Pulau Serangan

For hundreds of thousands of years, marine turtles have come ashore on the beaches of Bali to lay their eggs in the sand. Unfortunately, the natural habitat in which the turtles have long nested has been wiped out, leaving them almost nowhere safe to reproduce and human encroachment combined with hunting, fishing, pollution and poaching has radically reduced the local marine turtle population.

The Turtle Conservation and Education Centre educates local people on the environmental importance and conservation of turtles. The center is also important to the local economy, as it helped to re-establish local business and tourism activity damaged by a failed attempt to expand the island. The center provides employment to local people, as well as a venue where they can offer their handicrafts for sale.

At the center, visitors can see live marine turtles and learn about the work being done to protect both them and their habitat. Here, turtles are rehabilitated and reintroduced to the wild and various aspects of ecology and conservation are taught and demonstrated to visitors.

One important note: tourists unaware of the local geography can be tricked into paying for expensive boat trips to a “turtle island” or “Turtle Sanctuary” that is anything but the real conservation center. The Turtle Conservation and Education Centre is easily accessed by road over a long bridge from the mainland, so no boat trip is needed.