Sea turtles nesting where would you recommend?

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davholla

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I would like to photograph these one day ideally in Latin America or Europe. Can anyone suggest a place and time of year?
 
North west Costa Rica - not late February, apparently we just missed it. Costa Rica is well set up for tourism though, especially nature type tourism.
 
North of Tamarindo - we didn't bother going to the reserve, because we had missed the turtles, so we spent more time surfing.
 
Kosi bay South Africa.... October till late January, inexpensive also plenty other wildlife close by. Including Elephant.
I am there from. 20th December till 3rd Jan 2025. Uncrouded and you can do it on your own.
 
Bushlore said:
Kosi bay South Africa.... October till late January, inexpensive also plenty other wildlife close by. Including Elephant.
I am there from. 20th December till 3rd Jan 2025. Uncrouded and you can do it on your own.
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Thank you - that is interesting. Although how safe it is?
 
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Craikeybaby said:
North of Tamarindo - we didn't bother going to the reserve, because we had missed the turtles, so we spent more time surfing.
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Lew I kinda should take you down for this.as costa is such a want for me and has so much to offer and you went surfing dude REALLY? :runaway: :LOL: I'd love to surf buddy did canoes but it ain't a board, so I'm not going to take you down just admire:cool:

But 'cause I'm me and the subject is herps I'm going to throw a left field costrican place into the mix CRARC Heroes of mine reside in CRARC......... no that is not some misplaced spelling of a drug from S America it's the Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center

https://cramphibian.com/

Ok I've posted this in part o have a bit of fun with someone I'd call friend.but the bigger picture is you guys that are actually fortunate enough to go there just might not know about these guys and the work they do.............Amphibians are known well as barometer species.their global collapse has been a fore runner of what's coming for decades now.

So despite my jesting, soz Lew, I think this place might just fly under the radar and you lucky guys might just want to visit ?


davholla said:
Thank you - that is interesting. Although how safe it is?
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Safer than a scot mountain in a white out with L timidus? Sorry Davey I was on a roll and couldn't resist:D
 
CRARC looks awesome. We toured around, spending time in the cloud forests, but also the Nicogya Peninsula - my wife had already been to the east coast. The surfing was pretty special, it is the only time I have been in the line up and seen the glistening of a shoal of fish on the waves behind me. Then one day, we were just relaxing on the beach and saw whales breaching not too far out to sea. It was a pretty special trip.

I only had a 200mm lens, as we were travelling pretty light, but there was wildlife everywhere, monkeys in the gardens, birds in cafes, and at one place we had a gecko living in our outdoor bathroom.


Visitor at breakfast eyeing my huevos rancheros by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
 
davholla said:
Thank you - that is interesting. Although how safe it is?
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The area is reasonably safe, I would say as safe as any similar place anywhere in the world. It is a very "touristy" area with many of the locals making there income from tourism. I am going there in December and staying in a camp on the beach that is setup for the locals but managed by a private orginisation. I will report back.......with pictures.

In saying all this, there are many incidents in SA involving tourists....... Which get reported in the foreign press without the full facts. For instance, in many of these cases the tourist has been warned not to go to a specific area alone but in there nieve wisdom they ignore the advice and the inevitable happens.

Recently there have been major issues reported in the media about the UK, specifically London..... With logical assumption you would think London is burning, but you who lives there automatically avoid the hot and bothered areas. I work out of Johannesburg, Johannesburg is a violent murderous enviroment but I have only once experienced an issue and that was caused by a bunch of unruly students.

Listen to the locals, The parks and nature reserves are way more dangerous, but only if you ignore the rules. Tourists (and locals) are killed every year in our parks, 99% of them through pure stupidity.

Walking upto lions resting under a tree looking all cuddly
Going for a walk outside of a rest camp then getting stomped on.
Retrieving golf balls from water traps on a golf course then getting eaten by a crocodile.
Picking up small cute looking snakes then getting bitten.
Swimming in the sea at undesignated places, never to be seen again.

The above happens every year.
 
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This might be useful for anyone who is thinking of visiting Costa Rica and is flexible
mytanfeet.com

Ostional Wildlife Refuge: See the Biggest Gathering of Turtles in Costa Rica

2018 updated visitor's guide to Ostional Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica, a refuge created to protect sea turtles. Info on transportation, tours & more
mytanfeet.com mytanfeet.com

"They come to shore to lay their eggs usually right before a new moon when it is the darkest. Sometimes there are SO many turtles, they have to crawl on top of each other and there’s no room to walk!"
Here are the dates :-
www.fullmoonology.com

New and Full Moons in 2025: Dates, Names, & Signs of the Moons * Fullmoonology

New and Full Moons in 2025: Look back at the dates of the new moons and full moons, eclipses, and astrological signs of the moons.
www.fullmoonology.com www.fullmoonology.com
 
I can't help with an answer to the OPs question, but am just really impressed that someone poses what to me is a pretty niche request, and this forum has members who can answer it!

So, this weeks Lottery numbers are?
 
I asked about photographing laying mothers and emerging babies a few years ago, having seen some nest markers while on holiday. I was (nicely) asked not to disturb any part of the process.
 
Nod said:
I asked about photographing laying mothers and emerging babies a few years ago, having seen some nest markers while on holiday. I was (nicely) asked not to disturb any part of the process.
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Nod there is a biggy in your post...which genuinely haunts me...... how does one know what disturbance is?....

I largely make images of species that if I impinge on 'em they run off.so I have a clear line , but that said at the same time i interact with 'em and they don't run off..........

.they can but they don't. quite often they know I'm there and they come closer

that's the bit that wakes me up in the night Nod

how does one learn the next species?

As a child I'd go see my beloved tenny tiny native ablatross ( fulmar) I'd sit with 'em at their nests, NOT too close they just went about what they do feed chix incubated eggs no argie bargy today my yearning to go back is tempered, is what I've always dome wrong? I closed gaps as a tiny fing over years Nod but today????

That extrapolates in to my hares me deer and your turtles ha ha and the rural fox in me avatar.

There is a happy place in all this mate tog an beastie as one. (ok take the tog out human an beastie as one)

It isn't a massive lens and distance there is something other.....................there is this huge learning curve that one can't just pop into words for another. to get to that "place"

I think.feel that's what you were told nicely is........................,it's not that there isn't a way in...it's just that if one doesn't go slow an let's face it no tourist can go slow.too time constrained.then ya can't play by their rules.

That......... their rules..........is the base of photographing nature.

Rules aren't made by man but by our subjects, it doesn't mean we can't be part of their world , or we can't get close, without bothering 'em

it means a hell of a lot of time,to meld man and beastie into one


As an aside a species isn't a one ticket set of rules, they are individuals just like we are, sure there are base parameters but spend enough time wiith 'em and the individual level s of tollerence towards us become ever more apparent.if I could do that on holiday I guess I just got Johns lotto numbers

Oh to have 3 lives to learn how to make images of beasties !!

If you watch all the amazing nature vids Sir David is part of et al lads/lasses and really look in those last few moments where they show us how the team found the footage...........there is always a guy or gal that is all but living with the subjects.. That person might not be makiing the images but that persons ' nouce is why the footage occurs

that right there is your in ............................that's why we can see turtles laying eggs in graphic detail on TV and their little uns but maybe can't make those images our selves. Few of us really have time to LIVE our subjects and hence are unable to detect disturbance in a way that probably all of us would like to :)
 
Even just being there is an unnatural disturbance to the processes (laying and hatching), adding stress to the creatures. Throw in some lighting (torch or flash) and it's magnified. I've settled on watching similar events on the haunted fish tank rather than IRL!
 
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