THE LEATHERBACK GUARDIANS

In Panama, conservationists are tracking endangered turtles — and fighting for their legal rights

The members of the Leatherback Project are nursing warm Cokes and thin coffee at a military base on the edge of Panama City. Nearby, four Panamanian air force mechanics are silhouettes against a sunlit green backdrop of jungle as they huddle around a tiny camouflage-painted Cessna. It is unclear when the little plane last flew, but it is definitely not ready for takeoff. The team’s departure hour on that plane has been a moving target all morning, and now it’s creeping into afternoon. They might not get down to the Indigenous village of Armila, near the Panama-Colombia border, before dark. Nighttime is when female leatherback turtles crawl out of a Caribbean current that is often too strong for human swimmers and lay the eggs of the next generation of their dwindling species.

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Keywords: Leatherbacks; Panama; Sea turtles