Velas turtle Festival – A must visit
A well-known yearly celebration, the Velas Turtle Festival, sees the return to the sea of newborn young turtles. Tourists and photographers love the experience of seeing newborn turtles make their first steps toward the water and then begin their long, challenging trek through life. For all tourists, Velas beach and town also provide an excellent ecotourism experience, and it’s a lot of pleasure to spend time there experiencing that quaint and comfortable village life. However, it is crucial to take a few things into consideration to guarantee that your trip will be enjoyable, hassle-free, and without causing you any unwelcome setbacks.
Maharashtra shares its 720-kilometer-long coastline with the districts of Konkan, Thane, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg. Numerous marine animals stop through. Although it is thought, the precise number and kind are unclear, and no thorough investigation is available. It was discovered in 2000–2001 that the Olive Ridley species of turtle is a frequent visitor to the coasts of Maharashtra for breeding purposes.
VENUE LOCATION
Velas beach, Taluka Mandangad,
Dist Ratnagiri, Maharashtra 415208
How to reach velas
Air: Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj airport in Mumbai is the closest airport, located 235 kilometres from Velas. Via NH-17, you may go from Mumbai to Velas.
Rail: Pune Junction, which is 200 kilometres from Velas, is the closest significant railway station. The main Maharashtra cities are connected to the railway station. Cities like New Delhi, Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, etc. are connected to it as well.
Road: Velas is accessible by NH-17, the Mumbai-Goa route. From Goregaon, you may turn right and travel directly to Velas. It should take around 5 hours and 30 minutes to complete the journey. Road travel is among the finest methods to get to Velas. There are frequent buses that travel from major towns like Mumbai, Pune, and Ratnagiri to The Velas, which is well linked by road.
Home stay accomodation:
Please note, Velas is untouched by commercialisation and hence there is no hotel stay available. You can opt for homestays in the village, but ensure you book before you reach. The homestay are generally over crowded during the season.
Interesting facts about turtles:
- The Olive Ridley gets its name from its rounded, heart-shaped, olive-colored carapace.
- Although sea turtles are the world’s smallest and most numerous species, unfavourable human activities have caused their numbers to decline, and they now face major dangers on their migratory path, habitat, and breeding beaches. The IUCN Red List classifies the species as Vulnerable (IUCN-international union of conservation of nature.
- Olive Ridley turtles reside in warm seas of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans. They are well-known for a mass nesting event known as Arribada, in which hundreds of female olive ridley turtles congregate on a single beach to lay eggs.
- As carnivores, these turtles mostly eat jellyfish, shrimp, snails, crabs, mollusks, as well as a variety of fish and their eggs.
- The Olive-primary Ridley’s mass nesting area is along the coast of Orissa, India.
- The temperature in the nest affects the sex of turtles. Male hatchlings are produced by cooler incubation temperatures, whereas female hatchlings are produced by warmer incubation temperatures. A mixture of male and female hatchlings will be produced in conditions that alternate between the two extremes.
