Campamento Tortuguero Sayulita

Campamento Tortuguero Sayulita, also known as the Sayulita Turtle Camp, is composed of a group of volunteers who work all year long and are committed to saving the sea turtles in our community. During the main season (from June to February), volunteers patrol the beach at night to protect the turtle nests until the eggs hatch and the babies are released. 

We are aware of the misconception that turtle eggs and meat are aphrodisiacs for consumption and commercialize the sea turtles, and this is why nowadays sea turtles are in serious danger of extinction.  

Besides our main goal to patrol the beaches of Sayulita, los Muertos, and Malpasos, we are also aware of the need to develop a project of environmental education for the locals. We need to especially focus on our new generations in order to reverse the habits that have injured the sea turtles and our environment. We need to teach them that over time, if we continue harmful behaviors, we are losing the opportunity to have a better quality of life, and we will deteriorate our planet and the creatures that inhabit it.

It is clear that we all need an awareness to improve the situation in which we live in our village, where respect for nature has been ignored. In our project, we want children to grow and develop under the influence of an educational process, in which they receive education and integrate into the society in which they live. In this sense, we must educate children to respect their place in nature, and help them understand that they are part of the ecological system and as such have duties to perform.

Therefore it is essential to have the necessary materials for both patrol and environmental education activities in schools of our community and achieve a shift towards a culture that protects the environment.

List of required materials:

Required for patrols:
• Gasoline (for the ATV)
• Rechargeable flashlights/lanterns 15 Sanelec
• 15 measuring tapes
• 5 backpacks
• 2 boxes of gloves (to clean the nests)
• 5 boxes of garbage bags
• 100 meters of rope
• 1 liter of white paint (wood)
• 1 liter of lime green paint (wood)
• 2 boxes of black pens
• 2 boxes of thick oil markers "sharpie"
• 9 wooden boards 3m long x 30 cm wide
• 1 kilo of nails 2 inches

Materials for Environmental Education
• Slide projector (for laptop)
• Laptop
• Paper: 4 packs of 500 white sheets
• Paper: 4 packs of 500 color sheets
• 5 packages of pens
• 5 packs of pencils
• 10 boxes of crayons
• 10 boxes of crayons
• 20 school scissors
• 20 adhesives bars
• 5 boxes of permanent markers (different colors)
• 5 boxes of permanent markers (black)
• 10 cold silicone bars
• 1 Silicone gun
• 24 silicone bars

If you would like to make a cash donation towards the purchase of these items or would like to donate some of these items to Campamento Tortuguero Sayulita, you can do so on Fridays at the Sayulita Mercado del Pueblo. If you have any questions or would like more information, contact Christina (for English) at christinapalle@gmail.com or Alejandra (for Spanish) at alejandraa2011@live.com. 

Everybody is welcome to participate in the sea turtle releases that we have every sunset from August to January!