{"id":188,"date":"2023-01-15T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-15T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mysabah.com\/wordpress\/?p=188"},"modified":"2023-10-19T09:50:53","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T01:50:53","slug":"selingan-turtle-islands-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mysabah.com\/wordpress\/selingan-turtle-islands-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Turtle Islands Park, the Best Turtle Sanctuary of Borneo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

About 110 million years ago, when dinosaurs were ruling the Earth, a marine creature has existed in the ocean. They survived the predation of Megalodon (a 20-metre-long, the biggest extinct shark) and live until today. It’s the sea turtle, some species can live more than 100 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Three<\/a>
You can see three stages of turtle life on Selingan Island<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

However, without any protection, human can wipe out this ancient animal in 20 years. Luckily, sea turtles are fully protected in Sabah, as well as their main nesting grounds in Sulu Sea, the Turtle Islands Park, which is about 40 kilometers to the north of Sandakan of Sabah (Malaysia).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two<\/a>
Two sea turtle species of Sabah. Left: Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas<\/em>). Right: Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata<\/em>). Can you spot their differences? (Photo Credit: Green turtle by Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble<\/a>, Hawksbill Turtle by Tchami<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Turtle Islands Park comprises the islands of Selingan (8.1ha), Gulisaan (1.6ha) and Bakkungaan Kecil (8.5ha), covering a protected area of some 1,740 hectares, of which 18.2 hectares are on land while 1,721.8 hectares at sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Beach<\/a>
Beach of Selingan Island protected by reef balls (to stop beach erosion)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Only Selingan Island, which provides accommodation and basic facilities, is open to tourists<\/strong>, who will witness three stages of a turtle life by looking at the hatchery for the eggs, releasing of hatchlings and nesting of mother turtles in close distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Protect Sea Turtles?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Turtles don’t beat up villains like what Ninja Turtles do, but they are unsung heroes of maintaining a healthy coral reef ecosystem and food chain balance in the ocean. For example, a Leatherback Sea Turtle can consume 200 kg of jellyfish a day. Green turtles graze on seagrass to stop the overgrown sea meadows that obstruct the sunlight to seabed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sea<\/a>
Sea turtles have existed on earth for over 100 million years. But human can wipe them out in one or two generations. Then our children only can see this ancient animal in an aquarium.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sea Turtles are also the important assets of tourism in Sabah. Diving with gentle sea turtles is one of the most exciting experience, and scuba divers can see more than 10 turtles whenever they dive at Sipadan Island<\/a>, the top dive sites of Malaysia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Scuba<\/a>
Sea turtles are also important for tourism because tourists love to see them, especially scuba divers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, all seven species of sea turtles are on the endangered list (IUCN Red List). Four of the seven extant species of marine turtles occur in Malaysia (leatherback, green turtle, hawksbill and olive ridley). Selingan Island is a safe haven for the endangered green turtle (Chelonia mydas<\/em>) and hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata<\/em>).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Painful Lesson<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the 1950s, about 10,000 leatherback turtle nesting were recorded annually in Terengganu state. Nevertheless, in 1980s, I had been hearing bad things such as people turned the turtles over, sat on them to take pictures and even took their eggs. The mother turtles couldn’t lay their eggs in peace, the consequence is no more landing of leatherbacks there after 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nesting<\/a>
Nesting trends of sea turtles in Sabah and Terengganu. Left: Leatherback turtles in Terengganu. Right: Green and Hawksbill Turtles in Turtle Islands Park of Sabah. Without conservation, leatherback turtle is extinct in Peninsular Malaysia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Terengganu government tried to curb the collection of turtle eggs in 2005 but it’s too late too little. Though leatherback is sighted occasionally after 2015, there is no hope to recover the past glory as one of the world\u2019s largest nesting grounds of leatherback turtles. WWF Malaysia states that the leatherback turtle population in Malaysia has plummeted by more than 99 percent since the 1960s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sea<\/a>
Four species of sea turtles found in Malaysia are Leatherback turtle, Green turtle, Hawksbill turtle and Olive ridley turtle. They are all endangered species. In Sabah, they are fully protected by laws (Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997). Offender could face a fine of up to RM250,000 or imprisonment of up to five years, or both.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, it’s significant that Sabah gazetted Turtle Island Parks as a turtle sanctuary on 1 Oct 1977, which stops the declining trend of green and hawksbill turtles population in Sabah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit Selingan Island<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Selingan, the turtle island of Sabah, is the place where turtles and tourists meet. To visit Selingan Island, visitors need to contact Crystal Quest (Website<\/strong>: turtleisland.com.my<\/a>, Facebook<\/strong>: Turtleislandresortsandakan<\/a>, Phone (Whatsapp)<\/strong>: +60 11-51665923<\/a>) to book a 2-day-1-night tour, which is a full board package<\/strong> that covers land \/ sea transportation, permit, accommodation and meals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sabah<\/a>
Sabah Parks jetty in Sandakan City is the departure point to the Turtle Islands Park (Selingan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Turtle Islands Park is managed by Sabah Parks<\/a>, but they are focus on conservation and offload the tour booking and activities to Crystal Quest. The island sets a limit of maximum 50 tourists per day<\/strong>, so the tour to Selingan is always full. You better book this popular trip a few months in advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The main office and dining hall on Selingan Island<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Itinerary in Brief:<\/strong>
9:15am Register at Sabah Parks jetty
10:00am Depart to Selingan by boat
11:15am Arrive Selingan, check-in and have lunch
6:30pm Visit Exhibition Hall
7:30pm Dinner. After that wait for turtle landing and releasing of hatchlings
Day 2<\/em>
7:00am Check-out, breakfast and leave Selingan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Chalets<\/a>
Only Selingan Island has chalets for tourists<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The peak nesting months for Green turtle are from April to August, and for the Hawksbill turtle is between January to June. Overall, for Selingan the peak time is during April – August.<\/strong> Turtle landing on Selingan is almost guaranteed every day, so you don’t really need to pick a best time to visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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