Land Rover Defender

Feature Land Rover Defender - Sea Turtles

Defending Wildlife

Mozambique – More specifically Ponta Malongane, where white sand beaches stretch as far as the eye can see. It is a place of extreme serenity and peace, but also a place where nature battles the circle of life, a battle for survival.

I

t is on these beaches that the Loggerhead and Leatherback sea turtles make their nests and lay their eggs, and the odds are stacked against their very

survival.

If you are a regular reader of this magazine, you would have seen that we have been involved and featuring the conservation and research efforts of Pierre Steyn for the last three years now. Pierre’s been working on turtles in this area for 15 years, and his tagging and research programme has the sanction of the Mozambique government.

But more importantly, Pierre and his family is also very active during hatchling season making sure that the local Mocambican people doesn’t kill these majestic creatures for food when coming out to lay their eggs, and also to assist the very small hatchlings to make it out to sea when they are hatched.

The endangered Loggerhead and Leatherback turtle females return to the same beaches where they were born to lay their eggs. They will never lay their eggs anywhere else, although they do travel the oceans of the world for thousands of kilometers.

They also lay their eggs almost exclusively at night. And this is exactly where Pierre Lombard has focused his efforts in researching and protecting these vulnerable creatures.

The cruel reality for these majestic animals is that very few hatchlings survive to reach maturity. From the moment they are hatched, they are hunted and disregarded, and it is here that Pierre and his family try to make a difference.

It is only when you sit down with Pierre to discuss the project he runs in conjunction with the Mozambican government, that you realize just how bad the odds are.

The female turtle reaches maturity at around seventeen years of age, and they only ever come onto the beach to lay their eggs. When a hatchling leaves its egg, and digs its way out of the nest, it has to make a perilous journey of a 100 metres or more of crab infested sand to reach the white surf. That is if the nest is not violated by wild cats and the like before they hatch.

These turtles are also attracted to light, as the white surf of the waves are always illuminated, even on very dark nights. This built in attraction to light is what aids the turtles in getting back to the surf after laying their eggs. This adds another problem for the survival of these

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turtles, as more and more of the beaches they

turtles that have been injured or lost on the

for yourself that you realize just how important

lay their eggs on are being developed, and the

beaches, and again, having a robust vehicle has

the correct vehicle is for the work that is in-

lights of these houses and developments make

been reassuring when faced with these chal-

volved in Pierre’s project. He also took us along

them lose direction.

lenges.

in the Defender he used to find and tag turtles

The work that Pierre and his family have been

The limited-production Fire edition Defender is

doing is of vital importance, as he can now keep

just such a vehicle, and comes packed with Re-

track of which females come back and when.

caro bucket seats, leather and Alcantara trim,

But, the years that Pierre has been doing this

diamond-turned alloys, colour coded head- and

worthy job has taken its toll on his vehicles,

tail- lights, running boards and more. The Fire

and it has become very expensive to maintain

edition comes in a special Vesuvius Orange

his own vehicles when patrolling the Mozambi-

metallic paint and is offset by Santorini black

can beaches at night. And this is exactly where

accents. It still has the 2.4 litre common-rail

Pierre needs constant assistance.

turbo diesel engine that is matched to a six

on the beach every night, and the nights we spent with Pierre resulted in many turtle sightings.

Ewald van Zyl

speed manual transmission, and is still one of This year however, Land Rover South Africa

the most robust vehicles around.

provided the Turtle Research and conservation Project with a Land Rover Defender Fire

But the main thing with the Defender was that

to cover the transportation requirements of the

it did not need any modification or suspension

project. In doing so, Land Rover emphasised

adjustments to handle the tricky conditions in

and strengthened their long-term commitment

which it was required to work. The standard

to Wild Life Conservation.

capabilities of the Defender made it an ideal member of the team, and never let the other

The conditions in which Pierre does his work re-

members down.

quires a very capable and robust vehicle as he travels up to 120 kilometres along very treach-

The mating season saw Pierre tagging 99 tur-

erous beaches with slippery rocky patches along

tles, and he was able to monitor many of the

the way. Pierre has on occasion been caught by

returning females of previous years. It is only

an incoming tide when he spent more time with

when you experience the conditions out there

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Land Rover Constantia Kloof

243 J G Strydom dr , Weltevredenpark , 1719 TEL: 011 671 8000 EMAIL: grantp@mcmotor.co.za fanielomb@mcmotor.co.za