A Mother's Journey: Green Sea Turtles Return to Ras al Jinz
Creatrip Team
a month ago
At Ras al Jinz, Oman’s famous nesting beach, endangered green sea turtles (Green Sea Turtle) travel thousands of kilometers to return to the very sand where they were born and lay eggs each year. Nightly, small guided “turtle watching” tours are strictly controlled—visitors must remain silent and avoid using phone lights; guides use red infrared lamps (infrared light) that turtles cannot detect so nesting is not disturbed. Mothers dig deep nests, cover eggs with sand, then laboriously return to the sea, leaving incubation to the warmth of the sand. Hatchlings emerge about a month later and instinctively race to the ocean, but only about 1% of hatchlings survive to return as adults—many fall prey to predators or human threats like marine debris. Climate change is also skewing sex ratios: nest temperature determines sex (below ~29°C males, above ~29°C females), so rising sand temperatures are producing disproportionate numbers of females. The scene at Ras al Jinz is a poignant reminder of nature’s struggle and the need to protect these turtles and their habitat.
