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Riau Islands, Indonesia —
An urgent message lit up phones around the island: it was baby sea turtle o’clock.
Bawah, a resort island in a remote stretch of Indonesia, has a sea turtle protection program. Three resident marine biologists travel around the archipelago, collecting sea turtle eggs before monitor lizards have a chance to eat them. The eggs are re-nested on one of the resort’s beaches in a protective covered hut, then monitored closely for signs of hatching.
Sea turtles can live for centuries, but first they must survive infancy. Bawah’s scientists have built the nest with only one possible exit, and from there the newly hatched babies try to make their way toward the sea. They exit via a sort of bowling lane in the sand, with little walls designed to keep the creatures on track.
