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ESS and STPS Information
Centre Gerakas, Zakynthos
The
legendary strength of the sea turtle is central to the creation
myths of many peoples, who believed that if the turtle disappeared
the world would end.
Our
logo is based on an ancient Mayan symbol, and depicts the turtle
swimming in an infinite sea to eternally separate earth from sky.
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Natural
evolution of Earth Sea & Sky
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Yannis Vardakastanis |
Earth Sea and Sky was established in Zakynthos in 1993 by Yannis Vardakastanis. Yannis became a conservationist in 1991 and has been steadily working to protect Gerakas where he grew up, from tourism development. Since 1993 he has directed his energy into bringing conservation and sustainable tourism together, culminating in Ionian Eco Vilagers and Nature World Travel - his green tourism companies - and has been actively involved with conservation work on the island ever since.
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In 1996 Earth Sea & Sky funded and built the Sea Turtle & Wildlife Information Centre at Gerakas - the only one on the island now - to encourage visitors to take a closer look at the rich heritage, natural beauty, wildlife and culture of Zakynthos, and to promote the need for sustainable tourism.
Archelon, Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece also operates from this centre, its volunteers providing important information to the many people who visit the nesting beaches each year, and doing research and monitoring work with the turtles on Gerakas Beach.
As a direct result of the Information Centre and the increasing pressure exerted on local government by European laws, Gerakas beach has now reduced the number of sunbeds from 180 approx. in 1998 down to 70 in the year 2000. The important nesting area to the left side of the beach being freed to allow easy access to nesting turtles. In addition, all pedalos and boating activities have been banned from the area.
Relocation of Sea Turtles, July 2000
Earth Sea & Sky played a crucial role in the successful airlift and relocation of three injured loggerhead sea turtles from Greece, to the Sea Life Bioservices Centre in Weymouth. The turtles had been cared for at the STPS Rescue Centre in Glyfada, Athens, but their injuries, a consequence of fishing net entanglement and human attack had rendered them unfit for release into the wild. Now receiving specialist veterinary care, they will help to raise funds, and draw attention to the threats of sea turtles in the wild.
Coastal Clean up Campaign, Summer 2000
During the summer 2000 season, Earth Sea and Sky teamed up with the STPS and Daniel Caute a British conservationist to launch a Coastal Clean up campaign. The aim of the campaign was to actively involve tourists in conservation work whilst promoting the importance of the newly designated National Marine Park on Zakynthos.
The Laganas bay beaches are under immense pressure from tourists, who use the beaches in the daytime. A team of volunteers protected these sites for the turtles, which only come ashore after dark to lay their eggs, by stacking sun beds and clearing away litter and larger debris each evening. Years of neglect had taken their toll on several almost inaccessible sites such as Vrodonero, where steep cliffs provide an ideal walled sanctuary for endangered sea birds, turtles and Monk seals. Our team of volunteers cleared them of decades of drift waste. A long term habitat improvement for wildlife. For more information on volunteer work please visit our volunteer activities page.
Talks
Slide Shows and talks are presented throughout the summer season by the STPS and groups at the Gerakas Information centre in Zakynthos. During the winter months Earth Sea & Sky continue the message by presenting illustrated lectures and slide shows to schools, colleges and special interest groups throughout the United Kingdom.
Should you be interested in holding a fundraising event through your school or organisation then please contact:
yannis@earthseasky.org
"We’re guarding this place for those
who have not yet been born"
A personal view by Yannis Vardakastanis, an Ionian islander
When I was a child there were long hot summer days when it was just me and the turtles. Long before my island home became a package tourist destination I can remember walking barefoot down through the woods and across the meadows and olive groves which led to Gerakas beach and the big blue. The buzz of the insects, the singing of the birds and the sound of the sea were music to my ears. I didn’t fully appreciate it at the time, but I was living in god’s pocket. It was the only world I knew and I probably thought every other kid in the world was enjoying life in a similar landscape. We didn’t have very much in those days; we were very poor in fact. As I have grown older and visited a good number of the many countries of this world, I have come to realise that less is more, that living at one with nature is the true home of the human spirit and being born to it was my great good fortune. The summer days are still as long and hot, as they were when I was a child, but I rarely find myself alone with turtles, on the Gerakas beach of today. When I do, I whisper my apologies and promise them that help is coming.
"Maybe we can’t save the world, but with your support we can save a little corner of it."
Earth
Sea & Sky is a Not for profit organisation, Registration No.
4123700. Endorsed by the European SeaLife Conservation Scheme and
dedicated to the protection and conservation of the flora and fauna
of Zakynthos and the Greek Ionian. Funds are generated through
individual membership, and donations.
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Help
us to promote awareness and devise conservation activities, to
protect the diversity of Ionian wildlife and their natural habitats. |
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