Celebrating A New Generation of Taricaya Turtles In the Amazon

This is a special time of year here at Aqua Expeditions, as a new generations of our baby Taricaya Turtles are soon to be released into their Amazon River habitat in Peru!

The Taricaya Turtle Project in the Pacaya Samiria Reserve is an important part of our commitment to supporting wildlife preservation in the Peruvian Amazon. Due to illegal egg poaching, these tiny turtles have become an endangered species. Our involvement in wildlife conservation is an integral part of our business and allows us to safeguard the environments we cruise through.  We’ve been working with the naturalists of the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve since 2012  to help increase the size of the Taricaya Turtle population and our project has released over 700 young hatchlings back into their natural habitats in the Amazon.

With guidance from Aqua Expeditions crew, our guests have the opportunity to participate directly in this important wildlife conservation project. Those cruising the Amazon in September-October are able to bury turtle eggs into nests housed at the Aqua Expeditions private embarkation dock where the eggs are closely monitored until they hatch in November.

The turtles take around 30 days to hatch and once this happens we have the unique opportunity to release the little creatures into the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve, under the watchful guidance of our naturalists. In a few weeks, a total of 300 turtles will be released into the wild, a memorable moment for all and one not to be missed!

Enjoy a short video showing our 2016 new generation of taricaya turtles:

This incredibly special project is all made possible through coordination with the Chief of the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve, who provides technical support for this project. We look forward to helping to nurture the next generation of Taricaya babies!