"The camp has allowed us to see the light at the end of the tunnel for the species' conservation," said a researcher at Thailand Research Institute, an organiser of the four-day camp. "To conserve sea turtles permanently, we need to implant seeds of awareness in the younger generation."

"Amazing!" is how Salisa Sirichaiekawat summed up the camp in Rayong's Koh Man Nai earlier this month.

The Grade 6 student from Somrudee Samut Sakhon School said she was most impressed by the turtles' sense of direction. "I was very impressed to learn that the mother turtle returns to lay eggs in the same place she was born. What a good sense of direction she has!"

"I never knew the new-born turtles immediately swim into the deep sea for three days without resting, and they make for the sea on instinct in response to the direction of moonlight," she said.

Salisa was one of 35 children who attended the camp organised by TK Park and Thailand Research Fund. The camp, called "Little Spy, Follow the Trail of the Sea Turtle", celebrates the Year of the Turtle.

Participants discuss sea turtles with marine experts and take part in activities like diving and watercolour painting. Pawatwong Khanthaworn said he had become fascinated by sea turtles.

"I love the way they travel," said the Grade 4 student from Bangkok's Bang Khen Witthaya School.

"Sea turtles have a very adventurous life. After birth they swim out to sea and travel for years until they find a mate, and then after mating the mother returns to her birthplace to spawn."

Chanoknan Raksa-ad, a Grade 8 student from Saint Joseph Sakon Nakhon School, said the camp had opened up a new world to her.

"It was terrific to learn about the turtles and see their underwater world, where they feed and live," she said.

It is first-hand reactions like this that conservationists are counting on to ensure the long-term survival of sea turtles.