Endangered Yakushima Turtles

Endangered Yakushima Turtles, originally uploaded by setyr.

Yakushima is also known for breathing ground of its black turtles. The guide book tells us that we can watch the hatching of baby turtles at night between April - August. I was excited to see this phenomenom, but unfortunately, according to the Yakushima Turtle Conservatory Office, because we cannot easily predict when Mom Turtle's eggs will hatch, and due to the very sensitive process that henceforth happens for each of these little ones, the office, which consists of volunteers who take close guard of protected turtle hatching grounds to ensure that these turtles are brought back safely to the ocean. So, the friendly staff showed us around the 'turtle museum' and let us play with newly hatched turtles swimming their way in a basin. The staff also told us that we could come back later in the night, around 8pm, if we want to be part of the releasing activities for these turtles back to the sea.

T & I initially planned to go come back the same night but the bad weather prevented us.