Shoreline Andaman Turtle Conservation Package | Primordial

The pre-dawn walk to Cuthbert Bay is the first nesting watch of this andaman turtle conservation package. The beach in the hours before dawn is the window — olive ridley turtles come ashore after dark to nest and the last turtles of the night may still be on the beach in the pre-dawn hours. The forest department team is present on the beach during the nesting season — their role is nest protection and the group follows their guidance on approach, torch use and positioning. Red-filtered torches are used to minimise disturbance to any nesting turtle. No approaching a turtle that is entering the water after nesting is permitted. No sighting is guaranteed — the number of turtles coming ashore on any given night is unpredictable.

The beach before sunrise is worth the walk regardless. The drive from Rangat to Mayabunder covers approximately 70 kilometres in around 2 hours. Karmatang Beach in the afternoon is the second nesting site orientation — the long beach north of Mayabunder, the forest department presence noted and the evening programme confirmed. Overnight at Mayabunder.

The pre-dawn watch at Karmatang Beach on Day 3 of this andaman turtle conservation package follows the same pattern as Day 2 — the beach before dawn, the forest department team present, red-filtered torches, the patience of waiting in the dark on an undeveloped beach where the sound is surf and the only movement might be a turtle or might be nothing. Karmatang is a documented olive ridley nesting site and the beach character is different from Cuthbert Bay in small ways — slightly longer, the forest edge running closer to the tide line in sections, the North Andaman coast visible ahead.

The drive from Mayabunder to Diglipur covers approximately 80 kilometres in around 2 to 2.5 hours. Kalipur Beach in the afternoon is the leatherback site — a wider, more open beach north of Diglipur town where the forest department team manages a programme specifically for the leatherback nesting, which happens earlier in the season than the olive ridley peak. The evening at Kalipur is the orientation for tomorrow's pre-dawn watch. Overnight at Diglipur.

Kalipur Beach before dawn is the centrepiece of this andaman turtle conservation package — the leatherback is the most dramatic of the nesting species and the beach watch here carries a different quality from the olive ridley watches at Cuthbert Bay and Karmatang. A leatherback nesting on a beach is a large animal — the track left in the sand is wide, the nest cavity deep and the process takes longer than an olive ridley nest. The sighting odds depend on the specific night and the season — early in the nesting season between October and November the leatherback activity is typically higher. The forest department programme at Kalipur involves nest marking and protection and the team on the beach understands the patterns of individual turtles returning to the same beach across seasons.

A sighting is not guaranteed. A morning on this beach before the light comes, knowing what the beach holds and what has been happening here since before the conservation programme began, is the experience regardless of outcome. The drive south from Diglipur to Rangat covers approximately 150 kilometres in 4 to 5 hours. Overnight at Rangat.

The drive from Rangat to Port Blair on Day 5 of this andaman turtle conservation package covers approximately 170 kilometres in 5 to 6 hours including the southbound convoy through the Jarawa Tribal Reserve. The return drive after three consecutive pre-dawn beach watches and three overnight stays across the north carries a specific quality — the group has been on Cuthbert Bay, Karmatang and Kalipur, three beaches most Andaman visitors never reach, in the hours when most people are asleep.

Back in Port Blair the afternoon covers Ross Island — now Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Island — the former British administrative headquarters of the Andamans now largely forest with colonial ruins and deer moving through the cleared paths, reached by boat from Aberdeen Jetty. North Bay is available for a glass bottom boat ride over the reef. The Sagarika emporium carries Andaman craft at fixed prices. Overnight in Port Blair.

The final morning of the andaman turtle conservation package is in Port Blair. Groups with afternoon or evening departure flights have time for the Aberdeen Bazaar — the working port market near the harbour — or a final hour at Corbyn's Cove Beach before the airport run. The Bon Voyagers vehicle drops at Port Blair Airport.

The six days have covered three turtle nesting beaches across Middle and North Andaman, three pre-dawn watches with the forest department teams and the full north road circuit that connects them. The turtle's schedule did not consult the itinerary. Whether any of the three nights produced a sighting or none of them did, the beaches and the programme around which this andaman turtle conservation package is built are the same either way.