Thousands of turtles nest at same time off Costa Rica coast

People gathering on the beach are actually disturbing the nesting sea turtle.

The event is known as an “Arribada” and involves thousands of turtles coming ashore at once to lay their eggs in the sand.

The nesting duration coincides with Costa Rica’s rainy season.

But, unfortunately this season the National Park remain open because of less rainfall caused by El Niño, making the Nosara River dry. The national police had to be called to aid park rangers, but the crowd was too large to be controlled and the chaos ensued.

The tourists reportedly took photos, touched the turtles and stood on their nests, forcing several to return to the ocean without laying their eggs, according to La Nacion.

Leonel Delgado, Ministry for the Environment and Energy workers union secretary commented that the tourists” actions had “a negative impact’.

Costa Rican authorities plan to meet to make sure that in future people only access the beach as they are supposed to – with a licensed tour guide. In addition to threatening the health and safety of the sea turtles, the overwhelming tourist presence also threatened the future of the sea turtle population. The most interesting fact was that the turtles still managed to lay some eggs during night when all the frolicking tourists went home, said Mr. Méndez.

Many tourists may think they are having a great time in the splendid locale of their choice, but really, they are just messing everything up.