The North Sabah Eco-Warriors!

Sunset at the Tip of Borneo

One of the lovely things about my job is having a really great team to work with. Since we don't get together socially very often we are trying to make an effort to try and meet up every couple of months in different parts of the zone and l'm just back from a great weekend in Kudat in the North of Sabah. The weekend was conveniently organised to coincide with the Sunset Music Festival at the Tip of Borneo, a 7 year old's birthday party and also to be involved in the beach clean organised by the local "Save the Turtle Society".

The briefing

The area around Simpang Mengayau is full of stretches of beaches which have always been used by turtles for laying their eggs. Sadly over the last twenty years the numbers have dwindled due to several reasons but humans are responsible for all of them. There has continued to be dynamite fishing going on despite being illegal and this kills the coral and lessens the feeding ground for the turtles; the fishermen are using trawling nets that don't allow the turtles to escape so they end up being drowned; the huge increase of plastic in the ocean is sometimes confused as food for the turtles causing them to choke; the plastic can get caught up in their flippers and injure them; the rubbish on the beach prevents them from laying their eggs...... I could go on.

A dead adolescent green turtle

Anyway thanks to Fran who is a very passionate lady about protecting the turtles, certain things hopefully will be changing. She has been fighting for over 10 years to try and have some parts of the area to be protected as a natural park with areas designated for fishing, as she recognises the importance of that in the local economy and also the enforcement of fishing-nets that allow turtles to escape. She spends much of her time cleaning beaches and lobbying politicians about the turtles' plight and although she is very modest about her role, I do admire people who try and make a difference.

Just the start

An eco -warrior!

  Anyway, most of the North Sabah mentors were ready at 9 a.m. to start the clean up and after a briefing from Fran we set off armed with black biodegradable bags and gloves to do our bit for Pantai Bak-Bak. Despite actually looking relatively clean we collected 376 kg of rubbish - 200 of that being plastic - in about 2 hours. We not only found tyres and a gas cannister but sadly we also came across a dead green turtle on the beach. Fran didn't know the cause of death but it made us work harder and feel very guilty about the amount of plastic that we all use. Can't we just ban plastic? We humans are so short sighted about so many things aren't we? After our tiny contribution to the care of the beach we were rewarded by a lovely relaxing swim followed by a barbeque and birthday party at Brenna and Michael's. Starting to feel the effects of sun, sea, over-eating and physical activity, it was difficult not all fall asleep, but we all managed to raise ourselves and get to the Sunset Music Festival for sunset.

Fran (centre) with her stand at the Festival

Some local musicians

 It is a small , very relaxed festival with mostly local artists but it does have the most spectacular backdrop of the converging Sulu and South China Seas with a wonderful view. The music was ok but I feel that if the Festival is to continue then it must try and encourage traditional Sabahan music and less of the karaoke style that we can listen to anywhere.
  Today was a pleasant Sunday morning with a late breakfast and swim and relaxing on the beach before we all started to make a move back to our various homes. It was a lovely weekend and a big thank you to the Kudat mentors' who were such wonderful hosts.