Kenya provides important breeding grounds for endangered and critically endangered sea turtles that roam throughout the Indian Ocean.

Every year on Watamu beach sea turtles haul themselves ashore, as they have for millennia past, to lay eggs. Despite legal protection, this ancient ritual has been under great threat as turtle eggs are collected for local consumption or sale. Without this precious recruitment into declining populations sea turtles are facing extinction.

In recent years egg poaching has been 100% on most Kenyan beaches. As a result of these activities only a small population of sea turtles return each year to Watamu. With only 1 in a 1000 eggs reaching adulthood (each nest usually contains around 100 eggs) the Watamu nesters are living on borrowed time.

Since 1997 WTW's Turtle Nest Protection Programme has encouraged local people to protect, rather than poach, turtle nests.

The beach is patrolled daily by local fishermen who look for the tracks the turtles make in the sand and notify us when a turtle has laid a nest. They then guard the nest for the duration of the nest's incubation and once the nest has hatched we pay the fishermen a compensatory payment for their trouble.

WTW monitor the nest regularly from time of laying, and are present at the hatching. We excavate each nest after it finishes hatching; to see how many eggs were laid, and how many of them hatched successfully (see photo left).

The continued success of this programme is dependent on funds raised through the Turtle Nest Adoption Scheme.

For just $25 or £15 you can ensure the protection of a Watamu sea turtle nest by becoming an 'adopter'.

In return for your kind donation we will provide you with a certificate of adoption providing information on the turtle that laid your nest, the number of eggs in your nest, and the number that hatched successfully. Also included in our adoption package is the choice of a sea turtle keyring, bookmark, or pendent. These items are unique and have been locally hand-crafted using traditional leatherwork skills and Kenyan beads.

We also include an A3 size poster, which provides pictures of, and details about, all the species of sea turtles found on the Kenyan coast; so that you can compare these with the details on your adoption certificate.