Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.
India has some pretty successful efforts to protect the olive ridley sea turtle, a vulnerable species which nests on the country's long coastlines. Every nesting season, thousands of females dig holes on the seashore with their flippers, and each one lays dozens of eggs inside. To keep them safe from threats like dogs and poachers, activists collect the eggs and incubate them in protected hatcheries.
After they hatch, activists collect them in tubs — like these little guys I photographed in April along the coast south of Mumbai — and then the baby turtles are tipped out onto the sand, so they can crawl into the Arabian Sea.
Tiny, slow and clumsy — these hatchlings are an easy snack for predators. But for this one moment, as they crawl into the waves, they're protected by conservationists, who shoo away marauding crabs, seagulls and dogs. Sometimes, tourists may watch at a distance. And pretty quickly, the tourists start cheering on the hatchlings to get into the sea. The tourists clap when they're finally in. It's like a victory for the little guy, and every time I think about it, it makes me smile.
See more photos from around the world:
- Greetings from the Negev desert, where traces remain of a vanished ancient civilization
- Greetings from the Dubai airport, where a long layover can also be a destination
- Greetings from Paris, where you can swim in the Seine for the first time in a century
- Greetings from Gujarat, India, where a banyan tree is a place for rest, prayers and play
- Greetings from Khartoum, Sudan, where those with the least offer their guests the most
- Greetings from Moscow, Russia, where Lenin's tomb attracts a new surge of visitors
- Greetings from New Delhi, India, where performing monkeys spark delight — and ambivalence
- Greetings from Damascus, Syria, where a crowded bar welcomed post-Assad revelers
- Greetings from Alishan, Taiwan, whose red cypress forests offer timeless beauty
- Greetings from Odesa, Ukraine, where a Black Sea beach offers respite from war
- Greetings from Shenyang, China, where workers sort AI data in 'Severance'-like ways
- Greetings from Palmyra, Syria, with its once-grand hotel named for a warrior queen
- Greetings from Mexico City, where these dogs ride a bus to and from school
- Greetings from the Galápagos Islands, where the blue-footed booby shows its colors
- Greetings from Afrin, Syria, where Kurds danced their hearts out to celebrate spring
- Greetings from Dharamshala, India, where these Tibetan kids were having the best time
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