The Turtle Conservancy, a 90-acre property on the outskirts of Ojai, is dedicated to the protection and proliferation of these creatures worldwide. The nonprofit organization was founded by Eric Goode and Maurice Rodrigues in 2005.
The Ojai site is not open to the public. But members of the conservancy and guests at the Ojai Valley Inn and just-opened Hotel El Roblar can book tours for a fee. And those tours can be fascinating.
“We’re now at 48 different species and more than 500 turtles on site,” Education director Manci Rasmussen told four of us one recent morning.
As we roamed the tree-shaded property, Rasmussen explained how some turtle species can vocalize beyond human hearing range, see beyond the human spectrum, pause their pregnancies until their health is better, live 190-plus years and last a year without food or water. Yet thanks to human habits, many species are endangered.
We also learned firsthand that radiated tortoises like shell rubs. Before the tour was over we’d each met many species, seen a baby Burmese star tortoise and a Chinese big-headed turtle up close and fed celery by hand to a 275-pound Galapagos giant tortoise.
Tours run 60 to 90 minutes. Overnight guests at the Hotel El Roblar and the Ojai Valley Inn can book them through the hotels at $100 per adult, $50 per child under 16. If you’re not staying at one of those hotels, a year’s conservancy membership begins at $100 for adults (with discounts for students and seniors) and entitles an individual to two visits yearly.
(The conservancy likes to keep its street address quiet.)