Velas Turtle Festival - The Great Migration of Olive Ridley

Hello everyone, this was in March 2017 I got to know my few trek friends were going to Velas Turtle festival and without much thinking I decided to join. Actually this was my 2nd visit to Velas.

Velas Turtle festival is about conservation of Olive Ridley Turtle an endangered species. This wildlife conservation program is voluntarily carried out by Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra an NGO since last few years.

Here is my two days weekend trip to Velas Turtle festival with group of 16 co-travelers:

Olive Ridley Turtle

Day 1 - 25th March 2017 ( Saturday):

We had an overnight journey of 6 to7 hours from Mumbai and reached early morning to Velas. Velas is small village on west coastline of Maharashtra. Our stay was at house of local villager - Homestay. 
This village has particularly adopted eco-tourism i.e. the village panchayat has taken the decision to not allow any hotels in the village and only home stay is available. This is very recommendable considering to the eco-system of this place.  

Beautiful sunrise at Velas beach

Serene Velas beach

Fenced area where the eggs are kept for safety

We reached at the beach after a long walk of 15-20 minutes and witnessed a beautiful sun-rise. The volunteers of Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra have demarcated a fenced area where they dig up hole and keep the eggs for safety from poachers and predators. 

They open the cover of the nest at two slots – at 7.00 -7.30 am and other at 5.00 - 5.30 pm everyday to see if the eggs are hatched or not. We gathered at the fenced area to see if the egg hatching has happened or not and to our disappointment it didn’t happen. So we all roamed around the beach spending some time. 

Traditional Kokani home in the village

Lip smacking kokani homemade food

After having delicious home cooked traditional Konkani cuisine we rested in afternoon. We got ready again to visit the beach for evening slot to try our luck. As locals say morning has most probability of hatchings, so evening chance was very less but still being optimistic we went ahead to beach after having some chai.

A nice pathway among high palm trees

Mesmerizing Sunset

Again to our disappointment there was no hatching in evening, so we sat down and enjoyed the mesmerizing sunset. It was so peaceful and calm, away from hustle bustle of the city. Later we went to house of Mohan Upadhaye one of member of Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra. He showed a documentary on the conservation of turtle, vultures, birds and other animals of the western ghat region.

Documentary film and discussion about the turtle conservation program

He spoke in length about their conservation programs and the hazards of plastic pollution in oceans and how it is affecting our marine life. It was really fascinating to know about this great migration journey of these turtles. The Olive Ridley turtle species that lives their whole life in sea and migrate to land for laying eggs. During February and March many turtles lay eggs in Velas and around the western coast of Maharashtra. 

These species are very sensitive to habitat and lay their eggs in isolation. Also it was unbelievable to know the baby turtle ( if it is a female) remembers the geo-magnetic field of the place it was born and return to the same place 20 years later when it is ready to lay the eggs.

Marked egg nests with details

New born babies

Preparing for the red carpet ceremony

Day 2 - 26th March:

Next day morning was our last chance to see the baby turtle. Hatching depend on lot of factors such as Moon, humidity, weather, nesting dates, so it is on pure luck. Locals told us that lot of time on weekdays hatching happens of more than 50 eggs and sometimes none on a weekend.This is a two month long natural breeding process. It’s like how you spot tiger in the jungle. Today nature god was with us and we were lucky 3 eggs hatched and could see 3 baby turtle.

Posing for shutterbugs

Baby turtle entering the vast ocean

My sole reason for visiting 2nd time was to witness the birth of these baby turtle that hatch from their eggs and taking their first steps as they crawl into the ocean to start the journey of their life. It was like a red carpet ceremony. It’s a celebration of life and very joyful experience. 

Kudos to the Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra volunteers as they are relentlessly taking these efforts of conservation. From protecting the mother turtle from poachers and her eggs from wild animals, to store them at a safe place and to release them in sea managing the tourist crowds. Still after tackling these difficulties the chances of survival of turtle in sea is very less as it can get stuck in fishing nets or eat plastic and other factors.

Bankot Fort

View from top of Bankot Fort

Harihareshwar Beach

Our group

After sending-off the little turtles to their home we went for sightseeing. We went to Bankot fort and then Harihareshwar temple. It was really wonderful to know and be a part of this great social celebration towards Mother Nature.

Last but not the least how can I forget to mention about the people whom I travelled this journey. I really had a great time with this crazy bunch of travelers from singing songs to crazy boomerang videos to ghost stories we had an awesome trip. We also had two very enthusiatic mothers of fellow travelers who were super fun.

Photo Credits - Karan Mistry, Sandesh Chalke, Ranjita Gaonkar, Sunila Bholane