Against The Odds by Martin and Susanna.

Seven different species of sea turtle live in our oceans, some inhabiting the shallow seagrass beds of the Indian Ocean. Sri Lanka is privileged to have 5 of the seven species nest on its shores namely the Green, Hawksbill, Loggerhead, Leatherback and Olive Ridley turtles.

Human activities have tipped the scales against the survival of these ancient creatures whose ancestry has been traced back to the Jurassic period. Nearly all species of sea turtle are classified as endangered. Having been killed for their eggs, meat and shells, sea turtles suffer from poaching and over-exploitation. They also face habitat destruction and manmade hazards such as discarded fishing nets and plastic bags.

One family in Sri Lanka has dedicated the last 30 years to tipping the scales back in the turtles favour. Dudley Perera owns the Kosgoda Sea Turtle Conservation Project in Mahapalena, South Eastern Sri Lanka where we are volunteering to do our bit to help the survival of these magnificent creatures.

A typical day starts at 7:30 sharp with a communal breakfast including the best Mango jam on the planet. Breakfast is quite often interrupted by a local fisherman on his beat up old motorbike. He deposits two bulging carrier bags, the plastic straining at the weight of the turtle eggs, on the floor. A ripple of excitement fills us volunteers as we know that our first task today will be to bury the turtle eggs in the safe area.

The sanctuary will pay 12 Sri Lankan Rupees (6p) per egg to the Fisherman. He could get 24 Rupees if he sold the eggs on the black market but that is illegal and he would face a jail sentence and hefty fine if caught so is it worth the risk. A lot of the money received by the sanctuary from donations and volunteers goes straight on buying eggs to encourage the right behaviour in fishermen. Dudley has a long established relationship with the local fishermen so there is never a shortage of eggs to be buried, ensuring a more certain future for the turtles.

It's already hot, around 27c at 8:30, as we leave the homestay and enter the shade of the turtle sanctuary. It's an intimate affair with 9 concrete tanks, painted light blue, holding a number of turtles including one that houses newly born hatchlings. We immediately go over to the safe area, which is a fenced off patch of raised sand divided into 4 areas by small dividing walls. Before burying the eggs we do a quick check for hatchlings that would have surfaced during the relative cool of the previous evening. During the time we have been here we have only been witness to this on two occasions, dry and wrinkly we would then gather them up and place them in the holding tank.

The eggs we have been given are Olive Ridley eggs, about 200 of them. We dig 4 holes using our hands, about 50cm deep, making them slightly larger at the bottom and place 50 or so eggs in each. Carefully replacing the sand we place a stake to mark the spot with the species name, number of eggs and the date. It will be about 6 - 8 weeks before the hatchlings emerge. Interestingly, the sex of the hatchlings is determined by the temperature of the sand. Temperatures over 29c mean the hatchlings will be female and anything below 29c means they will be male. Owing to the fact that the sand here is consistently around 30-31c (at 50cm) all of the hatchlings are female. In other parts of the world where it is slightly cooler a large number of males will also be hatching as well.

Next up is cleaning the tanks! This is hard work and takes all morning. We have to drain each tank, moving each turtle to a separate holding tank, then scrub any algae off the sides using sand and coconut shells or scrubbing brushes, rinse and move on to the next tank. The tools are pretty basic and there is a lot of scrubbing, our shoulders and arms are exhausted by lunch time. It's not only the tanks that get a good old scrub, the turtles need their algae removing too. Normally done by fish in the wild we take a scrubbing brush and give their shells a once over until they are gleaming again. By the time its done the air temperature is up in the mid 30s so we all cool off in the sea.

The turtle jobs completed, the afternoon is usually spent either teaching English at the local temples or operating as educational tour guides for visiting tourists or indeed locals. Oliver and Ethan having learnt so much over the last few days now actively participate in the tours imparting all sorts of facts and figures that we have collated about turtles. For example: only 1 in 1000 hatchlings will survive to adulthood. They spend the first 20 years at sea until they reach sexual maturity before using the earth's magnetic field and the magnetic signature of the coastline to return to the same beach they were released or hatched on 20 years earlier to lay between 100 and 200 eggs 3 times in one season and then returning every 2 to 3 years to do the same until they are around 60 years old. They live, depending on the species from between 50 to 100 years old. After 40 years the Green turtle becomes a vegetarian and so on.

The most magical part of the day is releasing the baby turtles into the wild. After only a week at the sanctuary they are ready for release and we take the youngsters and head off down to the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. As the sun sets and the sky is glowing a beautiful orange colour we place the baby turtles on the sand about 20ft from the waves and watch in delight as they crawl towards their destiny. We wish each one the best of luck as they are swept away with the waves. Hopefully our grandchildren will come back here and bury the eggs from one of the turtles we released in 20 years time.