I saved a turtle. These days I always got up at 4.30 in the morning. A quick shower and I went out with the dark on a bike, reached the beach and walked. Forbidden to use the torches, because it would harm the eyes of small turtles, "caretta caretta". So armed only with the light of phone and with the very first light of dawn, I went to check the nests.
Most children of turtle leave the nest in the sand at night, between 1 and 4. But there is always someone who has problems. Usually because in the crowd they reverse and remain with their legs upward on the shell.
So yesterday, as I checked the nests, one by one throughout the beach, at the very first light of dawn, I found a little turtle with the legs upward. It is not easy to see them, are so small! The nests are reported by some metal structures, and fortunately this was still inside the perimeter of the nest. But it was still dark and I could not understand what it was. The light from the phone, however, was enough to understand that it was a small turtle reversed. Was still, I thought he was dead. Maybe he was in that position for a couple of hours and had exhausted all his strength in the impossible attempt to turn over. Perhaps he was resigned.
As soon as I turned him over, he was thrilled and started scampering towards the sea. I just took the opportunity and I have documented his grueling march to the water with my camera. It's an incredible spectacle. The sun is about to rise and this little turtle on the deserted beach overrides rippling sand like huge dunes of desert. For them it is a tremendous effort. Feel the sea, the smell, they become mad, can not resist. Although occasionally stop to regain their strength because they are exhausted. Then when the sun rises seem more attracted by the light and then deflect toward the sun that it is not straight compared to the shore and therefore their road is still a few feet longer.
From the nest to the shore will be 50-60 meters. How long does a turtle to reach the shore from the nest? About an hour! But I assure you that they do their best.
So I spent my holidays in Çıralı. Why I'm after the turtles do not know. Perhaps I identify a bit. Maybe I feel thier enterprise as something similar with mine. We really need a new beginning, right now! Maybe because they remind me of something that maybe I had forgotten. I recall that as far as we breath, we are only poor idiots in the world of humans. What important things do not belong to the world of humans, but to the world of nature. Since millennia this show is repeated on this beach. If all this was over, what would happen to the world?
The volunteers of the cooperative "Ulupinar" are great. Patrolling the beach day and night, reporting the nests to bathers, helping the baby turtles (but from 6 a.m. onward, when the sun is already up, in fact my secret was to get to the beach at 5 o'clock when there was still none). I think that someday I will stop running after trivial things of humans and I will start serving the preservation of nature. If we lose this, if we dare to ruin the world, the planet, animals, what else remains?
I am leaving tomorrow, I go to Izmir. From there the next day I go on the island of Lesbos in Greece for the "No Border Camp", but also because I am currently running out the 3-month visa in Turkey and so I have to leave the country for a moment. Means they are more than 3 months since I don't go to Italy.
LISTEN HERE "New beginning", by Tracy Chapman.
<<The whole world's broke and it ain't worth fixing
It's time to start all over, make a new beginning
There's too much pain, too much suffering
Let's resolve to start all over make a new beginning
Now don't get me wrong I love life and living
But when you wake up and look around at everything that's going down
All wrong
You see we need to change it now, this world with too few happy endings
We can resolve to start all over make a new beginning
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
The world is broken into fragments and pieces
That once were joined together in a unified whole
But now too many stand alone There's too much separation
We can resolve to come together in the new beginning
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
We can break the cycle - We can break the chain
We can start all over - In the new beginning
We can learn, we can teach
We can share the myths the dream the prayer
The notion that we can do better
Change our lives and paths
Create a new world
And Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
The whole world's broke and it ain't worth fixing
It's time to start all over, make a new beginning
There's too much fighting, too little understanding
It's time to stop and start all over
Make a new beginning
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
We need to make new symbols
Make new signs
Make a new language
With these we'll define the world
And start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over ...>>.
Most children of turtle leave the nest in the sand at night, between 1 and 4. But there is always someone who has problems. Usually because in the crowd they reverse and remain with their legs upward on the shell.
So yesterday, as I checked the nests, one by one throughout the beach, at the very first light of dawn, I found a little turtle with the legs upward. It is not easy to see them, are so small! The nests are reported by some metal structures, and fortunately this was still inside the perimeter of the nest. But it was still dark and I could not understand what it was. The light from the phone, however, was enough to understand that it was a small turtle reversed. Was still, I thought he was dead. Maybe he was in that position for a couple of hours and had exhausted all his strength in the impossible attempt to turn over. Perhaps he was resigned.
As soon as I turned him over, he was thrilled and started scampering towards the sea. I just took the opportunity and I have documented his grueling march to the water with my camera. It's an incredible spectacle. The sun is about to rise and this little turtle on the deserted beach overrides rippling sand like huge dunes of desert. For them it is a tremendous effort. Feel the sea, the smell, they become mad, can not resist. Although occasionally stop to regain their strength because they are exhausted. Then when the sun rises seem more attracted by the light and then deflect toward the sun that it is not straight compared to the shore and therefore their road is still a few feet longer.
From the nest to the shore will be 50-60 meters. How long does a turtle to reach the shore from the nest? About an hour! But I assure you that they do their best.
So I spent my holidays in Çıralı. Why I'm after the turtles do not know. Perhaps I identify a bit. Maybe I feel thier enterprise as something similar with mine. We really need a new beginning, right now! Maybe because they remind me of something that maybe I had forgotten. I recall that as far as we breath, we are only poor idiots in the world of humans. What important things do not belong to the world of humans, but to the world of nature. Since millennia this show is repeated on this beach. If all this was over, what would happen to the world?
The volunteers of the cooperative "Ulupinar" are great. Patrolling the beach day and night, reporting the nests to bathers, helping the baby turtles (but from 6 a.m. onward, when the sun is already up, in fact my secret was to get to the beach at 5 o'clock when there was still none). I think that someday I will stop running after trivial things of humans and I will start serving the preservation of nature. If we lose this, if we dare to ruin the world, the planet, animals, what else remains?
I am leaving tomorrow, I go to Izmir. From there the next day I go on the island of Lesbos in Greece for the "No Border Camp", but also because I am currently running out the 3-month visa in Turkey and so I have to leave the country for a moment. Means they are more than 3 months since I don't go to Italy.
LISTEN HERE "New beginning", by Tracy Chapman.
<<The whole world's broke and it ain't worth fixing
It's time to start all over, make a new beginning
There's too much pain, too much suffering
Let's resolve to start all over make a new beginning
Now don't get me wrong I love life and living
But when you wake up and look around at everything that's going down
All wrong
You see we need to change it now, this world with too few happy endings
We can resolve to start all over make a new beginning
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
The world is broken into fragments and pieces
That once were joined together in a unified whole
But now too many stand alone There's too much separation
We can resolve to come together in the new beginning
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
We can break the cycle - We can break the chain
We can start all over - In the new beginning
We can learn, we can teach
We can share the myths the dream the prayer
The notion that we can do better
Change our lives and paths
Create a new world
And Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
The whole world's broke and it ain't worth fixing
It's time to start all over, make a new beginning
There's too much fighting, too little understanding
It's time to stop and start all over
Make a new beginning
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
We need to make new symbols
Make new signs
Make a new language
With these we'll define the world
And start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over ...>>.
I wrote a poem in Italian on this wait, on these days. For those who can understand.
"Attesa di sabbia"
<<la sabbia è gravida e gonfia
è come sempre è stata
folate di scirocco sopra il dorso
eppure no, ha qualcosa sotto
che pulsa a impercettibili battiti
migliaia di feroci solcatori del mare
radunano energia e crescono
un millimetro ogni notte
una ruga ogni stella cadente
non credere a ciò che vedi
ciò che vedi non è tutto
il bello sta sotto e cova
e di solito affiora all'alba
ma non la senti che inquietudine?
non ti scuote questa attesa?
un ritmo lento e inarrestabile
versa impazienza sulle labbra
vedo femmine sfogliarsi
squagliarsi a centinaia di metri
e ancestrali scendere alla risacca
come le barche non sanno cosa nascondono le onde
così tu non conosci cosa la sabbia nasconde
non una serpe, non conchiglie o promesse tradite
ma sotto i tuoi piedi battono e ancora battono
impercettibili e ormai carichi di vita
affondo nella sabbia disciolto dal sole
e mi fondo in questa inarrestabile attesa
la sabbia è gravida e gonfia
è come sempre è stata
folate di scirocco sopra il dorso
eppure no, stanotte non dormire
veglia con me l'inattesa inarrestabile alba>>.
And finally, here below, after a long wait, our hero..
Goodbye, good new beginning, my friend!!
