh to the senses of a turtle, and might prevent other turtles coming to the beach.
Do not use your own torches with white/yellow light. We only use red light near the turtles – the red part of the light spectrum is nearly invisible to turtles.
Please NEVER TOUCH turtles or hatchlings.
Please do not drink on the beach. We have a zero tolerance policy on the consumption of alcohol.
Please do not smoke or use drugs on the beach.
Please take all your belongings (including trash) back with you to prevent pollution of the beach or the sea.
We stay together as a group during the time we are on the beach. Do not leave the group before notifying one of our guides.
Please keep your belongings close at all times. While the beach is safe, we are not responsible for the loss of bags, cameras or other possessions

Other suggestions:

Most of our nest protectors don’t speak English. Please be patient, listen closely and refer to the information sheets and posters in our Visitor Center.
Since nights might get (very) crowded, please approach our guides and/or volunteers proactively. They are always happy to answer your questions.
Please dress decently. Rekawa is a rural village and does not have a lot of tourism. Especially for women it is highly recommendable to cover their shoulders and knees.
During high tide, there is a chance of you getting wet feet. Be sure your shoes can get wet.
It is best to wear darker, non-reflective clothes to diminish the chance that a turtle notices you.
We normally don’t have a lot of sandflies or mosquitoes, but bring some insect repellent to prevent any bites.
During the rain season, there is a chance of (heavy) rain. Please bring an umbrella or raincoat when you think it might be wise.

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