We want that the local community understands that the endangered species need to be protected and there is much more money to make keeping them alive instead of killing them. The turtle police is a team of 12 former fishermen and egg collectors who have been retrained and cooperate with two rangers of the Kenyan Wildlife Service. They are in charge of 12 km beach from Coconut Beach Lodge up north. Every morning they are patrolling the beach in 1 km sections. If they find a turtle nest they will check with the help of the rangers and scientists if the nest is at a safe spot or if it needs to be relocated. If so, they are relocating the nests to our private beach section at the Coconut Beach Lodge: we have a 300 meter long natural and safe beach with a beautiful coconut forest. It is the perfect place for the turtle nests which are fenced and marked so no one accidently destroys them. Once they are hatching the “Tiwi Turtle Police” will be there to make sure the babies will find their way into the ocean. It is a very special occasion and we are very proud to have that happen on our own Coconut Beach regularly. The Kenyan Wildlife Service provides technical advice on turtle management and responds to reports provided by scouts on hatchling and observed illegal activities including destruction of nesting areas and disturbances to nesting turtles.
We provide an own area for the turtle police, involved volunteers and scientists at Coconut Beach Lodge.