Cabo Verde, (a group of islands off west Africa) is the world's third largest nesting site for loggerhead turtles. SOS Tartarugas was founded in 2008 in response to the huge numbers of these turtles that were being killed for meat in Cabo Verde.
It was estimated that if this continued unchallenged loggerheads would be extinct in this country in under ten years. Aside from hunting, the turtles face threats due to massive development of beaches for tourism. The organisation's activities include patrolling nesting beaches at night and during the day, operating hatcheries to save doomed nesting, outreach particularly focusing on children, turtle walks and lobbying for sustainable and turtle friendly development.
The project welcomes volunteers from June to December for periods of as little as a week to as long as six months. For long term volunteers accommodation and some expenses are provided.
