Map of Redang...
The Marine Park Centre
The Centre is located where Batin Talib had his early kampung set up on Pulau Pinang. The exhibition hall and turtle hatchery is open to visitors. A conservation charge of RM5.00 per adult and RM2.50 per child is payable for every visitor. On getting there, you will need to arrange a boat with your resort or hop in with the bands of snorkellers going off to the marine park centre for some snorkelling activity. Resorts conduct frequent boat trips to the centre for guests to swim with the colourful and diverse variety of reef fish resident in this bay.
Marine Park Charges & regulations - click for information
Chagar Hutang Turtle Research Unit
We volunteered ourselves as 'dogsbodies' at Chagar Hutang in August of 1998. Dr.Chan, the person in charge of the SEATRU unit at Terengganu's University Pertanian Malaysia could only accommodate us for 4 days instead of the one-week volunteer programme. But we felt it was a chance of a lifetime and took it with no hesitation.
Pasir Chagar Hutang lies in its own little bay at the northern end of the island, just out of reach of holidaymakers. There are no through roads and the only way to get there is by boat or trekking through unmarked jungle. Moreover, the islanders believe that at Chagar Hutang stays a group of magical beings known as Orang Bunian. These 'beings' grant wishes in return for offerings brought to them by those who seek their help. So if you get totally disoriented or lost in the jungle, you could try asking for help..
Pasir Chagar Hutang is probably the only stretch of beach on Pulau Redang that is litter free. And that's because each morning research assistants and volunteers scour the entire length collecting every little bit of litter washed ashore the night before.
Foetus collected from a nest are analysed for research purposes |
There were other chores for volunteers to carry out in the daytime such as locating freshly laid nests; measuring the distance of the nests from the shoreline and the foliage line; relocating nests if they were found to be too close to the water's edge; checking for any marauding monitor lizards eager for a meal; digging up hatched nest sites and counting pieces of eggshells of hatched eggs and recording the findings. Remaining unhatched eggs are analysed if there were foetal deformities or if they were eaten by predators like ghost crabs and certain types of plant roots that bore deep into the nests to gouge on these food source. A turtle could lay as many as 8 times in one season that lasts from April until late September.
 |
But the exciting part is when the turtles come ashore to deposit their eggs at night. Turtles are extremely vulnerable on land and any unusual movement will send them crawling back into the water.So we had to work without torches. Sometimes when frightened, they may drop their eggs into the sea as they frantically swim away from danger on land. Extreme care has to be taken when approaching turtles.
The females drag themselves up the sloping beach in search of its perfect nesting site. Some females can be a bit fussy. She can dig 2 to 3 different sites before settling comfortably on one. Once the turtle is in the process of laying her 80 odd eggs, we can then move in to tag her, remove barnacles from her shell, search for any injuries and measure her. It's wonderful to be so close with such ancient creatures whose ancestors have weathered millions of years of change and have survived. Sadly, the only threat to their continuity now is our ignorance and greed. Every year, thousands of turtles are slaughtered in Bali for the tourist trade and the local festivities.
Another reason why torches and hurricane lamps and other artificial light sources are not permitted on the beach at night is because bright lights tend to confuse them and sometimes, the hatchlings would follow in the direction of the lights, leading them away from the sea and reducing their survival chances.
Nests can hatch any time of the day. We've seen poor little hatchlings that couldn't make it down to the water in time before being frazzled by the fiery zap of the sun. But once they hit water, these hatchlings swim vigorously out to sea - far away from the shallows where predators such as sharks and gulls make easy picking meals of them. Eating nothing in the process ,they survive on the rich yolk stored in its body that provides it enough energy to swim and swim for 30 days far into the open ocean.
W e think that if each nest contains 80 - 100eggs, surely there is enough to produce plenty of hatchlings. But with so many dangers along the way, mortality rate is very high and researchers estimate that only 1 in 1000 actually makes it to adulthood. And to think that it takes roughly 40years for turtles such as the green turtles and hawksbill turtles to reach maturity, a little math will tell us that, they're in for a rough ride! If you would like to know more about what's being done to help these turtles in Malaysia, click to Seatru or call Dr.Chan at 09-668 3251 / Mr.Liew at 09-668 3250
Island Activity 
