One night, we camped in the desert near the coast of Ras al Hadd, the easternmost point on the Arabian peninsula. Not just for fun – even though it was – but to be ready to watch one of nature’s great spectacles.
Tens of thousands of sea turtles come ashore on Oman’s coast every year to lay their eggs in the sand before returning to the ocean. The turtles always come back to the exact same beach where they were born to lay their eggs, so this is an ever-repeating cycle – unless humans destroy the nesting grounds by real estate developments on the beaches, hunting the turtles or poaching their eggs. Oman has really managed to protect its turtles so far unlike many other places in the world, for example Thailand with it’s massive developments on former turtle nesting beaches in the North of Phuket where none of the turtles dare to come ashore anymore.
The turtle conservation was also the reason why we had to set up our camp a few kilometres inland instead of right on the beach – in this case we didn’t mind. We booked two spots on the ‚morning tour‘ from the conservation centre in Ras al Jinz, starting at 4 am and lasting until sunrise. Omani organisation and a big group of Indian latecomers were the reason that we only left 40 minutes later – a long time if you dragged yourself out of bed (or more precisely a tent) in the middle of the night. However, we got down to the beach, after a 15 minute walk, just in time to see the last turtle of the night dig herself out of the hole where she had laid her eggs. The giant sea creatures come ashore only during night time to avoid some of their worst predators, like sea birds or foxes, digging out the eggs before they get a chance to breed. The exhausted female was moving her back flippers to cover the up to two meter deep hole in the sand that will be the nest for her eggs for the next 1-2 months. She looked exhausted but somehow satisfied as she dragged herself towards the surf leaving a tractor-like trace in the sand.
A great scene came to its end when the shell of the turtle disappeared in the sea and the sun started to rise above the water. We slowly walked back, happy that we could witness this natural theatre, which still seems to be protected here for most of the night.
