After years of feasting on turtles and their eggs as delicacies, the residents of Sand Creek, South Central Rupununi have taken up new traditions. On September 11, through the South Rupununi Conservation Society (SRCS), residents hosted their first turtle festival and released more than 200 yellow-spotted river turtles into the wild after caring for them.
April is said to be the time turtles hatch along the beaches annually. However, due to an unseasonal early rainy season across Guyana, the Rupununi River began to rapidly rise and as a result, the beaches where the turtles nest were inundated. By then, the turtles had already nested along eight beaches. The rangers, who are also villagers from Sand Creek, acted on instinct to save the turtles and worked tirelessly day and night to rescue all the eggs from the nests. Overall, the rangers rescued more than 400 eggs, which they took back with them to the village and cared for.