STUDENT ECO-ADVENTURE: SWIMMING WITH THE TURTLES
by Manthan Bharat Thakkar
It all started one winter evening as I was sitting in the Foothill computer lab, wondering what I would do over the summer. SLEEP! was the first thing that came to my mind, followed by an idea to Google “101 ways how not to waste your summer.” Nothing useful came up, although I do recommend a video by Escapist Magazine called “LoadingReadyRun: Ways to Spend Your Summer.” It’s informative yet funny, but not exactly what I had in mind.
After almost an hour of shuffling through results for “summer internship,” “Volunteer over the summer,” “unpaid internship opportunity,” and “exchange programs for students,” I came across a volunteer program at Dekamer, a Sea Turtle Research, Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre along the southern coast of Turkey. This seemed perfect for me and so I sent an email asking about the opportunity and more details.
It took a few months to hear back and get more details, with the following months spent planning and preparing for the trip. After 30 hours, two flight transfers and a fourteen- hour bus ride, I arrived at the camp. All of the volunteers gathered around and introduced themselves in their own languages: French; Spanish; English; Turkish. I felt lost and out of place since the only thing we really seemed to have in common was being there at that same time — yet I knew this was going to be a wonderful experience, something more than I ever imagined! This was that adventure of a lifetime I had always dreamt about.
It turned out to be very easy to make friends there. Most of us spent the days talking about our experiences and walking the length of the beach during sunset and sunrise — I realized direction, I felt a rush I have never ever felt before. I was an explorer, visiting a place untainted by human presence. Although I have to admit, the thought of a killer shark biting my legs was pretty scary. Nevertheless, it is times like these that bring you closer to the shark and true bonds are formed with nature.
When you hear the word “Volunteer,” the first thing that often comes to mind is hard work for free. But what most people fail to see is that these organizations take care of your room and board for free or very minimum fees, allowing you to “holiday” in exchange for doing work that you are passionate about. Our job was to patrol the beach each moonlit night (which was five- kilometers long) to record turtle tracks. One of our most important jobs was to lay cages over turtle nests to protect the eggs from being eaten by the foxes and raccoons from the surrounding hills.
This worked surprisingly well and it was not too often that we saw broken eggs, left by the foxes as a sign of victory. In fact you wouldn’t believe meifItoldyouthatIoncehearda fox say, “Challenge accepted.” Spread the message, the fox has finally spoken. We were responsible for taking care of injured turtles, which were kept in huge tanks at our camp. We also spoke to tourists on the beach to spread awareness about this endangered species. Before I knew it, my month’s stay at the camp was over and I was on my airplane headed back to San Francisco.
Sitting in a café in the Bay Area, as I look back at those days I realize how much this experience has changed who I am. Although I still have the same name and physical appearance, I am not afraid to ‘live’ anymore. I wish each and every one of you could have experienced this with me — but every single person has their own adventure waiting for them so I will just encourage you to seek yours out and not be afraid of it!
Manthan “Monte” Bharat Thakkar was
a Computer Science Student at Foothill.
