Volunteer Research Project with Sea Turtles in Malaysia

Lang Tengah Turtle Watch is an incredible turtle conservation organisation, where you get to be involved in exciting and effective conservation projects that have helped the recovery of species across the east coast of Malaysia for the last 10 years. The work is fun, the people are lovely, the food is great and it allows you to experience true island life. It is also the cheapest turtle conservation volunteering opportunity I have seen that allows you to actually get involved in the work. As a marine conservationist and researcher for my full time job, I feel as though the voluntary work that is undertaken here really makes a difference and all the appropriate practices are undertaken. In your free time, you also get to explore the island by hiking and snorkelling. You are also only a boat ride away from some other beautiful islands if you want to include this volunteering as part of a wider trip. It has been the best week and I can't thank the Lang Tengah Turtle Watch team enough!!!

We had the pleasure of staying on the beautiful island of Lang tenga for two weeks... where do I begin? WOW the island is breath taking some of the most beautiful untouched beaches in the world with hardly any tourists.

Camp life
LTTW camp life is very rustic but is all part of the charm and should never change !! The volunteers are given daily chores for example cooking or washing up raking the leaves out of camp or putting solar panels out to charge the lights for the evening. (Hardly chores but necessities for camp life). The sleeping arrangement is a little hut with camp beds and mozzie nets. I personally found the sleeping arrangements quite difficult as I have the biggest fear of spiders/bugs and once it’s dark I couldn’t see anything so we decided to sleep in D,coconuts just for peace of mind.

The turtle program
Wow WOW WOW!!
After an educational introduction into turtles on the first day we were told what was expected and how we will be helping to hopefully increase the population of turtles. Shocking to hear that only 1 in 1000 hatchlings only make it and due to humans and the ever growing environmental issues (pollution etc) this has now risen to 1 in 10,000!! This program has never been so important !!
Evening patrols were split between the group to search for mother turtles laying eggs. We were so lucky to witness lots of mothers coming up on multiple beaches to lay eggs. Our job was then to make sure the eggs were in a safe place so hatchlings have the best chance of survival and away from tourists etc.
The hatchlings.... we were so lucky to see two mass emerges of 122 and 72 hatchlings going in to the sea to start their journey in life!! It’s absolutely breath taking to see the little guys running into the sea!!

Free time
Around the island there are lots to do ... if you can dive the program has a brilliant relationship with summerbay who is a resort on the other side of the island and often go out diving every other day. You can also eat her and they sell the best pineapple rice and cheesecake!!
You can always go snorkelling!! There are so many fish to see and as soon as we arrived we got word of a baby whale shark close so we went straight out to find her !! There is also a coral program running with the turtle watch which I believe is equally as important after we heard a talk about coral and the eco systems that live with in a coral reef and it was so educational.
We were not really into snorkelling but we were very happy to chill in the sun and swim in the sea and never made to do anything we didn’t want too. There is also an epic cliff jump followed by a brill snorkelling point on the other side of the island!!

The staff
Camp leader Lou- what a brilliant leader... she was so welcoming and 100% team player making sure we made the most out of our two weeks. Always putting us first in regards to witnessing turtle experiences. Her knowledge on the ocean and animals in it is amazing!!

Jillian- you little charmer!! You had a brilliant way with the tourists that came to
Visit the camp and always provided laughs around the camp dinner table with your eye rolling and food groans when we cooked something tasty!!

Gil- my fellow pirate, thank you for calm free spirit always spotting the turtles coming out of the sea and your knowledge on the coral.

Alex- our NYC soul sister thank you for the endless giggles, drinks, 90s bands chats, also still can’t believe you slept with that big spider in your bed!! Your Knowledge on the reef was remarkable!! You and gill keep up the good work 🙌🏽.

Finally I would like to the thank LTTW for the once in a lifetime experiences which I will never forget !! I would 100% recommend this program to anyone there are so much more I could write about but the above is just an insight.

Thank you LTTW keep up the amazing work!!

I spent 2 weeks volunteering with Lang Tengah Turtle Watch and they were some of the most amazing 2 weeks ever. We helped collect data on Green Sea Turtles, as well as other marine wildlife such as Black tip Reef Sharks and it was so special to get that close and personal with them. We also helped to clean up the reef around the island and educate tourists who visited Turtle Bay. Snorkeling/scuba diving in those waters was just insane and the jungle treks were intense but well worth it. I learnt so much about marine ecosystems and it was so lovely to be surrounded by like minded people who became like a little family to me. The island of Lang Tengah is somewhere I really hope to visit again - I honestly don't think I've ever been to anywhere more beautiful.

LTTW is a fantastic organistion on the east coast of Malaysia doing some incredible work to help conserve the green and hawksbill turtle populations found there. They have several projects on the go, and I was based on Lang Tengah Island for 1 month with a group of fantastic humans.

If you like learning things and doing things, this is definitley a project to join. The main focus is on night patrols along nesting beaches to find nesting sea turtle mothers and monitoring the nests while the eggs are incubating. But there is so much more to do. During my time on the island we conducted regular shark surveys, constructed and cleaned coral nurseries, educated visitors and tourists, went on diving fish surveys, snorkeled everyday, went on jungle treks, built a recycling centre, performed reef clean-up dives, removed illegal fish traps from the ocean...

The camp itself is relatively basic, with no running water or electricity, but a fantastic view and living on the beach are definitely better than either of those things. Come along with a sense of adventure and be ready to learn about everything ocean and turtle. You won't regret it.

Super fun, interactive and educational experience for all ages. I've learnt alot about conservation and all things related from the very knowledgeable crew here at Lang Tengah. The whole set up is very well set up to be eco friendly, with clear policies which put nature and the turtles first. The research projects are meaningful and extremely necessary. The island is beautiful, and the tasks are assigned well with good structure and team work. There is a variety of extra tasks available for those who want to do more for the cause, but the standard list of activities including beach cleans, nest research, patrolling at night under the beautiful stars with likeminded people. Everyone chips in to cook, and we made some surprisingly amazing meals.

LTTW was my first ever experience as a volunteer in a conservation program and it did not disappoint. It was a great learning experience and I would 10/10 recommend it to anyone. That being said, I believe half of the experience depends on the people you meet throughout your time there. Fortunately for me I was blessed to have 2 camp managers, 2 interns, and 7 other volunteers who were a perfect blend of sporting, capable, responsible and fun. I hope that whoever decides to partake in this program has just as much luck when it comes to meeting people as I did.

Side note: While it is not a must, it makes for a better experience if you are a strong/capable swimmer and are reasonably fit. Seeing as to how you will have to do a little trekking every night and you are on a small island surrounded by crystal clear water.

Finally,
What I expected from the program:
1. Learn about turtles and the conservation efforts involving turtles

What I got out of it:
1. Learned about turtles and the conservation efforts involving turtles
2. Experienced being vegetarian for 2 weeks straight
3. Learned to cook
4. Make DIY stuff
5. Saw shooting stars
6. Swam with sharks
7. Night snorkeling
8. Learned about other turtle conservation efforts across the globe
9. Learned about sharks, crown of thorns, corals, etc
10. Dove to clean coral nurseries
Trust me, the list goes on.........

Everyones experience will be different. So go for it and have fun!

I came to this project in 2018 looking for more experience as a young conservationist. In my first few days on the island I fell in love with this project.

Based on turtle bay, Lang Tengah Island we spent our time in the jungle camp. With all the basic things we need it gives a real sense of simplicity.

Everyday was different with the perfect mix education and fun. We learnt about so many aspects of marine conservation. Of course focused on turtles but also learning about corals, sharks, marine pollution and a large variety of other environmental concerns.

You spend the evenings patrolling the beaches for turtles and you will never forget the first time you see a nesting mother.

As well as all the conservation work there is plenty of time for lots of fun on this island paradise.

So I have been to 3 turtle sanctuaries prior to LTTW which were Perhentian Turtle Project (Perhentian Island), Juara Turtle Project (Tioman Island) and SEATRU (Redang Island). I have to say this was the most rustic turtle sanctuary I have been to. What you see on the website is what you get, (well there have been upgrades as well), and I loved every bit of it, truly back to nature!! However, do note that there are loads of mosquitoes. ;)

The conservation efforts were rather similar to one another, however at LTTW you get to learn not only about the protection of turtles and other sea creatures in general, but also about black tip reef sharks and the different types of fishes and reptiles around the island as well. It was very educational, the perfect edutainment! ;)

I loved the fact that you could snorkel at different parts of the island and do a fair bit of hiking. Even at turtle bay itself, you could see an abundance of fish, black tip reef sharks, blue spotted stingray and I got to witness octopuses mating as well. Amazing!

Not forgetting, the staff has been a delight from the start: Bill patiently answering every single inquiry I had prior to my arrival, and KL, the awesome camp manager who makes sure we have as much fun on camp in our attempt to conserve wildlife & nature. Kudos to the team! It is definitely one for the books. This will certainly not be my last trip! Keep up the good work LTTW team! Missing you guys already. <3