The world’s largest LEED platinum certified chain, ITC Hotels along with Welcomhotel has announced a special surprise for kids this summer, the ‘Ollie’s Summer Camp’. Kids are currently spending their days at home attending virtual classes for most part of their day with no respite. Dedicated to the young adults of our world, Ollie’s Summer Camp is a club for kids which has been designed with interactive activities and learnings for the budding minds. Ollie’s Club at ITC Hotels and Ollie’s Corner at WelcomHotel respectively, are named after the Oliver Ridley turtle, one of ocean’s abundant tiny treasures, that are found visiting Morjim, Galgibag and Agonda Beach in Goa along with Gahirmata Beach in Odisha in the months of January and February.
In keeping with ITC Hotels ethos of supporting planet positive experiences, the Ollie’s Club is a tribute to the strength and resilience of this wonderful species. The Ollie’s Summer Camp is dedicated to the spirit of fun, discovery and inclusivity.
Ollie’s Summer Camp brings structured activities for our young guests that are aimed at sparking their inherent curiosity. Through a kaleidoscope of varied topics and easy to follow instructions, ITC aims to satiate their inquisitive minds with responsible experiences that enrich their lives.
Beginning August 19, 2020, the virtual camp will dive into one engaging week of interactive activities for the budding minds of our world which will help them develop skills and hobbies such as painting, cooking, gardening among others. Each of the day’s activities will feature two interesting topics which can be viewed through short videos on ITC Hotels’ and Welcomhotels’ social media handles.
About Olive Ridley Turtles
The coast of Odisha in India is the largest mass nesting site for the Olive Ridley
The Olive Ridley turtles are the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world, inhabiting warm waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. These turtles, along with their cousin the Kemps Ridley turtle, are best known for their unique mass nesting called Arribada, where thousands of females come together on the same beach to lay eggs. Though found in abundance, their numbers have been declining over the past few years, and the species is recognized as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red list.
Growing to about 2 feet in length, and 50 kg in weight, the Olive Ridley gets its name from its olive coloured carapace, which is heart-shaped and rounded. Males and females grow to the same size; however, females have a slightly more rounded carapace as compared to the male. They are carnivores, and feed mainly on jellyfish, shrimp, snails, crabs, molluscs and a variety of fish and their eggs. These turtles spend their entire lives in the ocean and migrate thousands of kilometers between feeding and mating grounds in the course of a year.
Interestingly, females return to the very same beach from where they first hatched, to lay their eggs. During this phenomenal nesting, up to 600,000 and more females emerge from the waters, over a period of five to seven days, to lay eggs. They lay their eggs in conical nests about one and a half feet deep which they laboriously dig with their hind flippers. The coast of Orissa in India is the largest mass nesting site for the Olive-Ridley, followed by the coasts of Mexico and Costa Rica.
Source: wwfindia.org
