This report is the first to chronicle the daily activities of a TSA team’s visit to four countries in Asia – Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Philippines - to design turtle facilities, develop conservation programs, and consult on turtle husbandry issues. The team is led by Rick Hudson and includes Lonnie McCaskill and Dave Manser. The team was met in Myanmar by Kalyar Platt and her father Nyunt Thein (a local retired civil engineer) in Yangon, Myanmar.  The mission in Myanmar is to begin designing and “costing out” turtle and tortoise facilities that were recommended at the January 2009 workshop. 

From 7 – 10 January 2009 the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), in conjunction with the Myanmar Forestry Department, conducted two workshops in Mandalay. A Species Recovery Plan (SRP) workshop for the Myanmar roof turtle, Kachuga (Batagur) trivittata, was followed by a comprehensive trade workshop entitled “Developing an Integrative Strategy for Handling Confiscated Turtles in Myanmar.”

The Arakan forest turtle (Heosemys depressa) is endemic to the Arakan Hills of western Myanmar, and considered one of the least known turtles in the world.  Heosemys depressa is classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN due to continuing over-exploitation and its limited distribution.  To gain a better understanding of the biology of this poorly known species, Steven Platt (Sul Ross State University) led a field team into the Rakhine Yoma Elephant Range (RYER) of western Myanmar from 25 May through 10 June 2009 to conduct a preliminary survey.