Happy New Year!!! Our NEW Turtle Discovery Mini Museum

Written by Adrian Wong

10 Jan 2014

A very happy new year to all of you; TCS members & readers! May the year 2014 bring you all more happiness, joy & prosperity!

Hi! Its been a while since I’ve contributed to a blog so this calls for a celebration! Both as a contributor and for the fact that TCS has been allocated a special area within the grounds of Perhilitan’s Terrapin Conservation unit (off Kampung Dusun, Kuala Berang, Terengganu) to setup our very first Turtle Discovery Mini Museum (TDMM)! Though we’re still open to ideas in naming the centre (do I hear some suggestions? Do let us know in the comments section below) and doing an official soft launch, we’re excited to reveal our work-in-progress (WIP).

Cows roaming the street

Cows roaming the street

Its been raining cats & dogs these few days, even after the floods have subsided in Kampung Dusun but work is work (in the cleaning & setup of our TDMM), before we get really busy with terrapin nestings during the months of Feb-March every year. Would you like to volunteer or intern? We constantly get request(s) for an internship placement with TCS & to run a volunteer program and we are now accepting both interns & local/foreign volunteers so do drop us an email and find out how you can participate!

Work began today (It was wet & rainy this morning with earth works & drain works at the entrance of the centre)! It would take us approximately 4-5 days in setting up  TDMM and we would work right through the “east coast” weekend: cleaning, arranging & mounting of artefacts, exhibit placements, museum flow with merchandises for sale at the end of the exhibits, etc.

We’re even planning for a kids friendly play area, so that you parents can roam & explore freely, while your kids keep themselves busy with turtle related activities & games.

Boxes of exhibits

Boxes of exhibits

Our Setiu info & artefacts have finally found a new “home”. Check out our display areas and the fun we had in Setiu prior to setting up in Kuala Berang here.

One of the many reasons why we are setting up this mini museum is because at Perhilitan’s centre, river terrapins are available for viewing throughout the year. And this ranges anywhere from baby terrapins to adult terrapins. The other reason is that we would like to incorporate this venue/museum, Turtle Alley in Kampung Cina, MNS EcoCare in Kerteh into our existing Turtle Discovery Trips (TDT) covering Pasir Gajah @ Kemaman & Cherating Sea Turtle Centre.

Turtle Discovery Trips (TDT) just got better and TDMM will be a stop! Would you be keen to join in a 3 days 2 nights trip?
Look out for more fantastic spots included in TDT2014! Also, do let us know if you know of any car or super bike convoy groups wanting to have a “ride of their lifetime” :-) while helping to conserve our friendly river terrapins.

Installation in progress

Installation in progress

Come explore & discover the unique feature of the carapace.

As you can see, there’s a lot more things to be done. Even the walls need a good wipe, windows a good clean and the ceilings – free from cobwebs! Display cabinets requires a nice clean seal for all edges and the formalin needs to be topped up! For those impatient and wondering where our latest adventure is situated, its in Kuala Berang, a little kampung called Kampung Dusun, bearing coordinates 5.063231, 102.953565 or just Google/Waze: “Batu Bersurat Terengganu”, we’re approximate 8-10km inwards, nearing Sungai Terengganu, where the river terrapins nest on its river banks.

Location (Google Map): https://goo.gl/maps/EDdCj

Possibly our new signboard?

Possibly our new signboard?

Here’s a view of the excavator (in the background) working on the drainage earlier today and the view looking outside to the right of the mini museum. With that, I leave you with our upcycled carapace signage of our new Turtle Discovery Mini Museum! Don’t be a stranger and come visit us when we’re opened!

Read about our journey of setting up the Terrapin Museum here:

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