Contrasting experience

I visited the KIDO project with a friend summer 2006 we were both marine zoolgy students and very keen on gaining experience in the conservation field.

Firstly the positives -
Beautiful location, southern tip of a stunning island
Hands on experience with marine life
Contact with locals
Reasonable value accommodation

Now the negatives -
Little actual support from the hosts
Placed in potential dangerous situations
Worked like a slave at times
Treated local staff poorly
Treated very different from tourist visitors (not allowed to eat with them)
Didn't really practice what they preached

Conclusion -
The hosts saw themselves as some sort of wildlife guardians but in reality they were more interested in the publicity and looking good in front of the tourists.
One example was for a photo opportunity for a paying groups of tourists dragging a female Hawksbill back up the beach to allow all the groups to have they photo taken with her.
A Spanish volunteer who was there at the same time as us who had agreed to stay for 1 year felt he was being treated like a slave and joked 'I'll die on this beach'.
An example of the danger the volunteers were placed in was when I was stopped by a local smuggler & poacher holding his machete and I told I should get of his beach now. I called the hosts who informed me to 'man up'. Our local guide who was a brilliant guide got us all of the beach as he was concerned. Serval other volunteers who were young females were patrolling these beaches at night either in pairs or on their own which was incredibly dangerous.

So though appearing like an island paradise with Eco warriors safe guarding the local wildlife the reality is very different.
If you want to work with sea turtles there are many other areas better to do it. Sorry for the negative review but I felt it important for potential young students keen on gaining experience know what they could be letting themselves in for.