The sea turtles of Ras al-Jinz

Up to 100,000 sea turtles come ashore on the coasts of Oman every year to lay their eggs. They otherwise spend their entire long life swimming in the sea. Their natural life expectancy is 100 years on average. However, they only reach sexual maturity at the age of 30 to 50 years. Adult animals of the largest species found in Oman have a length of over one metre.

The pollution of the oceans hits these animals particularly hard due to this slow change of generations and poses an existential threat to their populations. In order to prevent the animals from being disturbed by inappropriate behaviour on the part of tourists when laying their eggs, the entire coastal area of Ras al-Djinz has been placed under the control of the nature conservation authority.

The slightest change in the silhouette of the coastline by a standing person or even a small glimmer of light is enough to arouse the suspicion of the females ready to spawn. They then refrain from laying eggs and immediately turn away in the water.