The Nkyene Turtle Project

The Nkyene Turtle Project Protecting Ghana’s sea turtles through community-driven conservation

Week two was a BUSY one. 🤍Yankey spotted three turtles in the back of a trailer being driven into town. He managed to st...
21/06/2026

Week two was a BUSY one. 🤍
Yankey spotted three turtles in the back of a trailer being driven into town. He managed to stop the vehicle, speak to the men, and convince them to let us buy the turtles back so we could release them safely into the sea. We spent some time chatting with them afterwards, and they decided to join us on our very first patrol that evening. One of them has since become one of our very first employees, helping protect nesting mamas on our night patrols. Proof that conversations really can change lives.

Our first patrol was a tough one. We came across so many turtles that had been poached. These mamas would have spent at least 20 years growing before returning to the very beach where they were born, only to be taken in a single moment. It was absolutely heartbreaking. But it also reminded us exactly why this project matters so much.

We were also lucky enough to spend time with the wonderful artist and one of Yankey’s good friends, Todd Gray, who invited us to explore the mangroves by canoe. It’s not somewhere tourists usually get to visit, so it felt incredibly special to experience such a peaceful and beautiful place.

Real change starts with education, and we always knew that would be at the heart of what we do. Delivering our very first lesson at the school Yankey built was such a special moment.

And finally... we started building our hatchery. Holy moly, it was HARD... and we hadn’t even started moving the sand yet. 😳

Hi everyone! Anna here! 👋 Now that our first season has come to a close, we wanted to give you a little behind-the-scene...
03/06/2026

Hi everyone! Anna here! 👋
Now that our first season has come to a close, we wanted to give you a little behind-the-scenes look at what our first season was really like.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing photo dumps from each week and telling you a bit about what happened during that time. We want to show you where your support and donations went, everything we achieved, and also some of the challenges we faced behind the scenes that we didn’t always share.
Starting a conservation project from the ground up is incredibly tough, and our first season was full of obstacles. But it was also more successful, rewarding, and inspiring than we could ever have imagined.
Follow along as we share some of the incredible, chaotic, and memorable stories from our journey so far!
Thank you for being part of this journey with us💚🐢



First pic 📸 ❤️

A massive thank you to .elmes and Dustin for raising money for the project by running the North Bristol Brabazon Half Ma...
09/05/2026

A massive thank you to .elmes and Dustin for raising money for the project by running the North Bristol Brabazon Half Marathon last month! They raised a whopping £1,248!!!
Thank you to each and every person who donated, and to for their generous support too. Please go and check them all out ❤️
These donations will allow us to build another hatchery and continue supporting our local patrol team, meaning we can protect even more turtles for years to come! 🐢
fundraiser

They did it! 🏃‍♀️ 🏃 🎉A huge congratulations and massive thank you to Abbie and Dustin, who ran the North Bristol Brabazo...
10/04/2026

They did it! 🏃‍♀️ 🏃 🎉
A huge congratulations and massive thank you to Abbie and Dustin, who ran the North Bristol Brabazon Half Marathon on Sunday in support of the Nkyene Turtle Project. They absolutely smashed it!

We are incredibly grateful for their dedication and for all the funds raised for our upcoming season. This support will go directly toward building another hatchery, allowing us to protect even more turtle nests, and funding the wages of our local patrol team, made up of former poachers who we have trained to protect nesting mothers.

Their GoFundMe link is still in our bio, so if you’re able to donate then please do, every contribution truly makes a difference.
Thanks to this amazing effort, we’re heading into the next season in a strong position. The population is low here and we’re hopeful that together we can help turn things around.

None of this is possible without your support so thank you to each and everyone who has donated, and a big thank you again to Abbie and Dustin for putting in the leg work! We are so grateful ❤️

25/01/2026

Come excavate a nest with us!
It’s hatchling season! We have had 5 of our 28 nests hatch out so far.
After the babies emerge, we dig up the nest to take crucial data and to make sure there’s no one left behind.

We count the number of:
- shells - how many babies hatched out
- Pipped - hatchlings that have begun breaking through their shell but have not completely made it out (or expired in the process)
- Developing- eggs that were fertilised but the embryo did not survive to term (A,B and C stages)
- Undeveloped- unfertilised eggs

Not all hatchlings make it out of the nest and that is normal! The evolutionary strategy of turtles is to lay as many eggs as possible to give greater chance that one will survive to adulthood. Death is part of the circle. The babies that don’t make it are returned to the sea or the sand to become something else in the never-ending cycle of energy. 🙏

All of this information is used in calculations that help to monitor the nesting turtle population in the area.

There is very little research on sea turtles in this region of the world. The data we collect this first season is crucial in understanding the populations here and provides a baseline we can compare to future seasons.

If you have any questions, please reach out! We love to talk turtles!

Like/comment/follow to support the Nkyene Project! 🫶

🐢 Hatchling season has officially begun at the Nkyene Turtle Project 🐢
With nearly 3,000 eggs safely incubating in our h...
16/01/2026

🐢 Hatchling season has officially begun at the Nkyene Turtle Project 🐢
With nearly 3,000 eggs safely incubating in our hatchery, get ready for LOTS of hatchling content!
So far, four nests have already hatched, with many more expected over the next few days. Our nests are doing amazingly well, with a success rate of 75-90% so far. Looks like the hatchlings approve of the little home we built for them ❤️
We still have lots of nests and hatchlings available for adoption! You will receive a certificate and a picture of your hatchling/ nest as well as the nest data if you adopt a full nest. Dm for more info❤️

Christmas sale!!! 🎄 🎅 🎁 Still haven’t found the perfect Christmas gift? A baby turtle is pretty hard to beat 😏Our Olive ...
21/12/2025

Christmas sale!!! 🎄 🎅 🎁
Still haven’t found the perfect Christmas gift?
A baby turtle is pretty hard to beat 😏
Our Olive Ridley hatchlings are up for adoption!

Minimum donations:
$10/£8 for a single hatchling
$60/£45 for an entire nest

What will you get?
If you adopt a hatchling you will receive:
- An official certificate with your name and the name of your hatchling (you get to choose)
- When the baby hatches we will send you an updated certificate with the baby’s birthday
- A picture of your hatchling
- A video of them making their way to the sea

If you adopt an entire nest you will receive:
- An official certificate of adoption
- An updated birth certificate
- Pictures and videos of your nest hatching
- The data we collected on the nest (how many made it, what time they hatched, etc.)
- Videos of your babies returning to the sea!

Our nests are expected to start emerging in early January. If you are interested in adoption you can DM us, visit our website (link in bio), or email us: [email protected]

All donations go towards protecting the sea turtles of Ghana. Thank you for supporting this cause 🙏 Happy Holidays! 🫶🐢

15/12/2025

Ghana has this magical way of timing everything just right, and this patrol was proof of that. We were running a little late to patrol, and because of it we arrived just as this beautiful mama came ashore, glowing with bioluminescence. Any earlier and we would have missed her completely.

If we hadn’t stopped to sit with her, we wouldn’t have met the tiniest new member of our family, Ridley. Honestly, we don’t think he would have made it otherwise. Now he’s happy at home with us and getting stronger everyday!

This place really makes you see that the universe has a plan and everything happens for a reason.

Address

Busua

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Nkyene Turtle Project posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category