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Location Date Africa 
1354665600 North America 1306969200 - Tanzania
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Location Date Wed, 16 November 2011 1321468080 Wed, 27 July 2011 1311794655 Sat, 02 July 2011 1309610731 Sat, 25 June 2011
1308991853 Mon, 20 June 2011 1308593008 Fri, 17 June 2011 1308327536 Wed, 08 June 2011 1307551743 Mon, 06 June 2011 1307385480 Sun, 05 June 2011 1307300369
I LOVE TURTLES!
On Thursday, I went to Amani beach on Kigomboni Island to see sea turtles hatch and make their way to the ocean. It was absolutely amazing! (This was also one of the most beautiful beaches I have seen yet). It is organized by a not-for-profit organization called Sea Sense. They hire fishermen to look around beaches daily, and to take the eggs from any new sea turtle nests and relocate them to a variety of protected areas where they are monitored to ensure that they are not eaten by predators.
The gestation period of these eggs is 55 days, so Sea Sense monitors them, and then notifies an email group of interested "tourists" when the hatchings will be 48 hours in advance, and then you can pay to go see them.
The nest we saw hatch was green turtles, and there were 96 hatchlings. They set out a roped area to the ocean and smooth down the sand so that the babies can get to the water before any crabs come to get them. I will upload a few photos that I took (I think I actually have 200+).
Yesterday was my last Swahili class and I'm sad that I won't be seeing my fellow students daily, but excited to get into my Roots & Shoots work. We went out for Ethiopian food to celebrate, which was really nice, and a bunch of the people in my class are staying around Dar for a while, so we will still see each other often. I've made some great friends.
I think that one of the first projects that I want to tackle for Roots & Shoots is a peer mentoring event for girls where female leaders from high schools go to some middle schools and give the younger girls an opportunity to talk to somebody about pressures and problems that they are facing in an open and comfortable environment. I participated in a similar program in Sudbury run by the YWCA as a peer, and it was really awesome.
We still rarely have electricity (maybe 5 hours out of 48), so I have finally adjusted to life without power. I even lit the gas stove myself today!!! (I'm not a fan of fire or matches). Tomorrow I plan on going to go check out an international church that is about a 45-minute walk from my house and possibly go to a beach for the afternoon.
P.S. Thank you to Jon Foreman for reading my blog. Ninakupenda (I love you in Swahili).
- comments
Lindley xo Oh my gosh, the turtles must have been so cute!! Love hearing about all your daily findings and adventures! xo
Sylvia Carscadden HI Erica, I am enjoying your stories so much, particularly your account of Rachel Carson's book. It brought back memories of my Aunt Flossie, a voracious reader. She came to stay with my mother one summer we had all moved in to my mother's home in Mississauga - that is the 3 kids, Terry and I. My aunt, who was one of the formative women in my life, was extolling the Silent Spring as a book that would change the world. She got the picture very clearly from Rachel Carson and I remember how affected she was by her findings. She was right, even though in those days her views sounded quite preposterous. I enjoyed your comments on the book. We are all proud of your initiative and independence. I am so glad you are having a wonderful time. Love Sylvia
Leslie Hi Erica, Love reading your entries about your life in Tanz. We spent a wonderful day at the Carscadden's Sunday for our Church School picnic and were discussing your blogs, your adventures and the animal life you are living with. Brave you are! The kids are excited for summer holidays. Your blogs are inspiring Sidney and I thank you for that. Take Care. Leslie and the gang
Pat Martin Your blogs are just great. We feel blessed to be among the recipients.Your experiences with living conditions, turkeys, 6' cobras. Tanzanian food, turtles, Swahili language lessons, pristine beaches etc. are amazing & have given us a much fuller picture of Tanzanian life in a few paragraphs than we've had from our foster children from Tanzania over several years. Our present foster child Felesian Mchele, age 8, lives in Kasamwa Is that anywhere close to Dar? We'r glad you love your life there & look forward to the next episode. With lots of love Pat & Mike
Kathryn Verch Sea turtles hatching is an amazing thing to see. I saw about 100 of them hatch when I went to North Carolina! It is so neat! I'm also very proud of you for lighting the stove!!!! lol