Curious terrapin turtles watching me clean their exhibit 
Volunteers cleaning and maintaining the baby Aldabra giant tortoise exhibit Washing the backs of the Green sea turtles at the Reptile Sanctuary Baby Aldabra giant tortoise taking a bite of a tasty unripe jackfruit Curious terrapin turtles watching me clean their exhibit Baby Aldabra giant tortoises hiding from the heat
Good afternoon!
Today was a very busy day. First, we rode bikes to the turtle conservation center to do some work there. We cleaned the green sea turtles’ shells, scrubbing the surface to get the algae off. It was tiring work, as the turtles would try to swim away (and some were very large), but we managed to coax them over with seaweed we had previously harvested. We cleaned the terrapin turtle, kinixys and radiated tortoise exhibits. Here, we weeded, cleaned out the leaves, changed the water, and scrubbed the pools. These turtles and tortoises are super friendly! We cleaned and watered the ground in the baby Aldabra giant tortoise exhibit, as it gets super dry and hot. We also made a temporary shade structure to let the babies get away from the heat.
After lunch, I did some horticulture work around the camp ground, in the fruit orchard/permaculture garden in particular. This area is used to grow food to feed the camp’s volunteers. I pruned banana, mango, different palms, hibiscus lemon, (some mystery plants I couldn’t identify, and neither could the locals!) and acacia. I also propagated cinnamon and some hibiscus, and ripped out passed passion fruit vines. There is a LOT of hibiscus on the property, and I will finish it later this week, as we will be bringing some to the reptile sanctuary to grow trees to add to the reptiles’ food supply. I really should have brought a pair of loppers and a hand saw, because the grounds haven’t been pruned in a while. It was quite exhausting working in the sun all day, but it was fun nonetheless.
Goodnight!
Gianna
P.S. If you missed my first post about my work as a conservation volunteer in the Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park, check that out here!