Bon voyage, baby turtles: Olive Ridley hatchlings given a warm send-off near Chennai’s Elliot’s beach Premium

Witness the heartwarming journey of Olive Ridley sea turtles from hatching to the sea, a tale of hope and conservation.

Two men walk out of an enclosure on the beach off Urur Kuppam, precious cargo in hand. It is a little after dusk and a small crowd of adults and children has gathered, following their every move. The men — both from the Forest Department — walk into a clearing with bamboo baskets and tip over its contents.

A black mass of tiny, wriggly Olive Ridley babies tumbles outside.

The hatchlings instantly hobble towards the waves. They, after all, know exactly where to go. We squint our eyes in the receding light to see them disappear. As the night sky dims, a ray of hope shines through. Only weeks ago, several dead turtles washed ashore in Chennai.

The enclosure is the Forest Department’s hatchery and a few minutes before the send-off, V Arun and team from the Students Sea Turtle Conservation Network (SSTCN), a voluntary organisation that works with the Forest Department, excavates the hatchlings and talks to the crowd about the ongoing mission.

Olive Ridley sea turtles have long been swimming into the East Coast of India for nesting. For many in the city, the turtle walks between January and March is a yearly ritual. Here, they try their luck at spotting mothers who enter the beach in the dead of night to dig nests and lay eggs.

Arun is one of the earliest members of SSTCN. He explains that SSTCN volunteers walk the 14-kilometre stretch from Neelankarai to Marina beach every night from January to March to collect turtle eggs. “This is to protect the eggs and hatchlings from predators such as dogs,” he explains, adding that in an ideal situation, they ought to be left alone to hatch and enter the sea on their own.

Our coastline though, has dramatically changed over the years, and Arun acknowledges that the turtles will have a better rate of survival if their eggs are protected in this manner.