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!

First hike to the study site

Hey bloggers! Sophia here, reporting that we have all survived the first trip to the study site. It was about a 4 hour hike from La Esperanza and uphill for most of the way, we were lucky that it had not rained much, so the mud was easier to walk through. 

 

where we slept

On the first day, we hiked up one of the trails to start marking our survey points, we were quite high up the mountain when we heard monkey vocalisations, we decided to follow the sound, scrambling uphill and off the trail, I honestly do not know how Andrew managed it with his camera. But we made it and what a site, we saw a group of yellow-tailed woolly monkeys (Oreonax flavicauda) not too far away from us. The adult males are clearly distinctive from the females, due to their bright yellow hair tuft around the pubic region, which is contrary to some of the literature. They were so amazing to watch. We have also seen a few potential night monkey sleeping sites.

Peruvian night monkey (Aotus miconax)

The next day we continued our vegetation data collection along the trail, when it started to rain...it started light and soon became a torrential downpour, we were all completely soaked and had to return to the campsite, as it is too difficult to walk the trail in heavy rain. The rain continued for the rest of the afternoon and prevented us from going back.

cloud forest

On our last day before returning to La Esperanza we decided it would be better to split up into two groups, one group was to finish the vegetation data collection on the B1 trail (Nicola, Josie, Andrew and guide) and the other was to go to the B3 trail (myself, Asli and a guide). However, we did not realise that it would take over an hour just to get to the other trail and that we would have to boulder and climb through really awkward and slippery terrain. But we made it to the start of the trail and started to mark our survey points. All our hard work was paid off because later on we encountered another two groups of yellow-tailed woolly monkeys vocalising at each other, it was just unbelievable to see them so close.

yellow-tailed woolly monkey (Oreonax flavicauda)

The journey back to La Esperanza was a little bit quicker, (possibly due to it being mainly downhill) and although the rain held off during the day, there had been enough to make the mud even more slippery and tricky to walk through...the only footwear recommended for this terrain are wellington boots, anything else would just not survive, even hiking boots. The final part of the journey was the hardest, as it required walking uphill again. But we all made it back in one piece! :)


We're heading back for another five days on Thursday, so hopefully there will be more amazing photos to share with you and maybe even some video.

in La Esperanza

We arrived in La Esperanza on saturday evening, it took a whole day to get there from Tarapoto and we had some trouble in Nuevo Cajamarca, it seemed that no one had heard of La Esperanza. But eventually a taxi came for us and honestly, it was an amazing drive up the mountain. The scenery is even more amazing here than it was in Tarapoto.

Everyone at the NPC field site is really nice, there are a few other students doing research on the yellow-tailed woolly monkey and night monkeys too. We are an interesting mix of people: British, Peruvian, Brazilian and Turkish.

Unfortunately, we are postponing our first trip to the forest for a few days, due to myself (Sophia) and Nicola not feeling well.... stomach bugs are just not great. But we are hoping to head up by at least Thursday.

Will be adding photos soon...so please keep following :)

Day 3 - Laguna Azul

Hola!

We had another amazing day of site-seeing yesterday on our way to the blue lagoon (Laguna Azul) just a few miles away from Tarapoto.

The tarmac became a bumpy dirt track, taking us up into the mountains and then down to a river, where we needed to get a boat to cross it.

The scenery was absolutely beautiful, lots of lush forest....although there were quite a few fragmented sections and we passed an area that looked as though it had recently been cut down :(
During the drive we made friends with some Peruvian tourists from Lima and Iquitos, we practiced our Spanish and then found that they could speak English, so many bilingual conversations then followed.

When we arrived at the lagoon we got into a boat and took a bit of a tour, stopping at several spots. One part had a statue of a mermaid on a rock, there are legends that mermaids live in the lagoon. In other areas there were little market stalls and BBQs...it also seems that a lot of local people make their own alcohol, we've had coffe and chocolate liqueurs and Tarapoto whiskey.

Eventually we could go for a swim, the water was a really nice temperature, compared to the freezing cold water at the waterfall we visited the other day.

...Later that evening we met up with the people we had met on the trip and went to the bar 'Bananas' for a few drinks, some dancing and some amazing karaoke. It was a really fun evening.

Asli will be joining us this evening and tomorrow we will be on our way to La Esperanza to join Sam and Noga Shanee at the Neotropical Primate Conservation head office.

Arrival and first day!!!

Hola a todos,

So we finally arrived in Peru last night, it was a very....very long journey, but worth it. Our first experience of Peruvian culture came in the form of the drink Inca Kola, at Lima airport. It tastes just like Irn Bru, however it's colour makes it look like something that should be in a radioactive chamber.

When we got off the plane in Tarapoto we could smell the rainforest. It is absolutely beautiful here, the weather has been great and we did our first bit of sight seeing today. We visited a waterfall about 14km away from the town, called Cataratas de Ahuashiyacu, we even got to go for a swim (it was freezing!) but totally worth it.

How did we get there...only by the best transport ever, moto taxi, our driver was called Marco. Awesome guy, he gave us some tarapoto whiskey. Tomorrow we are off to the Laguna Azul for the day and just waiting for Asli to arrive, before heading on to La Esperanza. 

The journey will really begin on Saturday.
Ciao for now.

Packed and Ready!

Hey!
So I'm all packed and pretty much ready to go, just got a text from Nicola saying that her and Andrew are also packed and ready! :)
There's still a few hours before we need to leave for the airport, so now would be a good time to chill out and pack the laptop.
Wish us luck...the journey begins at 8pm (gmt).

The Day Before....

So, we are packed and ready to go. Cannot believe that we are leaving tomorrow, it has come around so quickly. Just need to make sure all the important things are there, leave that for the final bits of packing tomorrow.

We will be updating the blog throughout the expedition, so keep checking this blog the facebook group and twitter page to be in the know! :)