TURTLES IN NORTH CYPRUS

There are two main types of sea-turtles nesting along the coast of North Cyprus, the loggerhead and the green turtle.

Both are listed as endangered species and under strict protection. If the truth be known, you don't have to visit North Cyprus to see the rare and exotic marine turtles for which the region is famous; such is the international interest that you can follow their progress by satellite tracking on the internet.

But it is far more interesting to visit Turtle HQ on a warm Mediterranean day and see the turtles or their tracks on beautiful Alagadi beach nearby. You can study the displays of the work that has been pioneered by UK universities to protect the species. These creatures have been around a little longer than the internet - about 200 million years. Their future is less certain with just 300 or so green turtles left in the Mediterranean and about a thousand loggerheads. Most of them breed in North Cyprus and Turkey.

The turtles nest on the beaches around Girne, along the remote Karpaz Peninsula and in Gamzimagusa Bay from May onwards - shifting up to four tones of sand to excavate and bury the nest. The first hatchlings emerge in July, after two months under the sand and scuttle down the beach to safety.

Most of them don't make it with maybe one in every 200 surviving. The turtles' enemies are many. Dogs and foxes dig them out of their nests while gulls and crabs wait for them by the water's edge. Man, of course, has added himself to the list but conservationists are working hard to redress the balance.

Read the signs and local literature to make sure you don't make the tiny turtles any more vulnerable than they already are.

If they make it to the water, the turtles can live for 30 years, swimming great distances before returning at the ripe old age of 20 when they are finally ready to start laying their own eggs. If you want to know what happens in the meantime, you can adopt one of these pre-historic species and receive news by email - or maybe you would rather come back to the sun and check for yourself!