Witness the wonder of turtle beach
FOR only a few days each year, two small islands off the Sabah coast are witness to a pilgrimage - a rare sight for those lucky enough to catch it.
At night, female green turtles, laden with eggs, labour up the beaches of the Turtle islands - just as other endangered sea turtles do on only a handful of beaches around the world.
Giant leatherback turtles return to Rantau Abang, in Terengganu state in peninsula Malaysia, for the same purpose. It is only one of six beaches around the world where leatherbacks nest.
Sometimes thousands of turtles will appear in one night and once they begin laying their soft-shelled eggs, they fall into a trance.
They are now at their most vulnerable. Leatherbacks will continue laying eggs until they have finished; green turtles will lay a clutch of several hundred, hide them and then move on to another place along the beach. When finished, the mothers leave their eggs to fate.
''For many years, people would steal the eggs, either while they were being laid or afterwards,'' a tourism spokesman said. ''They would sell them, or eat them - turtle eggs are regarded as aphrodisiacs.'' The Malaysian Government is among governments which have set up sanctuaries.
''At Rantau Abang, it recognised that the leatherbacks were quite an attraction and that there was a need to follow up the cry of concern for turtles and eggs,'' he said. ''So, the Turtle Information Centre and a hatchery were set up in 1980.'' The centre is 60 kilometres from Kuala Terengganu and is open for daily visits.
Those with more than a passing interest in the leatherbacks can stay in one of 10 Malay-style chalets. Leatherbacks nest at Rantau Abang from May to September.
The Turtle islands of Selingan and Gulisan are a three-hour boat ride from Sandakan. From August to October, green turtles nest on Pulau Selingan and, from February to April, Hawksbills nest on Pulau Gulisan. Permission is needed to visit them.
