a return to the land of cheese, wine and fresh vegetables

Hi Everyone!

So sorry its been forever since my last post. My internship in Guyana finished on July 17th and since then, I have been very very busy back home on Canada's West Coast. It was very hard to leave the Iwokrama Field Station and say goodbye to everyone I met there. It was such a pleasure getting to know some of the amazing staff and members of the community--what a magical place. The Iwokrama forest and the Rupununi Savannahs will always stand out as one of the most beautiful places on this planet. I was so fortunate to get the opportunity to not only visit, but live in this location for six months! If you ever have the opportunity to visit Guyana's Rupununi and Rainforest, you are very lucky as well.

Since I have returned to Canada, I have been awestruck at the extent of options we have. I stood in a BC Liquor store for about 15 minutes staring at all the wine bottles to choose from, I couldn't make up my mind which one to choose! I have spent my time visiting friends and family around Vancouver-will post pictures soon! I just came back from a two week road trip down to California with my boyfriend, where we hiked in Yosemite, visited General Sherman in Sequoia National Park, went surfing in San Clemente, visited Jazz Clubs in San Francisco and the Brewery District in Portland on our way back. What a diverse and stunning state! Now I am enjoying house sitting for my older sister in Vancouver and going on bike rides and picnics around the city. Can't believe the summer is close to an end. What a whirlwind of memories in the past year!

I was so glad today to discover an ounce of Guyana in Vancouver- I found my favourite baby bananas in the grocery store, which shot me back to moments racing through Georgetown's busy market--take me back!  xxx

Climate Change and Tourism

Stumbled across this lizard while on a frog trip the other night. The frog was so docile and slow he didnt complain when we introduced him to his new friend!

Also, here is a link to some free online journals about climate change and tourism for you to enjoy over your Saturday morning coffee:
Climate Change and Tourism


Enjoy

Wildlife caught on camera

After completing the set up the 60 camera traps at 8 sites in the forest, the team waited for 15 days for the cameras to collect footage. We were so excited to see the results, the cameras caught 11 terrestrial species with two jaguar individuals, all from the sustainably logged areas. Yesss! And to reemphasize, this was just 2 weeks!

We need to put a copyright logo on all the photos, but they are coming soon!

Monday News

Here are some interesting articles relating to activities happening in the Iwokrama forest:

 How camera traps have revolutionized wildlife conservation

Economic benefits for local communities next to conservation areas

"Alone in the Wild" New series filmed in Guyana's Jungle

Happy Monday

Broken Bridges

 On June 29th, I joined a road trip South of Iwokrama River Lodge bound for the Rupununi Savannas to attend a community meeting. We never made it outside of the Iwokrama Reserve though, since TWO truck accidents blocked the road along the way. A sad loss occurred at the first broken bridge-Moco Moco bridge. A young driver in his early twenties was driving an overloaded truck and the truck slid off the road into the creek where he was then trapped inside. A terrible loss. Hopefully this will be a wake up call for the Government to fix the bridges immediately and enforce standardized loading weights on trucks.

 Shot of first truck crash at Moco Moco Bridge where fatality occured. You can see from this picture the poor quality of the bridge-a repair constitutes placing pulled up planks back where they used to be nailed in.

Shot of damaged goods from truck at Moco Moco Bridge. Workers had no choice but to dump lost stock straight into the creek, an unfortunate result for the Iwokrama river systems.

South to North shot of collapsed truck

This guy didn't let all the food and supplies floating in the river-not to mention the body still in the vehicle-stop him from having a bath. He picked up a soap bar that was part of the damaged stock and started washing himself.

 
Second truck accident at bridge right outside the Iwokrama Reserve. Truck is carrying THREE TIMES the allowed weight. But, the bridge hasn't been repaired for over a year. This was the point where we had to turn around (two hours away from the River Lodge) since the bridge was 100% impassable.

 

This photo is Guyana in a nutshell for me. Typical laid back attitude. ALWAYS travel with a hammock, you never know when you will be stuck! 

Seeing the accidents and the frequency the bridges break down on this main highway through Guyana makes me so grateful for the road system and traffic enforcement standards back in Canada. When returning home, I will not only look at our smooth, paved highways in a different light, but will think again when questioning the amount of speed limit signs that saturate our roadways.

Lets go Frogging!

 Since there have been less tourists at the lodge for the past few weeks, I have been able to join our frog researcher on her nightly transects in the forests around the River Lodge. After dusk, the forest comes alive with a loud humm of many frog species calling to one another. Instead of the classic ribbit, it sounds more like many crickets chirping at different octaves. We went to an old mill site the other night, and caught soo many cool frogs! It was sort of like a treasure hunt, where you could hear the one frog, and had to use your headlamp to shine on the bush until you spotted the little guy. Then you have to be really sneaky and walk quietly up to the frog to try and catch it before it jumps away. I was really impressed with our researcher's ability to distinguish the different species based on their calls, since the forest houses many frog species, many of which remain to be documented.

 

Here I am looking super nerdy decked out in my Iwokrama gear, ready to head into the forest!

 This guy was super friendly, tickling my ear!

  

Clown Frog!

 We had to cut a toe off the frogs to use as a sample. I was told it wouldn't hurt the frog...

 Do you like my thumb ring?

 The forest with the long vines hanging down.

 

A spider friend I came across, and almost stepped on!

 

See you later!

swimming over the lawn!

 The compound is suuper flooded now, the river is up to the cabins! This means we have enjoyed swimming in the calm waters in front of the field station. There are also a lot of fish and birds that are enjoying the calm sidewaters of the Essequibo. I haven't seen any caiman yet, and I hope they aren't lurking under the surface!