Back in the UK

Hey Bloggers,

Well, it is official, the Peru Girls Primate Research Expedition has ended and we are now all back in the UK. We all had such a fantastic time in Peru and I am sure that it will remain as one of the most amazing experiences of our lives.  

I would like to thank all of you who have been reading the blog throughout these last three months, I hope that you found it interesting, informative and fun! :)

All the best,

Sophia

The Final Trip to the Forest

Hello again,

Before beginning this entry I would just like to mention that when we returned to Bagua Grande we had received an e-mail from Conservation International regarding our application for the Primate Action Fund Grant... it stated that we had been awarded US$3,500 toward our project :D Fantastic news!

It was so strange thinking that this was going to be our final trip to the forest, especially when there was still quite a lot to do (census and vegetation data collection). We managed to get organised and set off much earlier than the previous trip. Unfortunately there were no mules available to help carry our equipment and food, so we rearranged our backpacks (loading the essentials) and left the everything else to be taken the following day.

The next morning we realised that we had not packed enough food to keep us going incase the mules did not arrive that day...but luckily later in the afternoon we saw a caravan of mules carrying bags approaching (we were so relieved).

After this, the days seemed to fly past - we were constantly working day and night collecting census data and it took two long days (12 hours) to complete the vegetation data collection on the trails. But we still had time to observe and admire the wildlife (various insects, frogs and birds...sadly no monkeys though) and beautiful scenery. 

(big slug)

Although the majority of Cordillera Colan is protected forest, the buffer zone is not and we would occasionally hear chainsaws being used near our census points and sadly along one of our trails a large Ficus spp. tree was found (recently) cut down. All that was left was a stump, while the rest of the tree was further down the slope, it was not even being used for anything, which makes it even more sad because it is such a waste and in addition to this Nicola thought that it was a potential sleeping site tree for A. miconax. 

(Cedar wood - this is frequently transported from the buffer zone)

After 7 days we had finally completed all of our data collection, Nicola had several sightings and presence data for the night monkeys (Aotus miconax) and even I managed to hear a few groups of yellow-tailed woolly monkeys (Oreonax flavicauda) at the census points, but sadly I did not see any. But it still did not feel as though we would not be returning.

The hike back seemed much easier this time and what once took us 6 hours only took 4 1/2! Sadly there was no jeep waiting for us, but luckily a taxi was driving by and despite our muddy appearance took us back to Bagua Grande.

We spent a few days in Bagua Grande recovering from our final trip and getting prepared for our return journey to La Esperanza. It is strange how quickly these 3 months have gone, but we have all had such an amazing experience.

(watching the sunset)

Sadly we had to say goodbye to Thiago who will be heading on to Ecuador, he has been a great help to us throughout the project and we will all miss him very much and wish him all the best with his project. 

(Thiago)

Thanks for reading, hope you are all well wherever you are.

Cordillera Colan - The Second Site

Hey bloggers,

Thank you for your patience, I know that it has been a while since the last update.

We were packed and ready for our first trip to the new study site, but unsure about whether we were prepared for the 6 hour hike it would take to get to the campsite...Yes that's twice as long as the walk from La Esperanza to El Torro.

The organisation that was helping us at this site (SERNANP - Servicio Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas) took us, all our clothing and food for the next ten days. It was a bumpy ride and when the jeep could go no further, we had to get out and walk the rest of the way.

(From left to right: Esme, Nicola, Thiago and Leyda)

The scenery around Cordillera Colan was truly stunning and the trails were just as muddy as El Torro (knee deep)...6 hours later and we finally arrived at the campsite, where we would be sleeping in quite different accommodation than we were used to. 

(the 4 of us were sharing the silver tent)

The next day we walked along a few of the trails and started to think about where we could set up our census points. We ended up with 4 trails: 3 were in the buffer zone (areas that have been deforested and now used for pastoral farming) and 1 in the national park (protected area).

(buffer zone)

It was a little difficult finding an accessible area to the national park, as there is a river in between the two areas, but we managed to find a shallow bit to cross.  

When our census points were marked, we thought that we would make a start on collecting our vegetation data, however our guide (Leyda) found it difficult to identify the trees (to Family and Genus) without a field guide. So this was put on hold until the next trip.

(Nicola marking a census point)

With regard to monkey data collection... I only heard a group of Yellow-tailed woolly monkeys (Oreonax flavicauda) once and never saw them, however Nicola had a few night monkey (Aotus miconax) and kinkajou sightings.

By the 9th day we were quite low on food supplies and all very tired and achey, but despite this we managed to hike back in 5 1/2 hours. It was such a relief to see the Jeep waiting for us at the end.

Thanks for reading :)

Last day in La Esperanza

Hola bloggers!

Today was our final day in La Esperanza, we have had a nice few days here relaxing and recharging the batteries before we make our way to the next study site - Cordillera Colan National Park.

We decided to walk down to the little patch of forest near the house to get some last minute night monkey data for Nicola and also to get back into the habit of walking in the forest and of course after having been a relatively dry day, it decided to rain while we were out. 

We have all really enjoyed our time here in La Esperanza and would like to thank NPC and the guides for all their help so far, we really could not have collected our data without their help.

(from left to right: Esme, Josie, Sophia & Nicola)

So all that is left for us to do is pack and get sorted for our journey tomorrow.

We are planning to stay in the forest for twenty days and there will not be any internet, so this will be the last blog entry for a while. However, as soon as possible we will report on how our data collection went at Cordillera Colan and we will hopefully have some more amazing photos to share with you.

Thanks to all of you who have been reading the blog :)

First study site completed :)

Hola!

It was a tough 10 days in the forest and the weather on a few occasions prevented us from walking the trails, but I am pleased to announce that Nicola and I have completed our census data collection at the first study site. If anything it has made us realise how dependent we are on the weather, so we will take that into consideration for the next site.

We both had a few great encounters with our study species and I even went out and helped with some of the night surveys. The forest is a completely different place at night, but it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be, it's actually really pretty when the moon is out and there are fireflies everywhere...the only downside are the moths that fly into your face due to the head torch.

 

As we were leaving the campsite we came across a group of yellow-tailed woolly monkeys, which seemed the perfect end to our trip. 

However, we could also hear chainsaws again in the distance and after all the groups of monkeys and other wildlife that we have encountered during our time in El Torro, it is really sad to think that they could lose their homes.   

As an example, the photos that you see above, those trees were cut down during the the 10 days we were in the forest. But it is not all doom and gloom, by supporting NGOs like NPC we can protect the forests and find sustainable alternatives for local communities. 

For now we are back in La Esperanza re-charging the batteries and catching up on some much needed sleep before heading to the next study site - El Colan national park, it is at a higher altitude and we have just found out that no one has previously conducted any census research there. So all very exciting :) 

Sadly we will be saying goodbye to one of our Peru Girls (Asli), she is leaving us on tuesday to go off on some wonderful travels around Peru, she has been a great help during the project and we are all going to miss her lots and wish her a safe onward journey!

Until next time bloggers 

Chachapoyas

Hello from Chachapoyas!

We have had a lovely 5 days in Chachapoyas taking a break from our extreme hiking trips to the forest. We have embraced our inner tourists and done a lot of gift shopping, sightseeing and eating...a lot! Our first trip was visiting the ruins of Kuelap - an old city associated with Chachapoyan culture, dating back to the 6th century AD. According to the lonely planet guide there is nothing that equals to Kuelap except the ruins of Machu Picchu. 

On first looking at the outside of the city, the great walls suggest that it was perhaps used as a fortress, however it is now thought that it was a holy city, as there were bones found from several different cultures including the Incas. 

On Sunday (5th June) the Peruvian elections took place, it was between Ollanta Humala and Keiko Fujimori and it was very close. In the evening there were celebrations in the central plaza of Chachapoyas, with fireworks and a marching band, Ollanta had won! It was such a contrast to the conclusions of the elections in the UK.

Our next trip was to visit Revash - mausoleums located in the mountains. It was a 1 hour hike from the road (all uphill) and at altitudes approaching 3000 m above sea level, it makes it that little bit more difficult, but at least we have had 3 weeks of practice walking to the El Torro study site. 

Today we are returning to La Esperanza, the break has been great and we are now ready to go back to the forest in search of monkeys.

Thanks for reading! :)

Amazing encounter

Hello again from all of us in La Esperanza!

We have returned from our third trip to the forest, with I am glad to say less bruises and scrapes than usual. Esme did fantastically for her first trip (considering the rest of us are a few weeks ahead of her) and her clothes are now as muddy as the rest of ours.

The census is going well for Nicola, she encountered a group of night monkeys on the B3 trail :) unfortunately I have not been as lucky, but I am still hopeful for the next trip. 

(from left to right: Thiago, Asli, Nicola, Andrew, Josie and Sophia)

On our the final day before returning to La Esperanza, Asli, Andrew and myself decided that we would try to find some yellow-tailed woolly monkeys, as we heard them near one of the trails the previous evening. We were not too far away from the campsite when we heard the monkeys, we were immediately off the trail, scrambling uphill through the forest until finally we caught up with a group of around 10 monkeys. We followed them for 5 hours, Andrew was busy taking photographs while I was frantically taking notes on the behaviours Asli and I observed.

The group eventually stopped at a large fig tree, which made data collection a little easier, we saw very positive behaviours such as playing and allogrooming (when 2 or more monkeys are grooming each other), however there were a couple of aggressive interactions. It was truly an amazing experience and I hope that we will be lucky enough to have more encounters such as this...thousands of photos and 14 pages of notes later and we were finished for the day. 

The return journey to La Esperanza seemed to be tougher than usual for the group, but we still managed to keep our spirits up and have a few fun group photos taken along the way (see below). But we are all looking forward to having a little break from our extreme hiking.

(from left to right: Nicola, Asli, Armando, Ronal, Sophia and Esme)

Tomorrow sadly we say goodbye to our friend and honorary Peru Girl Andrew Walmsley (the AMAZING photographer), he will be greatly missed by us all and while he travels back to Tarapoto to fly back to the UK, the rest of us will be heading to Chachapoyas. The Peruvian elections are coming up and so we thought we would take the opportunity to have a few days of sightseeing.

(Above: Andrew Walmsley)

Catch you in a few days time with a more touristy blog entry.   

Starting the census

Hello again from the depths of Peru!

Well, that’s us back in La Esperanza with some new data, photos, cuts and bruises. Each group had some successful encounters with the monkeys, including the yellow-tails, the night monkeys and even a very brief encounter with some capuchins. Andrew rattled out a few thousand more photos of all of them, just see below for a yellow-tail, night monkeys, and a young capuchin...

One thing that has really been brought home to all of us is the level of deforestation in the area, and the impact that it has on all the species that rely on the forest. It is one thing to see it on TV, but to actually sit amongst the trees and hear chainsaws nearby is truly heartbreaking. The study site and the surrounding forest is sadly not protected, so farmers are able to slowly expand their pastures by removing one tree at a time. Although this may seem like a drop in the ocean, it all adds up to create vast grasslands in which very little can survive. However, it is not the farmers who are at fault: they are merely trying to earn a living in an environment that offers few alternatives. We can all help by supporting NGOs such as the NPC (Neotropical Primate Conservation) who provide employment opportunities and sustainable alternatives for local people, working in harmony with the forest and all the wildlife that it supports.

As for my own study on the yellow-tailed woolly monkeys (Oreonax flavicauda), I’ve had some ups and downs - I had a great encounter with a group whilst measuring trees (see below), but as soon as I picked up my notepad to collect some census data, they were nowhere to be found...oh well! Nicola has also had some mixed success - after finding some night monkeys (Aotus miconax) on one trip, the thunder and lightning put a fairly quick end to her second session, resulting in an interesting walk home down rivers of mud!

We’re heading back to the jungle tomorrow with our newest recruit, Esme - we’re very happy to have her with us, but she looks a little bit too clean for our liking - we’ll work on that. I hope you are all doing well wherever you are, I’ll be back with more news in five days!