Save the Gili Turtles & Help to Build a Hatchery

The sea turtles of Gili have been having a great time recently. Whilst the island is a little quieter in the run up to Christmas, the clear seas and warm temperatures have meant that more hawksbill and green turtles have been lazing around in the shallows, grazing for the seagrass.

We've been stuck closely with the eco-resort and our partners Hotel Lumi and their architect to set plans for the new turtle hatchery in motion. With a large beach club, restaurant and hotel all made out of sustainable materials, the 'spare' land out back was swiftly put to great use and plans for the new turtle hatchery have grown considerably in the last few months. 

While the hatchery will be built in stages, the most urgent areas to focus on have been highlighted as:

• Egg incubation area
• Classroom & Treatment room 
• Info boards, photo booths, educational murals & activities

With these being built first, Lumi has the aim of partial completion (operational but not open for exhibition) by April 2023. That's exactly when the turtles start to nest on the Gili Islands!

We can't waste any more time letting the nests of these endangered animals get swept back into the sea, for heightened beach erosion. When specially trained Turtle Rangers find newly laid nests, they'll be able to safely relocate the eggs using ethical strategies adopted from Yayasan Penyu Indonesia to our egg incubation area. A protected shaded sand pit to house individual clutches of eggs. Once they've been safely incubated for 60 days and they start to hatch, they'll get a check over by the on-site turtle specialist and then released within 24 hours at the location they were laid if safe enough, or on the secluded beach at Hotel Lumi.

We've already been working alongside Turtle Foundation CEO & staff to create the world's first turtle education and exhibition centre. To ensure we can offer the best possible experience for guests to learn, interact and enjoy the lifecycle of a turtle without the exploitation of holding healthy baby and juvenile turtles in tanks for the viewing and entertainment of tourists. 

This will be presented by the means of 

• Info boards
• Murals
• VR 360' experience using virtual reality headsets
• Interactive photo boards
• Mechanical life-size figures of turtles
• Interactive games and activities presenting the mysterious life of a sea turtle
• Turtle statues
• Turtle merchandise
• Adopt a nest program

Not only will this benefit the turtles around the Gilis, but it will also raise awareness of the exploitation and 'tourist traps' of headstarting programs. We will have the potential of reaching out to such projects and offering them the same education and interactive conservation centres in different locations across Indonesia. 

The second phase of the build has the potential to include a temporary holding tank for sick or injured turtles that need minor treatment or recovery, which offers a great chance for guests and tourists to learn about these gentle creatures from the supervisors. 

If you have any experience, contacts or tips for our team regarding creating a VR short documentary to create an immersive experience for guests to glimpse a turtle without stepping oot in the ocean, then we are currently looking for filmmakers and editors to help us create a 5 minute continual loop of turtle content in the ocean and on the beach.  

Whilst Hotel Lumi will be hard at work creating the world's first ethical turtle hatchery, selected staff will travel to East Kalimantan to Yayasan Penyu's busiest nesting site of green sea turtles to train to become certified nest relocators and turtle supervisors to gain knowledge, experience and troubleshooting whilst caring for the nests in the hatchery. 

We are so excited that this is finally coming together and with YOUR help and support, we'll be launching next year to save the population of Gili sea turtles!

So remember, your valued donation isn't just helping the Gili turtles of today, but also for future generations to come. We thank you so much for supporting us on this journey into creating the worlds first ethical hatchery, and can't wait for it to be open so you can come and visit it for yourself!

Let the turtles swim free!

Tourism is returning rapidly to full swing, it feels like a real high season again on Gili, like one not witnessed for almost 3 years!

We are unfortunately seeing fewer turtles landing on the beaches, but also more reports of those that do successfully nest, getting caught in buckets of seawater ready to release or to start their own head-starting program. The few like this that has happened, we've managed to coax an immediate release which has been fantastic!

Turtle Training with beach resorts is critical to ensure awareness with all the staff that work on the beaches with tourists. I've got a group of 3 strong individuals that are a part of the local conservation youth group on the island delighted to help teach and educate the beach bars and resorts about turtle landings and hatching events.

In a 15-minute presentation on the beach with bar staff, Ibu Susi, Yani and Matla'ah will show a short video in Bahasa Indonesia and create a role-playing game of a turtle coming up the beach (a member of staff) so proper protocols can be taught of what to do if a turtle lands on the beach.

This new education will hopefully raise awareness and gain trust with Gili Eco Trust and empower the bar staff/owners to protect their own beaches whilst building rapport with this amazing team of Gili Eco Girls for future eco projects and collaborations in the Gili community.

Increasing our turtle network:

We've spent considerable time creating a network of turtle experts across Indonesia, and SE Asia. Be this in the form of other successful hatcheries, governmental wildlife protection bodies and well-established wildlife NGO's, we feel our presence will not only benefit the turtles local to the Gili Islands, but we've started offering help, advice and learning to organizations across the world, even as far as Jordan!

We are so delighted to have met the founder of Yayasan Penyu, (The Turtle Foundation) last month. This inspirational team has been protecting and safeguarding turtle nests across Indonesia for more than 20 years. Our aim will be to eventually send our team of Turtle Rangers to learn and train from the rangers in East Kalimantan who protect Indonesia's largest nesting beach for green turtles.

After sharing their ideas for the educational turtle centre & experience, we're working alongside to brainstorm ways to create an immersive experience via a self-guided garden tour around the incubation centre that could be replicated in other hatcheries or places of wildlife interest to educate further afield about why turtle need the ocean, not tanks to grow up in. If our supporters or network have any experience in this, then we'd love some advice or to share ideas with how this will become one of Gilis leading touristic activities - without having to keep turtles in captivity!

Many more exciting announcements are coming from this soon!

We want to thank you once again for your generous support for our turtle hatchery project on Gili Trawangan. Your donations are what is keeping this project moving forward!

Every day we are coming closer to protecting and safeguarding the populations of turtles across the Gili Islands.