In early February 2006 Scubazoo's senior cameraman, Simon Enderby, and chief photographer, Matt Oldfield, travelled to Lae, on the eastern shores of Papua New Guinea. They had been invited to PNG to document the efforts of the Huon Coastline Leatherback Conservation Project to preserve one of the last breeding populations of the leatherback in the Pacific region.
After traveling 24 hours, the guys experienced a mix of emotions when they were met at the airport by german marine biologist Markus Ruf, accompanied by an armed guard! They then journeyed south to the village of Kamiali - the nesting beach to the north of this village is one of the last major refuges and nesting regions for the Indo-Pacific leatherback turtle. Only 10km long and sandwiched between Kamiali village and a river mouth to the north, the nesting beach sees between 70-100 female leatherbacks making landfall between October and March. Each female lays between 80-140 eggs and after her first landing, will return and nest again some 3-5 times throughout the season before returning to the open ocean. Scubazoo's goal was to film and photograph this incredibly rare event as well as the efforts made to keep the beach safe for the nesting turtles.
On the first night at Kamiali, Simon and Matt were met by the beach rangers from the village and a group of giggling girls all dressed in white t-shirts and black trousers - obviously out to impress! However it didn't take long for the girls to lose interest in two sweaty english guys, smothered in every conceivable mosquito repellant known to man! With the insects out in force, the team soon got into a routine of patrolling the beach for females hauling themselves up the beach and juvenile turtles emerging from older nests.
Just as dawn approached one of the rangers signaled that they had found a hatching nest. Weariness vanished immediately and the guys picked up cameras and ran up the beach to capture the moment, as the hatchlings broke through the sand and headed to the open sea. It took 45 minutes for all to climb out and down the beach, culminating with Simon getting some great in-water shots of the stragglers in the early morning sunshine.
By 7am, with the sun up and the last of the hatchlings safely out to sea, the guys repacked the boat and headed back to the village guest house, shattered but ecstatic. After a few hours sleep, and a coffee infused breakfast, Simon and Matt got round to interviewing the local village heads to record their views regarding the leatherback and its conservation. Captured on film and photo, the images supplied by Scubazoo will go a long way to illustrate the programmes great work, both nationally and internationally.
Several nights later, and still without any signs of nesting females, the local dance troupe gave a performance of their leatherback turtle conservation production. The troupe tours the entire Huon coastline, using a combination of song, dance and music to illustrate the story of the leatherback and to highlight its importance to the local communities, and the rest of the world - a memorable start to what turned out to be a memorable evening. The camera team left the village guest house and once again took up station on the nesting beach, patrolling the many kilometers of beach and trying in vain to evade the marauding masses of mosquitoes! However, at 2am on Valentines Day morning Simon and Matt were alerted by the one of the rangers - a female had just been spotted heading up the beach a kilometer from the camp.
Approaching cautiously, the guys waited in the shadows whilst the female hauled herself up the beach and began excavating her nest. It wasnt until she had begun to lay that they stepped forward to film and photograph the amazing event, as well as the local rangers as they carried out their data collection work. Measuring 171cm in length and with a fore flipper span of over 180cm, she may not have been the biggest leatherback alive but was still a most impressive and remarkable creature. Over the space of the next 40 minutes Simon and Matt filmed and photographed as much as possible, trying always not to unduly disturb the female. Finally the last egg was dropped and she began to cover over the nest chamber before pulling herself back to the sea. Simon took to the water to catch the moment when she glided off into the darkness but the female powerhouse had other plans and swam straight through Simon, pushing him to one side without even noticing him! A perfect way to celebrate Valentines Day.
Over the next 4 days and nights the team slept little, concentrating on documenting the local village life, translating the interviews with the village heads and returning to the beaches each night in the hope of capturing more females as they lumbered up the beach to lay their eggs. And even though fresh turtle hatchlings emerged each night no other females arrived at the beach. Simon and Matt returned to Malaysia tired but elated - a remarkable Valentines Day still fresh in their minds!
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