Tourists Thwart Turtles from Nesting in Costa Rica Elisabeth Malkin and Paulina Villegas - The New York Times
go to original October 5, 2015

The effects of El Niño helped ease access to Ostional Beach in Costa Rica, drawing tourists who disrupted sea turtle nesting. (Sindicato de Trabajadores de MINAE)

The day-trippers swarmed onto the beach to watch one of nature’s most extraordinary sights, hundreds of thousands of Olive Ridley sea turtles crawling out of the ocean to lay their eggs in the sand.

The turtles did not want the company. Scared off by the thousands of tourists massed along Ostional Beach on Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast, snapping selfies and perching their children on the turtles’ backs, the ancient reptiles simply turned around and retreated into the sea.

“It was a mess,” said Yamileth Baltodano, a tour guide who was at the scene when the turtles were scared away two weeks ago.

What happened during the first weekend in September was a one-time event, when a confluence of factors allowed the utterly unexpected to take place. But it was a cautionary tale for the conservationists charged with protecting the turtles, not to mention a social media sensation. Now Costa Rican officials are scrambling to make sure it does not happen again.

Read the rest at The New York Times

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