Go Unlimited with Magzter GOLD

Go Unlimited with Magzter GOLD

Get unlimited access to 10,000+ magazines, newspapers and Premium stories for just

$149.99
 
$74.99/Year

Try GOLD - Free

Tracking Turtles

Outlook Traveller

|

June - July 2023

Sea turtles make a fascinating subject for study; they have smitten ecologist Kartik Shanker since the '80s

- Kartik Shanker

Tracking Turtles

EVERYONE NEEDS A ROLE MODEL. Mine was the late Satish Bhaskar, considered the pioneer of sea turtle biology and conservation in India.

I was first smitten by a sea turtle in the late '80s; by then, Satish was already a legend.

He had surveyed all of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands for sea turtle nesting beaches, spent five months by himself on uninhabited Suheli Island in the Lakshadweep to count green turtle nests, and travelled to West Papua Indonesia to count and tag leatherbacks.

in Satish was carrying on a turtle tradition that had begun a decade earlier. When sea turtle pioneers like Archie Carr in the Americas, George Hughes in South Africa, George Balazs in Hawaii and Col Limpus in Australia started their research on these enigmatic marine animals,they realised they could learn nothing about them in a season or two, or even a decade.

On the Turtle Trail

These long-lived, late-maturing species had complicated life cycles. Hatchlings, few of which survived, made slow transoceanic journeys on currents and gyres for many years. After a decade or more, they migrated thousands of kilometres across ocean basins to nest on the beaches where they were born.

Insight into how their populations changed over time or responded to increasing human impact would need decades of data. So these stalwarts started long-term monitoring programmes at critical nesting beaches on different continents that have been running for over 50 years. For example, the monitoring of green turtles at Tortuguero in Costa Rica started in the 1950s, loggerhead turtles at Mon Repos in Queensland and leatherback turtles in South Africa in the mid-1960s.

A Lifelong Connection

MORE STORIES FROM Outlook Traveller

Outlook Traveller

Outlook Traveller

SUMMER'S SURRENDER

THREE DAYS IN ZÜRICH THROUGH ITS OLD TOWN, THE LIMMAT'S RHYTHM AND THE SPIRIT OF SUMMER

time to read

5 mins

October - November 2025

Outlook Traveller

Outlook Traveller

THE GHOSTLY GALLEON

IN SCOTLAND'S ISLE OF SKYE, the weather is never still.

time to read

1 min

October - November 2025

Outlook Traveller

Outlook Traveller

THE SOLE MEMORY

I WAS LOOKING FOR A SHOE shop to get my favourite pair repaired. The August Texan heat had loosened the sole on one of them. In other times, I would have thrown the pair away rather than go through the trouble of finding a repair shop. But I loved these shoes and searched for someone to bring them back to life.

time to read

2 mins

October - November 2025

Outlook Traveller

Outlook Traveller

THE LAST MILE

EVERY EVENING AT 4.30 PM, IN Hussainiwala, Punjab, a crowd gathers near the National Martyrs Memorial.

time to read

3 mins

October - November 2025

Outlook Traveller

Outlook Traveller

THE MARQUESS AND THE MAESTRO

FROM GILDED ROCOCO PALACES TO WAGNER'S AWE-INSPIRING FESTSPIELHAUS, BAYREUTH TELLS A STORY OF TWO LEGACIES-ONE ROYAL, ONE MUSICAL

time to read

5 mins

October - November 2025

Outlook Traveller

Outlook Traveller

A FLEETING COMMUNION

THE RITUAL IMMERSION OF DURGA IDOLS IN THE ICHAMATI RIVER TEMPORARILY TRANSGRESSES THE MANMADE DEMARCATIONS BETWEEN EAST AND WEST BENGAL

time to read

5 mins

October - November 2025

Outlook Traveller

Outlook Traveller

'DEEPOTSAV' 2025: AYODHYA'S FESTIVAL OF LIGHT RETURNS IN GRAND STYLE

Rooted in the Ramayana and reborn in recent years as a global spectacle, 'Deepotsav' has transformed Ayodhya into a city of light and faith. This year's edition, on October 19, promises to be the biggest yet

time to read

3 mins

October - November 2025

Outlook Traveller

Outlook Traveller

THE GREAT INDIAN DESTINATION WEDDING

SHAPED BY TRAVEL, TASTE, AND A RESTLESS GENERATION, DESTINATION WEDDINGS ARE REWRITING HOW INDIA CELEBRATES MARRIAGE IN 2025

time to read

8 mins

October - November 2025

Outlook Traveller

Outlook Traveller

WHERE MEMORY LIVES ON

ON A CLOUDY JULY AFTERNOON IN DAWAR, THE main hub of Gurez Valley and once the ancient capital of the Dards, I stood in its Tulaili bazaar waiting for a shared taxi.

time to read

4 mins

October - November 2025

Outlook Traveller

Outlook Traveller

THE BORDERLESS GURU

THE AIR IS THIN, TINGED with the scent of juniper. A swift wind whips through faded prayer flags, while glaciers carve valleys and jagged peaks pierce a sky the colour of lapis lazuli. Standing here, the idea of political borders feels almost absurd. Maps may mark out India, Nepal, Bhutan, or Tibet, but the landscape itself refuses to be partitioned. These mountains carry a shared heritage, embodied by a single figure who transcends frontiers: Padmasambhava, the Lotus-Born. Known as Guru Rinpoche, the Precious Master, Padmasambhava brought Buddhism to Tibet in the eighth century. His image gazes out from gompas across the Himalayas-wrathful yet compassionate, eyes filled with the wisdom of lifetimes. To see him only as a missionary is to miss the larger truth.

time to read

3 mins

October - November 2025

Translate

Share

-
+

Change font size