09/09/2026
🐢💙 It's still hatching season on Zakynthos!
If you're lucky enough to see baby Caretta Caretta turtles early in the morning, you're witnessing one of nature's greatest miracles.
Here's how YOU can help:
🐢 Keep your distance and let them find the sea on their own.
✋ Never pick them up or place them directly into the water. Their crawl across the beach is essential. During these first few metres they strengthen the muscles in their flippers, giving them the power they need to swim. If they are placed straight into the sea, they miss this crucial stage and may not have the strength to survive.
👣 Avoid walking over marked nests and always keep their path to the sea clear.
🏖️ Please flatten your sandcastles before leaving the beach. For a tiny hatchling, your masterpiece can be as challenging as climbing the Himalayas.
⛱️ Before leaving the beach, fill in the holes made by umbrellas. What looks like a small hole to us can become a trap that a hatchling simply cannot climb out of.
🗑️ Take all your litter with you. Even something as simple as a plastic cup, bottle or bag can become a deadly obstacle or trap for these tiny travellers.
☀️ If the sand is already becoming very hot, you can carefully provide some shade with a towel without touching the hatchlings, or gently remove a little of the hottest sand from their path.
🐕 Keep dogs and curious children at a respectful distance.
💙 Only 1 in every 1,000 hatchlings will survive to adulthood. Those that do may return to Zakynthos 20–25 years later, guided by the Earth's magnetic field, to lay the next generation of eggs on the very beach where their own journey began.
At Nefis Travel, we are proud to have worked alongside ARCHELON ,the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece for almost 20 years, helping to educate thousands of visitors about the Caretta Caretta and how, together, we can protect one of the Mediterranean's most remarkable endangered species.
Every small act of kindness can make a lifetime of difference. 🐢💙🌊
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Video credit ΑΡΧΕΛΩΝ-Archelon, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece
