Chapter 30
I hit publish on the very first post for the Barefoot Bookshop social media pages.
Meet Turt Vonnegut!
This eighty-six-year-old Aldabra giant Tortoise has lived an interesting life if the tales are true…
It’s been hard to separate fact from fiction when it comes to Turt, so we’re going to share some of the colourful backstories about him over the course of the next little while…
A few years ago, Turt’s health was on the decline so it was decided that after treatment he’d be taken to the Aldabra atoll – where the Aldabra tortoises live and thrive with few natural threats.
There are over one hundred and fifty thousand tortoises in the atoll, so they figured Turt would enjoy his twilight years with his own kind.
But what they didn’t factor in was Turt’s friendship with a man named Gus.
When Turt meandered back into the Barefoot Bookshop a few months later, no one could believe their eyes.
His tag was checked and it was indeed Turt.
But how? Aldabra giant tortoises can’t swim those distances.
We’ll never know how Turt made his way back to his buddy Gus but we do know that nothing is impossible when you’ve got love in your heart…
Recollection shared by Xavier Bastille
Click the link in our bio to read about tortoise conservation on the islands of Seychelles, or better yet, come and visit the Barefoot Bookshop and we’ll help you arrange a tour.