I just got back from Terenganu just yesterday, it has been an eye opening and fun filled trip all round. Nice people, Nice food... and of course Turtles.... I better start from the begining... we all started out trip from kajang at round 10am after having b'fast of "hong kong chee cheong fun"best in Kajang... i think whole Kl then we started our drive to Terenganu.

At bout 2 pm we reached Cherating we had our lunch there here are some mouth watering pic...

After lunch then it was too the turtle sanctuary... after another hour or so driving we reached the Ma' Daerah turtle sanctuary...

It was then another 5 mins drive inland over some fairly rough terrain to reach the centre. we were greeted by a friendy group of people awaititng our arrival.

we had a short briefing and then we had a few hours or so to mull around the sanctuary. its main complex was a long house nestled beteween fir trees. we all check in to our hostel rooms and took a short break.

its a beautiful place cos it is a protected area all the forest is still primary forest and many wild life could bee seen from hornbills to marmosets ( a type of monkey )

we then at night had a video presentation after dinner and began the wait for the turtles. we were lucky as not long after the video presentation. we also learnt that all the turtles that were laying eggs here was the green turtle or penyu agar as the locals called it. we had our first turtle sighting. we also got to collect its eggs and place them in the hatchery...here are some pics...

we also saw a batch of baby turtles that just hatched...

we retired at around 2 am after letting the babies go and watching 2 turtles. it was very gratifying at the same time sad when we let these little buddies go as the survival ratio for these little fellas are about 1 in 1000-5000 released. "so when the buying stops the killing stops too".

we woke up the nex day around 10.30 and decided to go to the neighbouring Kemaman to do some exploration and have some b'fast. so after a short 15 mins drive we reached the town of Kemaman and decided to have breakfast at the legendary Hai Peng Kopitiam... these guys are the best in the business maybe its more comercialised now but the crowds still flock to this place. it arguably has the best kopi ais anywhere in malaysia. they serve an assorment of kuih and all sorts of local delicacies (try their tuna sanwich its marvelous) here are some pics of the food...

after that wonderful b'fast we walked round Kemaman town.. a nice quaint town but quite busy... full of old and new shops side by side... after sighseeing and camwhoring, it was time for lunch. we then proceed to have lunch at a sea food restraunt which was famous for its stuffed crab. we had a light lunc as we were stil full from b'fast.... more mouthwatering pics....


after the good food we all then went back to the sanctuary buying some durian back for the people there. after afternoon tea, we proceeded to the beach to dig and analyze the turtle incubation chamber by digging them out. we dug aroung another 20 hatchlings and also analyzed the ones that did not hatch... some of the eggs were not fertilized and some were eaten by preadetors. but they said a healythy 80% of the nest will hatch... have a look...



we then let them go... wonderful feeling....

after diggin in the sand bout one and a half hours we then went back to clean up take our rest and then have dinner... we had a game of cards with our new friends and waited for any night landings... we were very lucky and within a few hours we had another landing...

we were told that its was already digging the chanber so we all rushed grabbed our torchlighs and headed out and we were so luck to see this mama turtle in the act of laying eggs... priceless..
Here are the pics...


well after that no more turtles surface that night... it was very priceless my encounter with this ancient mariner. we all knocked off earlier in order to get some rest. we all woek up about 9 am the next day. we the washed up and proceeded to pack out things.... i will miss these turtles they have given me so many new and wonderful experiences. i just wish that my children may have the channce i had. i will surely go there in a heart beat... "yo lan nex time ure the first person to i call bro" we all left this pristine paradise with a heavy heart but all vowed to comeback in the near future... COWABUNGA... he he he had to do that... Ohh yah we had some lemang on the way back... :P thanks for reading such a long post ohh yah for those interested u can get in touch with the turtle sanctuary at their website www.madaerah-turtle-sanctuary.org