Leatherback Turtles at Pongara National Park- Pointe Denis, Gabon- January 23-25

I had an opportunity to travel to the beach last weekend. I went with four co-workers from the Schweitzer Hospital with the intention of doing some sightseeing along the coast. We arrived in Libreville Friday afternoon and took a short boat ride to Pointe Denis, approximately 3 miles off the coast of Libreville. Pointe Denis is part of Pongara National Park and the location of a sea turtle research station (Centre d’Information sur les Tourtues Marines de Pongara) and the nesting ground for approximately 5 different sea turtle species.
After arriving Saturday morning and hiking a short distance to the turtle research station we relaxed and enjoyed a day at the beach. It was great to have a break from the hospital and to enjoy the cool breeze. We set up our tents along the shore and after eating dinner set out with a team of park rangers.
We left the turtle station at approximately 10pm and hiked about 30 minutes up the beach where we found encountered the first turtle of the night. It was a female leatherback (Luthe) turtle making her way back to the water after having just laid her eggs. I was completely astonished by the size of the turtle. It was enormous. I was also surprised with how fast it made it to the waters edge. The park rangers were very informative and were open to answering all of our questions.
Leatherback turtles are the largest sea turtles alive. They have a leathery shell instead of a bony exoskeleton like other sea turtles. They return approximately every two years to lay eggs (roughly 100) on the same beach in which they were born. They travel throughout the deep waters of the Atlantic for most of their life. They live almost solely off of a jellyfish diet and we were told that they may actually be responsible for controlling the world’s jellyfish population.
We continued hiking up the coast for another 3-4 hours into the early morning hours. We encountered 2 more females both of whom were in the process of laying their eggs. We used red lights, which apparently do not disturb the turtles and were actually able to go up one by one and touch the turtles as they were laying their eggs. It really was a fascinating experience. One of the females had a fishing net caught on her shell. Usually people are discouraged from using flash photography as it can easily disorient the turtles (which rely upon the horizon to orient themselves). One of the park rangers had asked if one of us would take a photo of the turtle from behind to document the fishing net caught on the turtles shell. Fortunately I had my camera and was able to capture this amazing turtle on film. The rangers were able to free the turtle of the fishing net before she re-entered the water.
After spending Sunday on the beach we headed back to Lambarene and learned a lesson: never take a taxi ride from Libreville to Lambarene in a torrential downpour…in the night. It was a harrowing experience but we finally arrived early Monday morning safe and sound.