CONSERVATION
At Duli Beach Resort, marine turtle conservation is embedded in our operation. Duli Beach is one of the few places in Palawan where marine turtles come to lay their eggs. The name “Duli” even means “female turtle” in the ancient Sanskrit language, making it a fitting name for this beach. From roughly November to February, Duli Beach becomes an active nesting ground for marine turtles.
There are three different species nesting on Duli Beach, namely the Hawksbill turtle (named for their narrow, pointed beak), the Green turtle (named for the usually green fat found beneath its carapace) and the Olive Ridley turtle (which gets its name from the olive green color of its heart shaped shell).
All three marine turtle species migrate long distances between their feeding grounds and nesting beaches. Mature turtles eventually return to the same area where they hatched. Of these three species, the Olive Ridley turtle lays the most nests on Duli Beach and the surrounding coastline.
Female turtles crawl out of the water and dig a hole in the sand to create their nest. They usually lay their eggs at night and always above the high-tide line.
At Duli Beach Resort, we do everything in our power to protect these nests from poachers and animals.
We have trained patrollers who walk the beach at night to locate newly laid nests. We also built dedicated hatcheries to give the eggs the highest level of safety. If you’d like to learn more about our conservation work, please take a look at the WAIF-project we carried out together with WWF in 2023–2024. The Sea Turtles of El Nido booklet we created together you can find here.
When the nests are carefully relocated to our hatchery within the first few hours after the mother lays them, the survival rate is at its highest. After approximately 60 days, the eggs begin to hatch, and we release the hatchlings immediately.
Whenever there is a nest hatching our guests can witness the release and we then try to give as much information as possible. At the resort we offer the option for people to adopt a nest as well and in this way they help us with our conservation efforts. If you want to know more about this, please contact us.
Over the years of doing conservation work, we co-founded the El Nido Marine Turtle Conservation Network (#ENMTCN). This initiative, created together with several other businesses in El Nido, aims to protect and support the marine turtle population in the area. Members of the network assist one another and regularly share knowledge and data.
The network is officially approved and supported by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). And the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD).
Please have a look on our Facebook page or our Instagram account for the latest information and pictures.