Catt-Trax 2 - Rio Madre de Dios

Interview with Krista Adamek

The Catt-Trax2 Team — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 10:50:24 -0700

Danny did this interview with Krista Adamek on January 10th at the headwaters of the Amazon River in Peru.

Listen to find out how Krista ended up in the Amazon. It's really quiet so turn your volume way up and you might even be able to hear the sounds of the Amazon in the background.

Download MP3

Adios Rio Madre de Dios

Danny Catt — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 09:54:26 -0800

Sliding Down the Rio Madre de Dios

We were up early in the morning in order to get down river to Puerto Maldonado in time to catch a flight to Lima. What took nine hours on the way up... took a short 4 hours on the way down and this time it was in a smaller boat from the research station (no competition for space on this sector of the journey). We saw macaws, parrots, and it was a treat to watch the amazing Amazonian landscape slide by.

Along the Rio Madre de Dios, Peru

We also though saw the numerous mining operations along the shores of the river and the small communities of miners and their families going about thier daily business. One cannot blame them for trying to make a living to feed their families. It is just a shame that there is not much restriction on the location, methods and extent of the mining.

We made it to Puerto Maldonado with enough time to board our flights for Lima. Krista had an exam to write (she is planning on graduate school) while I had to catch another flight, this time to Pucallpa also in the Peruvian Amazon. Pucallpa though is situated on another river, the Ucayali, one of the major tributaries of the Amazon River.

I Met the Emperor of the Amazon

Danny Catt — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 20:03:08 -0800

The Emperor Tamarin

There are few things I enjoy more than exploring a new part of the world, listening to new sounds, observing new species of wildlife and just poking around and seeing what I can see in a new place. One region of the world I have long been keen to explore and learn more about is the Amazon basin. Although not a native Peruvian, Krista (the BCIT FWR graduate I am visiting) has been living in the Amazon region of Peru for the past three years and is incredibly knowledgeable about the wildlife and natural history of the area.

Krista Adamek, at the Los Amigos Research Station, Peru

I was keen to explore so we were out walking the trails of the research station fairly early in the morning. It became obvious very quickly how important the trail system is at the station. Without the patchwork pattern of trails it would be virtually impossible to make your way through the thick tropical forest. The trails allow you to travel more easily and help you see where your feet are going to land… as there are snakes and sharp thorny plants to contend with!

For the past three years Krista has been working on a research project for WWF (World Wildlife Fund aka World Wide Fund for Nature) focussing on a variety of wildlife species including high profile carnivores like the Jaguar but also focusing on a range of birds including three different species of Macaw (Scarlet, Red-and-green and Blue-and-yellow). Macaws are the world’s largest parrots and unfortunately many of the world's 17 species are at risk. The illegal international trade of parrots as well as habitat loss are two of the major threats to Macaws. Another threat described by Krista is the loss of one of the Macaws favourite nesting trees and food sources, the Aguaje palm. The problem is that it is not only the Macaws that like the fruits of the Aguaje palm, the local people do too. Due to the size of the trees (some 30 metres or more) the locals are finding it easier to simply cut the tree down than climbing up to pick the fruits.

Blue-and-yellow Macaw

To learn more about these birds, Krista and her colleagues have a large number of Macaws tagged with radio transmitters so she and her team can follow their seasonal movements. In North America (for the most part) we have 4 seasons while in the Amazon there are really only two main seasons, the wet and the dry. One of the tagged Macaws traveled a fair distance over to Bolivia but then made its way back to the area between the Rio Madre de Dios and the Rio Los Amigos.

Wildlife movements never cease to amaze me. You can learn more about the movement patterns of some of our northern species of birds by checking out the Global Connections page of this website. Dr. Sean Boyd, a research scientist with the Canadian Wildlife Service, describes some of the migration patterns of species that he studies, and we will soon have other short essays by other contributors. Bird movement and migration are great examples of global connections. Some species, like the macaws, move short distances, while others, like the neotropical migrants we know so well in North America (warblers, vireos, hummingbirds, etc) may travel many thousands of miles!

Cicada Tubes, Amazon Region, Peru

As we walked through the forest I was quite intrigued by the tall, thin tubes of mud sticking up from the ground (I thought they were small ant hills) but Krista pointed out that they were in fact the above ground part of a cicada burrow. I know we have cicadas in Canada with an amazing life history but I know virtually nothing about these tropical ones. The Amazonian cicadas apparently have a mysterious 17 year life history, but that is about all I could find out. I will need to do some research to learn more.

You want me to go up there?

When wildlife species are tagged with transmitters, the researcher will use a small antenna and a receiver to pick up the frequency of the different tagged individuals. The researcher can then plot the locations on a map to see where the individuals are spending their time. One of the things a researcher must do though is get to a high vantage point to scan as far as possible to try and locate the tagged individuals. The process is called ‘radio-telemetry’and it is used all over the world to learn more about the movement patterns of wildlife. In North America a broad range of wildlife species are ‘collared’ or ‘fitted’ with transmitters and then researchers use radio receivers to track the individuals movements. Bears, deer, wild cats (eg. cougars and lynx), as well as birds such as snow geese, seabirds like albatross and shearwaters and large raptors (eagles and osprey) have all been followed using this technique.

The Tower, Los Amigos Research Station, Peru

In the Los Amigos research area Krista and her colleagues use vantage points as well as small planes and ultralights to follow the movements of their collared animals. In fact, Krista’s brother is a pilot and has worked alongside Krista helping with data collection. If you don’t have a plane though, another way to get the telemetry locations is to climb to the top of towers and use the receiver to get locations. Krista asked if I was open to climbing to the top of one of the towers that she uses and I jumped at the opportunity! But… jimmeny crickets (excuse my language) I didn’t realize how tall the tower actually was!! Yikes…

The climb up was safe as we used a special harness to inch (or metre) our way to the top. There was no chance of actually falling and injuring ourselves but it was just the height of the tower that was the issue. From the bottom it looked like no problem… but jeeshhh it was 60 metres high (I think that is what she said)! As I approached the top I was trying to ensure that Krista didn’t see how pale & wide-eyed I was … but once I got to the top I realized that was not an issue as she was at the bottom waiting for me to reach the upper platform.

The View from the Top

The view from the top of the tower was amazing … and we could hear macaws, falcons, songbirds and other forest creatures and could see for miles in every direction. There was even a rainbow stretched across the sky! Unfortunately though our time at the top was limited as it was late afternoon and we didn’t want to be trekking back to the station in the dark. The trip down was faster and easier than the trip up… but not too fast!

On our way back to the station we met up with a troop of Emperor Tamarins that suddenly appeared and then left as quickly as they came. When we got back to the station we had a very enjoyable dinner chatting with some of the other researchers at the station from different regions of Peru as well as other South American countries.

After dinner I recorded an interview with Krista which you are welcome to listen to:

Download MP3

Up the Rio Madre de Dios, Peru

Danny Catt — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 19:31:49 -0800

Up the Rio Madre de Dios, Peru

Once again I was up at the crack of dawn (another 5am morning!). Krista was originally going to meet me in Puerto Maldonado and join me on the trip up river but her schedule changed unexpectedly and so she set things up to make it as easy as possible (she knows my Spanish is limited) for me to get from town to the Los Amigos research station. The plan was to meet a vehicle outside the ACCA Los Amigos research station office (ACCA = Association for Amazonian Conservation) just down the street from my hotel at 6am for a transfer to a small community about a 45 minute drive from Puerto Maldonado where I would hop on a public boat (a colectivo) heading up river. I was there ready and roaring to go at 5:45am and just after 6am a vehicle pulled up and out hopped a young and enthusiastic driver. He threw some rapid sentences of espagnol at me, but when he saw the blank look on my face he just smiled, threw my bags in the back, and whisked me away.

Before leaving Puerto Maldonado we had to pick another person who worked at the station and who (luckily for me) was also heading up river to Los Amigos. We stopped briefly at the local mercado (market), to load up the taxi with fruits and vegetables for the station. We were heavily loaded as we sped our way down the slick muddy road to Laberinto. The road we were speeding down was in fact a section of the InterOceanica highway, a somewhat controversial road which when completed will connect the forests of Brazil with Peru’s Pacific coast.

There is so much development going on in the Amazon these days. Logging, cattle ranching, mining (mainly for gold) and soybean production are just some of the pressures that are impacting the Amazon, its people and its ecosystems. (Read George Sranko’s short essay on soybeans on the Global Connections page of this website). For further reading check out the most recent issue of National Geographic (January 2007) which has an article by Scott Wallace entitled ‘Last of the Amazon’. In his article Scott describes in detail some of the pressures and challenges that the forests, people and cultures of the Amazon basin face. Scott’s opening line tells the tale of development in the Amazon, ‘In the time it takes to read this article, an area of Brazil’s rain forest larger than 200 football fields will have been destroyed.’ In five years, from 2000 to 2005, Brazil lost 50,000 square miles of rainforest! In Peru, although not as heavily impacted as the forests of Brazil, the pressure is building.

We arrived in Laberinto in time for us to load our things on the collectivo, the public boat heading upriver. Only two of us were heading to the research station, the rest of the passengers (individuals, families and workers) were heading home to their communities along the river. When we got to the river it seemed that the boat was fairly full (with gear and people) but as I soon found out, the loading had only just begun! They piled as much as the boat could hold… bikes, beer, mechanical parts, food, and more people… and then when it seemed the boat could handle nothing more… they added a bit extra for good measure! The passengers were laying head to foot in order to get as many people in the boat as possible. Once all was set… we pulled away from shore and began our journey up the Rio Madre de Dios.

Head to Foot and Foot to Head

Krista had told me to keep my eyes open for mining operations along the river. I was not exactly sure what to expect or what to look for… a big mine? small operations? but it became quite obvious only minutes out of town. Around almost every bend (that is perhaps a slight exaggeration… but not by much) there are either active mining operations or old ones where piles of gravel lay beside the river, or in the river, evidence of the ongoing search for gold. Apparently the active mines are worked 24 hours a day… so in many areas along the gold producing rivers the magical night sounds of the Amazon are now being drowned out by the roar of pumps and generators.

Portable Mining Operation Along the Rio Madre de Dios, Peru

We arrived at the research station about 9 hours after leaving Laberinto. It was a long, hot and sticky day on the river but the time passed quickly. Time always does when you are experiencing new places and new things. How often do you have the opportunity to chug your way up an amazing exotic river, with parrots flying overhead and amazing landscapes sliding by. Not very often!

Evening on the Rio Madre de Dios

Krista welcomed me with a big smile and helped me settle in. It was a real pleasure to chat and catch up with her after almost three years to learn of the work she has been doing and the changes in her life. Teaching is such a great job that way. I often think back to the first days of September each year when new students arrive at BCIT. They are always so keen, eager and to ready to learn. As instructors we are able to follow their skill development and changes in confidence and then to see them one, three or five years after graduation is so very rewarding. Krista is a prime example of a grad who has done extremely well and is living the dream of many young conservation minded folks… working in the Amazon to conserve its wildlife and ecosystems. There are many other grads from our FWR program that we are proud of working in BC, across Canada and internationally. To have a look at what some other grads are doing click on the Global Connections page and read their Conservation in Action profiles.

This region of Peru is not that far south of the equator so sunset was quick and by 7pm or so the blue skies of day turned indigo, then purple then deep, dark black.

What follows is a bit of a description of my first night under a mosquito net in the Peruvian Amazon. (this may take me a bit of time to upload … but stay tuned!)