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Bolivia

Hab

Spp

Peo

D1

Armonia Foundation -  Blue-Throated Macaw Project

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Bolivian Savannah and cattle ranching land

Blue Throated Macaw

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R

r

D2

Indigenous community conservation projects.

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Community territory  of Bolivian Savannah

Peccary, tortoise, armadillo, bees and caiman. Sustainable use projects.

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D3

Santa Cruz Zoo –forging in-situ links.

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Animals from all over Bolivia

Bear, jaguar, Giant otter, Maned wolf, macaws + guans

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D4

WWF – Panatanal + Jungle programmes +  media campaigns

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Bolivian Pantanal + Bolivian Amazon tropical rainforest.

Pantanal and Jungle spp. Inc. Guanaco + Maned Wolf

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R

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D5

Arubai nature reserve education programme

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p

i

Mix of Dry forest + tropical rainforest

Environmental education programme

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D6

Arubai - Venomous snake conservation + venom extraction

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Snakes from all over Bolivia

Various rattle snakes Botrops spp,Croatalus spp  + lachesis muta,

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p

D7a

Noel Kempff National Park - Park Guard support programme - FAN

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Amazon tropical rainforest plateaux formation –endemisism.

largest pop of giant otter, spider monkeys – 14 other spp of primate, peccaries and other jungle fauna.

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R

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D7b

Giant otter project (run by Paul Van Damme with FAN)

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Amazon tropical rainforest + river and lagoon system.

Giant Otter and caiman other otters + prey spp.of fish.

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R

D8

Madidi Living Landscapes Programme
- Wildlife Conservation Society

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Andean paramo + forest, cloud forest, to tropical rainforest + savannah

The five landscape spp. Are: Andean condor, bear, jaguar, white lipped peccary + lspp. of large catfish

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R

R

D9a

  b

Quipus foundation
a) Highland wildlife centre (Proposed projects)
b) Community Vicuna reserve

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a) By lake Titicaca (1hr from La Paz)  
b) SW Bolivia over 4000m asl. Natural paramo, salt lakes + lagoons

a) Vicuna, guanaco, llama + alpaca
b) Vicuna, 3 spp of flamingo, vizcacha.
 

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D10

Fundacion Vida Silvestre de Bolivia Rehab Centre

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Animals from All over Bolivia

Range of Bolivian spp. First recognised rescue centre in Bolivia.

Project Information

Photo Caption

Project 1: Fundacion Armonia and 
The Blue Throated Macaw Project

November 2001

Trinidad – a savannah town. First up was a trip out to the cattle town of Trinidad in the Bolivian savannah, called here the “Beni”.  After a 7-hour bus trip along the newly paved and inaugurated road, we met up with Alan Hesse, coordinator of the Blue Throated Macaw Project and co-founder of the Bolivian Bird life partner “Fundacion Armonia” (meaning harmony). 

A real safari. We were in a race with the onset of the rains, so the next day we headed out in to the Beni along sun baked mud tracks to the study site.  With in a few minutes we were jumping out of the dust filled jeep to get our first look and footage of capybara, yacare caiman, rhea, caracara, jabiru stork all set in an exquisite scene of electric green grass, termite mounds, scattered palms and forest islands in the background. If you want to actually see wildlife with minimum effort and disturbance, then the Beni is the place for you, no doubt the best wildlife spotting we’d had in our whole trip. 

Telling the story. All that was left for us to do was seeing the Blue Throated Macaw, get some good footage and come home.  That took us 3 more days and although we saw the birds every day – fate deemed that we were never able to get that perfect shot.  However, we achieved more than we dreamed we could and got back to Trinidad before the rain. Alan, Sixto and Felix (Alan’s two volunteers) told us the history of the project, the bird and the area, while helping us take some incredible film with which to re-tell the story when we get home and in the process we learnt a huge amount about the intricacies of conserving a highly endangered species, which at times doesn’t seam to want to conserve it’s self.

Saving the Blue Throated Macaw - Always a rarity. After 7 years of work, Alan estimates that there may only be around 50 individuals left of this species. Persecuted by the illegal traffic of birds in the 70’s and 80’s, this highly sort after and intelligent Macaw is now on the brink of extinction.  Historical reports indicate that the Blue throated Macaw only ever had a relatively small distribution.  It would seem this is due to the tight niche it fits or has been forced into by competition from it’s larger and widespread cousin the Blue and Gold Macaw.

Putting all your eggs in one palm trunk. 
The Parabara barba azul (Blue-bearded macaw - as it is known as in Spanish – try saying that after a tequila) only inhabits the jungle islands found across the Beni, and prefers to use the same species of palm, the Motacu, for its main food source and nest site.  Unfortunately the Motacu is also highly prized by humans, who use it as thatching for their roofs and 25 other uses – some sustainable but most of them not.

Nomadic cowboys. If that’s not enough the peoples of the Beni lead almost nomadic existences working for different Cattle ranchers, who commonly change their whole staff over every few years. Consequently, these people have no commitment to any particular area and prefer quick, easy opposed to sustainable.  This means that they cut the whole palm rather than climb it to harvest just a few of the leaves for thatching their roofs.

The few ranches that provide a school, find that teachers don’t last long in the primitive classroom and harsh environment and move on more regularly than the people, so there is little chance of running an effective education programme with schools and their communities. 

The Private Guardians of the Macaw. For this reason Alan took a different track and decided to get the people with the power, the landowners, involved.  The 7 landowners that have this species on their land, now make up a group of “Private Guardians” of the BTM.  Alan has worked with them to implement basic Macaw conservation measures on their land.  
Poaching has been all but stopped – although there are still occasional reports of chicks being stolen from nests, as the black market price is still a huge temptation to the people of the area.

So much more to do. This approach has proved to be effective, but Alan still feels it needs to be backed up with continued work with the local people, the cowboys and their families, who share their environment with the species. He feels the BTM could be used as a flagship to implement conservation measures for the wider area. There is still much to learn about the macaw before effective conservation measures can be implemented - the aggressive heat + mosquitoes of the Beni make this no easy task. 

Options for the future. So far funds have been available to pay for the expenses of Alan and his team, but since 1999 Alan have worked without salary. Not a satisfactory solution in the long run. The project needs additional funding to establishing a full time coordinator, based in the area, who can start to push the project into a new error of research, community work and education campaigns. Eco-tourism may also be an option in the future but first it’s impact on the species needs to be measured, as even during our brief trip, we saw evidence that insensitive independent tour guides may have caused one pair to abandon a nest site.

Taking responsibility – it’s time to help! The future of this species has been forced into the balance by the trade in Macaws, a trade that, until recently, also supplied zoos and pet shops the world over. Is it not time we helped to support projects like this, which offer the last ray of hope for this vanishing species? There are a team of dedicated conservationists, ready to take up the challenge and make it their life’s work – all they need is a helping hand.

If you can offer support 
or funding for this project please contact us.

Photo 3604: Alan Hesse, coordinator of the Blue Throated Macaw project +  his dedicated volunteers, Sixto + Felix who are qualified vets.

Photo 3617: The safari begins…..

First big game
Photo 3543: Capybara– the worlds largest rodent,

Photo 3609: The thick necked Jabiru stork.

Photo 3674: The Blue Throated Macaws, in Santa Cruz Zoo, are now an invaluable flagships for this species.

Photo 3601: Re-enacting how birds were traditionally captured. This method needs a captive bird to be used as a “caller”. There are not enough birds left to do it this way anymore – poachers now just take chicks from the nest.

Photo 3547: The popular Motacu palm – it has over 26 uses by man and 100’s more by animals

Photo 3579: A ranch workers village thatched in the popular palm.

Photo 3578: These children told me they preferred to be in school, but their teacher had left, mid term, again.

Photo 3572: Their deserted school.

Photo 3530: Cowboy country, these guys chew coca leaves to relieve their thirst and stop them getting too tired on the 15day rides when they drive the cattle to market.

Photo 3528: In the midst of the heard

Photo 3567: The Foreman’s house and our campsite.

Photo 3586: The open air bathroom, with lakeside view.

Photo 3595: The stunning Palm fringed sun sets turn the savannah grass iridescent and make you forget, the hash conditions of the day.

Photo 3562: Please help Alan make sure this is not one of the last sunsets the Blue Throated Macaw will see in the wild.

Project 2 - The Wendy Townsend 
- Community Conservation Projects

November 2001

A Community Conservation Genius. 
Wendy Townsend is considered by many to be a genius in developing community conservation and research projects. Her work with several indigenous groups has been used as models by other conservationists.  Wendy received Millennium funding to set up and trial 21 different community development and conservation projects, she is now looking for funding to implement the most successful of these.  We had the pleasure of spending several days with Wendy as she introduced us to communities she has worked with and projects that she would like to support them with in the future.

Photo 3618: Wendy knows how to work with and be accepted by communities – that’s why this skin trader, would stop and show us the marsh dear pelt, he’d just bought from a community.

a)     The Siriono

The Siriono – an anthropologically famous nomadic tribe. The Siriono are an anthropologically famous nomadic tribe from the Beni region of Bolivia who were settled by Jesuit missionaries and now are struggling to maintain their lifestyle and traditions in an environment that has been heavily encroached by cattle ranchers and intensive farming.  They have completed the land titling process and their 2000 strong community now sits in its own jungle island – an island that is proving to be more and more important to the area, if habitat rehabilitation of the degrading surrounding land is ever to be achieved. 

Self-monitoring systems. All Wendy’s projects look at supporting communities to find their own sustainable alternatives to conserving their habitat, the species it contains and their traditions.  Her approach is that of establishing self-monitoring systems. It is legal to harvest wild animals for personal consumption, and Wendy’s approach can help make sure communities will always be able to feed themselves whilst at the same time generating excellent data for population and conservation research.

Sustainable Harvesting – a potential Conservation tool. Unfortunately, trade in many of the species, that communities have traditionally used, is at present, illegal. This makes it impossible for them to make a living from managing the populations – even at a sustainable level.  It may change in the future and it is a controversial but interesting path for species conservation projects.

Working with communities – the right way. In line with Wendy’s approach, our visit was used to introduce our project to the community, they subsequently asked us detailed questions about it’s potential for them and informed us that they would discuss it further and then work with Wendy to develop a proposal, detailing the exact project they would like to submit. There attitude had been shaped by the fact that every year several projects are written for them, with out their knowledge, by outsiders on topics of no interest or relevance – they preferred to be in the driving seat – and so they should be if the project has any chance of success.

With the community in the driving seat! 
They showed us some interesting handicrafts and a native bee honey project that seemed to be working very effectively, and spoke with interest about projects involving caiman and peccary. 
They are currently writing up their own proposal.

Photo 3622: The Siriono.

Photo 3627: Sunday is community meeting day – after the heavy stuff young and old take part in activities, such as races, horse riding demos and playing music.

Photos 3639 + 3651: Interesting Pets are just part of community life.

Photo 3807: Peccaries have always been an important food source for this community and their pasts and future are inextricably linked.

Photos 3641 + 3643: Cultivating native bees helps conserve the jungle too.  Every household now takes part in this trial programme.

Photo 3653: Time to take the plunge, kids can only hack meetings for so long….

b)     Ayoreo community

Other Communities want to work with Wendy too. 
Wendy will be following a similar process with other communities with which she is involved.

Plant fibre bags and tortoise. One of most interest is the Ayoreo community, who are looking for support with a Yellow footed tortoise project and for a market for their beautifully produced plant fibres bags.  They have just recently, with Wendy’s help managed to cultivate the plant used to make the bags, thus helping to protect this plant in the wild.  

Awaiting their proposals. 
We look forward to receiving proposals from all of Wendy’s projects, as they are sure to be of great interest to the zoo and conservation world.  

We will keep you posted.

Photo 3802: The yellow-footed Tortoise – rare in the wild, abundant in Santa Cruz Zoo, could be instrumental in this project.

Project 3 - Santa Cruz Zoo

November 2001

Desperate to make changes. Nicole Martinez from WWF Bolivia introduced us to the plight of Santa Cruz Zoo.  This 6ha, 18yr old city zoo has a huge potential in education and in-situ conservation links and is desperately looking for help to reach that potential after years of miss-management and corruption. 

A new dawn for Santa Cruz Zoo. In August 2001 a new director and a steering committee were appointed to give the city council professional advice on zoo matters.  The committee is made up of leading figures in in-situ conservation, botany, animal welfare, and education from the Santa Cruz area.  The doors were thrown open to outside help and involvement for the first time in 15 years after the last director was forced to resign, when news of his mis-management finally got into the press.  The zoo is a collection of 100% native animals to South America and has some individuals very important to captive breeding programmes worldwide. 

The Problems the zoo now faces. There are problems of over crowding (e.g. the zoo now has over 300 yellow footed tortoise and 12 jaguar in 6 enclosures on and off exhibit, huge herds of peccary), diets are poor and environmental enrichment un heard of, no animal records have been kept for 15years, veterinary expertise is limited, there is little or no breeding management – which means some important species have never bred and others breed too much. There was no education programme and signage old fashioned and made no reference to conservation status. Not to mention the fact that many of the staff in the past were political appointments, with little expertise.

Making a start. From this starting point they have already made massive changes in the few months of new management; an animal record system has been implemented and workshops with keeper have begun, aimed at improving diets and enrichment. The museum has helped to launch an education programme for schools and new signage has already been designed and put up.

The zoo’s potential. We were immediately struck by the potential of this Zoo to fulfil essential conservation education roles and to act as a direct link to the national parks and biodiversity that Bolivia still has the opportunity to conserve. Especially as so many conservation groups are active in this region and are looking for effective methods and platforms to get their messages across to the people of the area. Many Bolivians have little opportunity to travel and very few ever get to visit the national parks, which cover 15% of the countries area. 

An excellent platform for conservation education. This poses a huge problem to the conservation organisations working in these areas – as no one knows about their work or thinks it is important. Santa Cruz Zoo has a huge potential for conservation education, animal welfare campaigns and for raising environmental awareness.

Why should in-situ organisations use the zoo…?

European Zoo Support. We hope that the European Zoo community can offer support in bringing Santa Cruz up to speed on the modern husbandry techniques so that it can start fulfilling it’s potential.

The Zoo’s most immediate needs are:

Can you help?  If so please contact us for further details

Photo 3857: From the Zoos entrance it’s easy to see it’s leafy and spacious potential.

Photos 3800 + 3743: The zoo’s abundance of tortoise and peccaries.

Photos 3821, 3781 + 3714: Bush dog, Andean bears + Puma are just a few of the species that would benefit from more environmental enrichment.

Photo 3864:

Photos 3687, 3712 + 3859: Guans, Aardwolf + harpy eagles are just some of the rare and strange species the zoo houses.

Photos 3745, 3782 + 3671: Some of the jaguar and the condors enjoy spacious and naturalistic enclosures and visitors can enjoy the walk through tropical aviary.

Photo 4042: The new committee, made up of in-situ conservation experts and other professionals from the Santa Cruz area – promise to turn the zoo around and make a jewel in Bolivia’s crown

Photo 3874: The zoos needs help to house some of the surplus animals that are currently held in the quarantine area.  Most of these animals are confiscates or donations from the illegal wild animal pet trade.

Project 4: In-situ conservation organisations in the Santa Cruz area

FAN (Fundacion Amigos de Naturaleza) a Bolivian conservation NGO, WCS (Wildlife conservation society), WWF– all run different projects in and around the national park areas of the Santa Cruz department. We had meetings with them to find out more about their work. They have or will be submitting proposals for specific projects in the future.

Projects 5 + 6 - Arubai Private Reserve and Projects

November 2001

The following projects are set in a highly unique habitat that borders the Amboro National park.  It forms a buffer zone from the dry forest and encroaching agricultural land spreading out from Santa Cruz. 

The road less-paved. After 15 minutes of driving on paved roads, we reached the outskirts of Santa Cruz, we crossed the river by a new bridge and saw the huge sand banks that the locals refer to as “the beach” – favourite hang-out on holidays and weekends. Within 5 minutes of reaching the other side the paved road disappeared and for another hour and half we bumped and slid along the mud, sand or gravel track.  We emerged into an open expanse of low sand dunes and scrub; several burrowing owls littered the dune, standing sentry to their nest burrows.  As we began to climb out of the plains we came across quiet, white washed villages and mysterious fruit trees.  We passed through the dry forest and came to rest in the lush vegetation, which is characteristic of the foothills of the Andes.

Project 5: Parque Natural Privado Arubai –
Environmental Education Jungle Trips.

November 2001

A family concern. Javier Coimbra, his children and his father a famous Bolivian botanists, where our guides to this project.  They have declared their family land of unspoilt forest, a private reserve where they have constructed a series of paths and trails along which Javier and his team of specially trained guides lead school children from Santa Cruz along a magical mystery tour through the diverse habitat that surrounds their small homestead and receptions area. 

A walk on the wild side. A two-hour walk before lunch through the lush tropical forest tucked in the steep gullies leading down to the plains is interpreted for the children to explain the importance of the forest; it’s plants and animals.  Children get to taste the products of the jungle that are in season along the trail, fruits, nuts, flower, leaves and even grubs! 

Educational erosion. After a home cooked lunch it’s time to explore the dry forest that clings desperately to the tops of the gullies and this time the kids get to taste the exquisite delicate flavours of cactus fruits and relatives of wild pineapples.  The tour ends in a huge arena formed by natural erosion processes that grip these steep gullies and plateaus.  Here the lunar landscape captures the imagination and from a rise in the centre Javier teaches the principles of erosion, sedimentation and how valleys are formed and rivers change their course. 

A living model of the Andes. The course of the erosion forms a scale model of Andes to the plains where Javier can explain the geological processes that formed the breath taking landscapes of Bolivia, in an instantly clear and impacting way.

Guiding excellence. It’s a full days adventure and even for us who have been guided through many different forests along the course of our journey, had to admit Javier made one of the best guides we’d ever had. He effortlessly interweaves, myth and cultural stories with biological fact and conservation significance.  He brought the landscape alive in a way that will stay with us and I’m sure for all other visitors for a long time to come.

Getting in touch with nature. Here as else where in the world the most people live in towns and cities and are becoming increasing detached from the natural world around them. Javier’s vision is to provide a real and interactive experience that will give all the children in the area a chance to discover the joys, wonders and importance of the forest. 

Making it accessible to all. However the 4x4 transport necessary to get children to the site makes the price inhibitory and Javier is looking for support to be able to offer this service to every school and pupil regardless of their economic status.  He is also in discussions with Santa Cruz Zoo to form an integrated programme with them and perhaps offer an overflow site for a couple of species that can no longer be housed appropriately in the zoo.  This would add the live animal experience to his tour that would make it complete as an educational tool for the visiting kids.

Can you help? 
Javier is preparing a more detailed proposal in response to our visit, please contact us if you are able to help or want more details.

Photo 3958: After an hour foraging in the jungle, Javier, our guide and project coordinator, shows the range of wild fruits in season at the moment.

Photo 3953: Nan preparing to eat her first, Motocu palm nut grub.  It actually tasted quite coco-nutty and nice!

Photos 3942 + 3946: A world of erosion – how the earth was made.

Photo 3962: The Pineapple and it’s wild relatives, they are not as meaty but just as tasty.

Photo 3882: A cashew nut and fruit growing – and

Photo 3883: Jens trying his first Cashew fruit.

Photo 3890: Javier – super guide, blows us a tune on a seed casing.  Monkeys love these seeds and can be heard tapping away at them across the forest.

Photos 3934 +3930: Animal Encounters with stick insects + tarantulas

Photo 3906: Making survival dens.

Photo 3951: “Grub-eating” children.

Photo 3950: Experiencing Nature in her own classroom makes for an unforgettable lesson.

Project 6 - Viper Conservation and 
Venom Extraction Project

November 2001

A joint venture. Javier’s next-door neighbours have (or are in the process of) declaring their land as private reserves also.  They hope to combine their lands and efforts officially in the future, a very exciting prospect in our opinion. 

Oxen taxi ride. Tony, an Italian, who has lived in Bolivia for 10 years, now runs a viper conservation and venom extraction project on land purchased by an Italian conservation foundation.  He sent the local taxi, an ox cart, over to collect us from Javier’s.  Oxen have been used on the steep and muddy tracks of this region, as a more durable form of transport than the horse, for centauries.  It was a wonderful experience – even if it was rather slow and bumpy.

Selling poison. The aims of the facility was to home poisonous snakes translocated from farm land (where they would have normally been eradicated) and extract their venom to sell to produce anti-venoms for local species that can then help people bitten anywhere in the Santa Cruz department and other places in Bolivia.  It has taken 9 years to develop the techniques, facilities, support of the local community and now they are ready to go into business, however Brazilian facilities have monopolised the market and difficulties in finding a new market are hampering them.  Tony guided us round the extremely professional facilities and even demonstrated the extraction technique for us – with us acting as assistants!

The Foundation. The original idea of the foundation was that profits from the sale of the venom would help to fund community conservation projects in the area – a vision they are still working towards. Tony has developed an excellent working relationship with the local communities, in his efforts to educate them about snakes and encourage them to hand live snakes into to him – instead of automatically killing them.  He regularly hands out his own anti-venom to locals and even their cows, which have been bitten!

Community solutions. Over the years he has trailed several ideas for sustainable economic alternatives for local communities. Through his close relationships with Noel Kempf museum and Santa Cruz university a butterfly-farming programme is about to be launched with local families.  They hope to provide a sustainable source of South American butterflies for the worlds butterfly house market.  However more funds are required to enable them to set up more projects in more communities, before they are in a position to be self-sufficient.  Community work in this area not only means protection for forest and animals in this foundations land, but also for Javier’s reserve and even into the National Park of Amboro.

If you would like to help 
any of these projects please contact us for more details.

Photo 3973: Our Taxi

Photo 3975: The view en-route.

Photos 3989 +3991: Nan assists Tony in the venom extraction process, thus curing her snake phobia once and of all!

Photo 3983: A rattlesnake’s den.

Photo 3998: The rattle warns off predators but can be uncannily quite when it wants to sneak up on prey.

Photo 3993: The fer-de-lance – kings of camouflage.  These venomous killers play an important role in keeping populations of other animals (like rodents) in balance.

Photo 4002: A new generation in snake “pits”.

Photo 4020: Greenhouse experiments with orchid and butterfly farming.

Project 7 - FAN and 
The Noel Kempf Mercado National Park

December 2001

FAN – is a rapidly growing Bolivian NGO that now administrates one of Bolivia’s most remote and spectacular national park, The Noel Kempf Mercado National Park.  On the border with Brazil it is home to awe-inspiring waterfalls and abundant jungle.  The Brazilian side of the river that marks the national boundaries has been decimated and it is now easier for Brazilians to get access to the park than for Bolivians, as there are good road systems and no jungle. 

More than just security men for the wild. FAN are working on many projects and act as supervisor to many more.  One of their projects is in the training and development of the park guard programme to involve them more in data collection, community education and tourism – not just control – and there by integrate them into their other areas of work in the park. They are looking for sources of funding for this scheme, which could form a model for other parks in Bolivia.

Photo 3515: The FAN team with Nan and Jens

b) Giant Otter Research and Community Conservation Project, Noel Kempf National Park

December 2001

Giant Otter – perhaps the worlds largest and healthiest populations is here! Researchers from all over the world conduct studies here and we met with one, Paul van Damme, who is concentrating on the conservation of aquatic animals in the park, using the giant otter, caiman and smaller river otter as flagship species and monitoring their interaction with human populations.  He comes from fish population research background and is applying a very holistic approach to his research and conservation measures. 

European Students on expedition help the otter. 
He uses biology graduates from his home country, Belgium, to work as volunteers on 2-month expeditions in the park.  During this time they are put in teams with a park guard, community member, Bolivian student and foreign student in each team, working on data collection, schools education sessions (using imaginative environmental games and songs) and self monitoring systems with local fishermen.

These otters could help repopulate areas where they are now extinct. This new and exciting project has already revealed that the park probably holds the world’s biggest population of giant otter, even though many lakes and rivers of the park have yet to be surveyed.  Consequently, the park’s otter populations and position in the Amazon river system may mean they could eventually be encouraged to expand and repopulate waterways all through the Amazon, where the species is now extinct.  However, first imaginative community solutions need to be implemented to remove the human threats that drove it to extinction in the first place and more research is needed to fully understand how this massive of the water world interacts with it’s environment. 

Integrated and imaginative Community solutions. Indigenous communities living on the fringes of the park form a buffer zone protecting the park from becoming a habitat island, however this will only last if the communities continue to live low impact lifestyles.  Fishing is the main food and income source for these communities and the giant otter is hunted as a competitor for this valuable commodity.  In conjunction with FAN, Paul is looking at supporting the communities on the fringes of the park to implement sustainable economic alternatives such as eco-tourism, handicraft production so fishing is not their only option. He hopes that in the future fishing can become a sustainable practice in tune with the river ecosystem and it’s other inhabitants.

Can you help? 
If you would like to support either of these projects please contact us.

Photo Sal4016: Paul Van Damme, project coordinator.

Photos 3737 + 3841: The Giant Otter at Santa Cruz zoo

Paul is also studying other species of aquatic predator, such as:

Photo 3847: The smaller South American river otter

And

Photo 3795: Caiman

Project 8 - WCS’s Madidi Living Landscapes Programme, Rurrenabaque

December 2001

Flying with the military. After several weeks in the Santa Cruz area we took a military transport plane to Rurrenabaque on the other side of the Beni where the plains meet the outer edges of the Andes. There we met Dr. Rob Wallace, coordinator of the WCS Living Landscapes programme for The Madidi National Park.

The programme is based on identifying 5 key species through which to monitor the ecosystems of the Madidi National Park, which starts in the high alto plano of the Andes and runs all the way down through cloud and tropical jungles to the savannah plains of the Beni. 

The five species selected are: the Andean condor, the Andean bear, the jaguar, the white lipped peccary and a species of large cat fish important to fishing communities. Data on the presence, abundance, health and interactions with humans of these species, across the range, enables the team to identify where to concentrate effort.  
This research integrated with the self-monitoring data from communities on their hunting and fishing levels, will allow the team to analysis if human impact in the area is sustainable. And if not, ways in which populations and habitats could be managed to make it so. 

A key to future conservation plans. It is ground breaking work and could hold the key to developing integrated land management strategies for huge areas of habitat, a feat that has not been very successful before.  It was the first time we had seen a project that so fully combined all the different strands of the conservation conundrum to provide holistic solutions.

Working with “primitive” communities. Our first day with the team was spent observing one of Maria, the education officer’s, community education sessions. Over 40 community members of San Miguel - men, women and children - took part.  We asked permission to film the meeting but because of a bad experience they’d had in the past, they were very reluctant to be on film again.  We were informed that last time, the filming of their community (done by outsiders) was used to portray them as primitive, backward savages, in order to swindle money from development agencies -  money which they never got a slice of. After a full explanation and assurances of how the footage would be used, they went in to a private group discussion and finally agreed to let us film – we were very honoured. 

Community training programme in action. The session was fascinating and very professional – the objective was to train village members on how to start a self-monitoring system of their fishing activities, which would eventually enable them to see if it was sustainable and if not – give them the tools to manage it sustainably in the future. Wendy Townsend developed the system of self-monitoring, and WCS are now using it in several communities in the area, that approached them and asked to take part.

Next year there will be a total of 15 communities involved.  Some are further along the process than others. Some are already developing sustainable alternatives such as eco-tourism lodges and production of native bee honey, whilst others are just beginning the self-monitoring. 

Instinctive knowledge. It was incredible to watch the community picking up the concepts and applying their vast knowledge of their environment to answer questions that researchers would have to spend years to discover.  They were far from primitive, indeed they grasped the importance of developing sustainable systems better and faster than most peoples from the “developed world” whose societies are so heavily based on consumerism and disposability.

Our experiences of the Madidi National Park

Setting up camp. Together with Rob and Maria and 3 local research assistants, we went up the Madidi river the next day, into the National Park and then turned right up the Rio Tuichi, where after a 3-hour canoe ride we arrived at the study camp.  These guys don’t work in luxury, “camp” meant a piece of flat ground, a table and benches of bamboo and some rough shelves for storing food on.  But once the tents were up under a huge tarpaulin, and dinner was cooked – it felt like home.  We were far from any communities and in this site the team had set up transect paths that section a 100ha area in to regular sized squares. 

In search of the White-lipped peccary. The next day we were to use these paths to go in pursuit of the white-lipped peccary and get an idea of how the team’s recent camera trapping campaign, to monitor numbers of jaguar in the area, had operated. 18 hours of tromping through the jungle and 2 days later we had seen just about every species of jungle animal except the white-lipped peccary, which proved to be rather more elusive than you would imagine a herd of sometimes up to 200 scavenging, noisy, wild, smelly jungle pigs could be.  We saw foot prints at the edge of the several mineral licks that peccaries are know to hang out at, we even heard a group of white collared peccaries taking off into the undergrowth, but the white lips evaded us. That’s life.  We did however see more wildlife that we had ever seen before on a jungle trip and were thoroughly amazed by the abundance of this habitat.

What we DID see………… We saw tapir tracks everywhere, puma scats, jaguar paw marks, a giant anteater scratching post.  We heard and saw macaws, hoatzin, cracids, musician birds and much much more.  We stumbled across a group of 3 baby coati’s up a tree, a laidback yellow footed tortoise, a brocket deer. And we were transfixed by a storm created by over 100 monkeys (squirrel and capuchins mixed) passing overhead. From the camp at night we observed Brazilian hare and 3 rather noisily disputing pacas. All in all a breathtaking experience and an ideal site to unlock some of the secrets of jungle life.

What they need…. The team are looking for funding to support specific research programmes in to the ecology of their 5 landscape species.  Funding is required for a satellite tagging programme for condor (and perhaps bear too), wildlife health studies and radio-collaring for peccaries, further camera trapping campaigns for jaguar and perhaps even some basic studies into the ecology of other species seemingly abundant in the area, such as the Giant anteater.

Can you help? 
If you would like to support their excellent work, 
then contact us for more details.

Photo 4051: Touch down with TAM in “Rurre”

Photo 4087: Dr. Rob Wallace shows us some palm fruits – favourite food of peccary.

Photo 3809: Peccary – easier to spot at Santa Cruz Zoo – and in nearly as large herds!

Photo 3785: Andean Condor, one of the Landscape species rob will be investigating

Photo 4054: Maria running the workshop with the San

Miguel community. Photo 4066: San Miguel by the river Madidi – where they fish.

Photo 4071: This community leader shows us the drawing he did – from memory of one of the many species of catfish that they catch, the community members could identify over 20 species of fish just from basic black and white drawings.

Photo 4081: Going up river

Photo 4112: Foot prints on the beach – but not of peccary – of a crab-eating racoon.

Photo 4095: A favourite mud wallow and salt lick of the peccaries – but we had just missed them.

Photo 4102: The not so timid yellow footed tortoise

Photo 4117: A family of paca squabbling over our left over rice.

Photo 4065: The beautiful Madidi National Park

Project 9: Quipus Foundation 
- Vicuna Conservation Projects

December 2001

The Quipus Foundation. Quipus foundation set up and directed by Bolivian photographer Peter McFarran, runs two revolutionary children’s museums in La Paz and Sucre.  They are now extending their work to develop an Andean Wildlife Conservation Centre on the shore of Lake Titicaca and support the Municipality of San Pedro de Quemez on the edge of the huge salt lake “Salar de Uyuni”, to develop an eco-tourism complex and a reserve for vicuna.

a) Vicuna Reserve and eco-tourism complex 
Salt lake of SW Bolivia.

Our impressions of the “Salar”

Aggressive Tourism. We went on a 4-day tour of the “Salar” (the salt lake) and the surrounding area to find out what Bolivia’s second most popular tourist destination had to offer.  In Uyuni where we booked the tour, the 25 companies based there, literally fought over customers. This, added to the unfavourable write up they were given in our guidebook, did nothing for our expectations of the trip.  In the end we paid a bit extra and went with one of the leading companies, who didn’t appear to have to fight for business. 

The Salar – trippy views and walking on salt. By the end of the first day, after an awe-inspiring trip across the Salar in our 4x4 Land-cruiser, we had forgotten all about the alleged inadequacies of the tour companies.  As our heads were spinning from the unreal visions that appear when the horizon blends, with snow-capped conical volcanoes and the shimmering of a vast water coated lake of 120m of solid salt – not to mention the island in the middle covered in Cacti!

The land of the vicuna. The next day we moved into valleys of old and semi-active volcanoes to see lakes of flamingos and the other sparse wildlife that inhabited this desolate landscape.  It was astounding to see the vicuna (smaller relative of the llama) and a funny rodent, vizcacha (that looked like a cross between a rabbit and a chinchilla) eking out an existence in this place, feeding off spiky grasses and rock hard mosses. It is no wonder that vicuna are an endangered species. As very little disturbance to this delicate animal or it’s ecosystem immediately impacts on the population. Vicunas have beautiful coats of fine hair that is highly prized for making some of the world’s finest textiles. For this product and their meat, they have been hunted through out their history. 

Vicuna - A protected species. Now protected to varying levels in different Andean countries, the Salar region and the municipality of San Pedro de Quemez is thought to hold the highest population of vicuna in Bolivia and possibly South America, with a rise from less than 7,000 to over 30,000 in the last 30 years.

The project – A Municipal’s dream. When we met with the Mayor he expressed his hopes to turn the whole municipality of 2,400,000 ha over to a protected area, with a specific reserve for vicuna, where sustainable and humane extraction techniques of their wool, developed in Peru, could be carried out.  This would give local communities a good source of income and mean the environment would be protected from the ravages of llama farming. In the mean time the 2000 inhabitants of the area could diversify from llama farming into tourism, in the complexes that the Quipus foundation are going to help get funding for. 

The blight of the tourists. This outstanding landscape surpassed every thing else we have seen so far, but even now it is starting to be blighted by the tourists that come to admire it.  A complete lack of toilets in the most popular day stops, means every rock has a litter of toilet roll and dubious smell behind it.  A couple of organic toilets would make an immediate impact and be a nice earner – in those conditions people are happy to pay for a loo.

Putting things right. The mayor and Quipus have this as their first priority and we wish them luck in their new project and hope you too will be able to support them to protect this unique ecosystem and it’s wildlife.

Can you help? If you would like to support their work, please contact us for more details.

Photo Sal42005: Driving across the Salar – in our 4x4.

Photo Sal42013: Where the sky meets the Salar + is reflected in it.

Photo Sal42020: A cactus with Nan’s arms + the Salar behind

Photo Sal44009: The Rock Tree

Photo Sal43019: The endangered rock-hard moss that grows 2mm/yr + produces a resin that makes it a good fuel.

Photo Sal43050: A crazy rock hopping, moss eating vizcacha.

Photo Sal43027: A wild vicuna, well camouflaged in this barren landscape.

Photo Sal 43012: High densities of llamas are not good for the natural vegetation and the wild animals of this fragile area.

Photo L titic053: Bolivian woman spins llama wool.

Traditional methods of spinning and weaving are still practiced.

Photo Sal44048: The sheer volume of tourists visiting this area are starting to have an impact – better infrastructure is needed.

Photo Sal45058: A land of lakes, mountains + flamingos – will also benefit from this project

b) The Andean Wildlife Centre – Lake Titicaca

January 2002

A vision for the future. An Andean Wildlife Centre on the banks of Lake Titicaca, would be a perfect place for an educational facility for surrounding communities, tourists and day trippers from La Paz, about the importance of the Andean ecosystem. 

Rescued flagships. The Quipus Foundation have already gathered together a group of llamas, alpacas (1 guanaco) and vicuna rescued from hunters or ill treatment, which are now being cared for at Peter’s weekend retreat on the shores of Lake Titicaca.  It his vision that these individuals be used as flag ships for the landscape and that the staff of the proposed centre work with local communities to improve the welfare of domestic llama and alpaca and discourage the hunting of vicuna through employing humane ways of harvesting the valuable wool.

Our impressions of Lake Titicaca and the project. We went to visit the site, the animals and get a picture of what the centre could be like, in action.

Peter’s 11ha of land is idyllically situated on the edge of Puerto Perez, on a sparsely populated shore of Lake Titicaca.  The views were astounding, the environment peaceful and relaxing and the potential huge!

Philippe, the site’s caretaker took time out to introduce us to the animals, give us a view of the site from the lake (by traditional sail boat) and one from the top of the hill (by horse back).

What they need: They urgently need help to buy and build vicuna proof fencing to expand the area for the animals, to construct a visitor centre building and to start their community and education work.

Can you help? If you would like to support their work, Please contact us for more details.

Photo L titic 036: Peter’s place, the proposed site of the Centre.

Photo L titip003: A vicuna

Photo Ltitic010: A guanaco

Photo L titic022: A llama

Photo L titip024: Two alpacas

Photo L titic049: Philippe + his nephew take good care of the animals.

Photo Ltitic037 + 030: A boat ride on the lake

Photo Ltitip035: A horse ride up the hill