Several years ago, the waters of Mnemba Island were the home of dozens of Green & Hawksbill turtles, yet, nowadays only a few remains. Sea turtles have an essential role in the marine ecosystem. They maintain marine habitats healthy and balanced the food web by controlling the abundance of other species. Despite being illegal in Zanzibar, local communities are still killing them for their meat and eggs.

At the beginning of 2020, the local NGO  Under The Wave and Hotel Melia at Zanzibar started working together on the creation of a sea turtle hatchery. Turtle nests will be located, collected and transferred to a safe, day and night guarded, hatchery.

For us it’s important that the local community will be involved with this project. That’s why we aim that through training, education and employment the local community will understand and help with the preserving of the turtles and start awareness about the importance of preserving the marine ecosystems for the future. The goal is that we will also open a turtle hatchery close to the village and that the community will manage the turtle hatchery. This will be only possible if we start education programs at the same time.