Afrah Abdul Sathaar was born and raised in the very south of the Maldives – Addu Atoll. He started working in the tourism industry in 2018, however, after working in different departments for a few years, he was yet to discover his passion.
Despite growing up in an island nation, the ocean and its wonderful inhabitants were unknown to Afrah. That all changed when he started diving in 2018. The myriad of marine life captured his imagination with their beauty and sea turtles caught his attention as the “chilled out dudes” of the sea.
The shy greens and the curious hawksbills mesmerized him and as he kept expanding his knowledge about sea turtles, he also became aware of how vulnerable they are. Afrah felt that the only thing he could do to help them was to collect every bit of plastic he saw, but he wanted to do more. That’s when a colleague of his made him aware of ORP and opportunity finally knocked.
Afrah first joined ORP as a sea turtle biologist intern in Laamu Atoll before moving to the Marine Turtle Rescue Centre in Baa Atoll – also as an intern. He then worked at Amilla Maldives Resort and Residences, also in Baa Atoll, as ORP’s Sea Turtle Biologist & Guest Educator. Currently, he is based at Six Senses Kanuhura in Lhaviyani Atoll in the same role. For Afrah, it is a dream come true to be able to spend his days fully immersed in protecting sea turtles through scientific research and by educating tourists and locals about these gentle creatures.
