2011 Turtle Camp – Love the Sea Turtle

May 22, 2011

This year, turtle camp had entered its 16th years of educating kids from SK Redang on both sea turtle conservation and marine environment related issues. The camp was conducted from 19th – 21st May 2011 at Chagar Hutang Turtle Sanctuary. A total of 38 students participated in this camp where they were divided into two groups. Each group camped at the sanctuary for 2 days 1 night. This year Turtle Camp was sponsored wholly by Industry Networking and Community Service Center (INComS) of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu and BERJAYA Redang Resort. The opening ceremony was officiated on the first day by the Vice Director from Institute of Oceanography and Environment (INOS), Dr. Zainuddin bin Bachok. In his speech he had emphasized that “Outreach program among the youth is a really important platform to create a better leader in future”.

During the camp, students were taught about sea turtle conservation and marine related issues in an interactive way. Besides that, they were given opportunity to experience hands-on on how a mother sea turtle nests at night. This session is the highlight of the camp because students are able to witness the hardship during oviposition thus, reducing the consumerism of eggs in Terengganu.

Sea turtle themed games were also introduced to the kids such as Turtle Hunt, Turtle board game, Guess and Action game, Turtle origami competition and also a Turtle-theme drawing competition. By the end of the day, the wining teams were awarded with prizes for their healthy competition throughout the camp. Before biding goodbye, a leader from each group will lead a “Jangan makan Telur Penyu” pledge which means “Stop eating sea turtle eggs”. Kids are the mediator to their parents and the pillars of the future. They will lead the new globalization and to achieve this, early awareness and outreach are essential.

Overall, the camp was a successful one because the kids did not only had fun but at the same time were inspired to be junior sea turtle saviour!