La Tortuga Feliz | Established Campground

Mexico

Details

Verified:
about 5 years ago
Altitude:
4.1 masl
Website:
None
Phone:
None
Contributor:
rebeccaeichler

Amenities

Electricity:
Yes - Not at Sites
Wifi:
Yes - Slow
Kitchen:
No
Restaurant:
Yes
Showers:
Cold
Water:
Non-Potable
Toilets:
Running Water
Big Rig Friendly:
Yes
Tent Friendly:
Yes
Pet Friendly:
Yes
Sanitation Dump Station:
Unknown

Something not right?

Description

This"community cooperative turtle sanctuary" offering guided tours to keep tourists away from the beach where the locals rob the nests to sell the eggs. The money they earn in the restaurant and for the tours go directly in their pockets, the turtles never profit from your wallet as they do nothing except tell tourists who go to the beach without them it forbidden and threaten them to call the marina. They are avoiding the robbers to avoid problems as they are neighbours. The cooperative runs a restaurant, cabanas and offers camping in a large open field. The cabanas are simle. Beds have mosquito nets and water is 1 temperature. Sea turtles nest on the beach May - December and once a month they arrive en masse in "arribatas" when 100,000 can come ashore over 3-5 days. If you're really lucky, hatchlings emerge at the same time as an arribata and you will see females coming ashore to lay and baby turtles coming out of the sand to make their way to sea. The guided tour costs 130 pesos but you do not support turtles in any way. 3-bed cabana cost 500 pesos. Located just before the village of Escobilla, about 40 mins south of Puerto Escondido on Hwy 200.

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AS BELOW COMMENT, DO NOT SUPPORT THIS COMMUNITY !!!
Things haven't changed over the last year. we spent a couple of nights around escobilla community and the sanctuary. The marines seam to do a very lay down job and the biologists of the sanctuary like to drive up and down their quad with flashlight at night and nothing more. Both me and my wife already volunteered in the past in an Ecuador reserve and we know how to deal with sea turtles, what to do and what not to do. Here at the sanctuary they just know how to keep the visitors away and pushing the fact that a guide is needed, a show is put on around an enclosed area where little turtles are freed to the ocean. if you are lucky like we were one or two days a month you can witness the "Arribada" where tens of thousands of turtles come ashore to lay the eggs, it is a majestic spectacular show, however the lack of care about the people here is very evident, they focus more on getting the guided tours in, other than the wellbeing of the turtles and cleanliness of the beach.Just few hundred mt away from the tours area we removed plastic debris scattered all around and I cut free a turtle from a fisherman net trapped around her rear fin.This was just the tip of the iceberg, the worst came in the morning after having had an horrible night sleep due to the quad patrolling the beach more interested to flash their light into our vehicle( probably they didn't like us around as we mentioned egg poachers) we did see several locals taking the eggs out from the previous night nests. we filmed someone and went to shout at them only to get a smile and walkway to the next nest. It was then time to report what had happened to the biologists and the marines but it looked like the marines were not doing much and the biologists of the sanctuary when confronted they didn't even wanted to look at our footage or do anything about but more worried to tell us to keep the voice down as they were sleeping. it was horrible, all the sea turtles in the world are classified as endangered and here they have a chance to make a difference but don't do it . we will write to the higher authority with attached evidence hopefully something will change. if you visit this place please observe what is going on and report the egg poachers to the authorities.

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!DO NOT SUPPORT THIS COMMUNITY!
After spending one evening and one morning chasing the local who dig out all the turtle eggs as soon as the turtle lays them, we confronted these guides of the sanctuary and they told us they don't do anything because they don't want problems! What they actually do is keeping the tourists away from the eggrobbers and selling them lies, instead of paying them to see a lie, go a little bit more east of the bridge and prevent the rob of thousands of eggs by staring, insulting, talking, running, screaming or whatever you feel up to, but if you want to close your eyes and believe the beautiful lies, go on, pay them and enjoy this magnificent spectacle.

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We stayed here for two nights waiting for an arribada to happen (it didn’t). It’s not exactly a nice place to camp as you just park behind the visitor center on MEX 200. There is not much traffic at night though and you rather hear the ocean’s waves some 700 m away (no beach access). Sadly most of the interpretative trail along the lagoon is overgrown and there are hardly any readable signboards left.

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Este lugar es maravilloso. Hay bonitas cabañas, cama matrimonial 250.- limpios y bonitos. Fuimos con un Guia a la playa para liberar tortugitas. Cuesta 130.- por persona. Muy muy padre la experencia. La comida en el restaurante es muy buena y la gente son muy amables. Muchas gracias a la personas que hacen este trabajo para guardar nuestra naturaleza. Un fuerte abrazo y bendiciones para todos.

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OMG!!!!! Such an amazing experience!!!! Today we went to the beach with our tour guide and we saw more than 1.000 turtles!!!! It was one of the most beautiful things we've seen in our lifes! Don't miss it.
If your passing by, ask if it's the right time to see the turtles.
130mx per adult + 100mx to sleep/car
Wifi: golfinas2017

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Super ! Ok avec les commentaires précédents.

Nous sommes venu dans la journée, le terrain de camping est agréable sur l'herbe pour les Tentes ou Caravanes.

Actions très respectueuse de la nature et beaucoup d'informations intéressantes sur les espèces de tortues qui viennent pondre sur cette partie de la côte.

Notre guide était vraiment génial, l'expérience inoubliable !
Venez découvrir le cycle de la vie d'une tortue marine et assistez à la ponte en directe de la plage !
Possibilité d'assister à la libération des bébés tortues de la nurserie mise en place par les biologistes sur la plage, ou mieux , voir les bébés sortir du sable pour regagner l'océan...

Possibilité de prendre un tour en lancha dans la mangrove pour observer les oiseaux, iguanes et peut être des crocodiles selon la saison.

Tour pour la ponte des tortues : 130 pesos par personne

Tour en lancha dans la mangrove : 50 pesos par personne

Camping : 100 pesos pour la nuit par véhicule / tente

toilettes et douches froide sur place.
No Wifi.

Julien et Julie

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This time of year here are thousands coming ashore every night! Camping is only 100 per vehicle/night includes toilets and cold showers.

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A community cooperative turtle sanctuary offering guided tours to the otherwise closed beach, the world's most important nesting place for Ridley Turtles. To support the project the cooperative runs a restaurant, cabanas and offers camping in a large open field. The cabanas are simple yet clean. Beds have mosquito nets and water is 1 temperature. Sea turtles nest on the beach May - December and once a month they arrive en masse in "arribatas" when 100,000 can come ashore over 3-5 days. If you're really lucky, hatchlings emerge at the same time as an arribata and you will see females coming ashore to lay and baby turtles coming out of the sand to make their way to sea. The guided tour costs 130 pesos and is worth the stop. 3-bed cabana cost 500 pesos. Located just before the village of Escobilla, about 40 mins south of Puerto Escondido on Hwy 200. Look for the blue sign on the ocean side of the road. 5 STARS for the experience of seeing an arribata (if you time it right and/or are lucky.)

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