The night of Bagan

Discovery of the city of Tanjung Pandan, then the beach of Juru Seberang of his mangrove, the tradition of weaving with gold threads, the "kain Cual".

16:00, departure from the village of Tanjung Binga for a traditional fishing night on a Bagan. Sunset at sea, you will sleep on the roof of the boat, discover this fishing technique specific to these boats. Sunshine at sea, and return in the early morning to the village of Tanjung Binga. Incredible atmosphere of the morning when all the boats return to the port, effervescence of the return of fishing, landing of the fish and direct sale.

Island dedicated to the conservation of sea turtles

This island is part of a conservation program in collaboration with the Japanese government under the ASEAN (Asia-Europe) agreements. It is run by Japanese scientists. There is therefore a guard who protects the nests of turtles monitor lizards and men. Each nest is numbered. The turtles are ringed. Every two months, the scientists come around the nests already hatched. They come to count the number of eggshells and thus establish the number of turtles returned to the sea and the number of sterile or stillborn eggs.

This destination deserves. It needs the authorization of the administration of LIPI (CNRS Indonesian). There is no landing facility. It can be reached at high tide, either by swimming or with a small boat. Camping is imperative, and is entirely organized by us: meals, tents, mattresses, drinking water ... The keeper makes us the friendship to let us use his well and his sanitary.

Of course we strive to help the guardian in his task, and take advantage of our passage to clean the plastics rejected by the sea.

The island offers remarkable snorkeling spots ...

The observation of turtles is mostly at night. They come to lay under the first branches above the beach, in the shade and far from the sea. They come therefore more easily at high tide. Do not disturb them or even until the beginning of the laying. They can start a nest and return to the sea if they do not feel safe. They can even make their own, false nests before deciding ... It is only once the laying started that we can approach and make light without disturbing them. The guard takes the opportunity to assist and ring ... The laying lasts more than an hour ...

We have two species of turtles, the one wrongly called the green turtle, and the little Sisik (eagle). The laying season runs from February until July, sometimes until August. Peak season are the months of February, March, April.

Over two nights, we try to visit one of the adjoining islands.

This island is far from Belitung, so in case of bad weather, we have to wait to return to civilization to take no risks.