Dispatches
Amazon Conservation Association – Peru (“Science & Tourism Come Together”)
April 16, 2009
For the first time, Los Amigos Research Station, or Centro Investigacion Capacitacion Rio Amigo (CICRA), is allowing tourists to stay and work alongside researchers in the Amazon. Taking a 5-hour boat-ride from the nearest city, visitors reach the research station and ascend over 200 steps to reach the 160,000 hectare preserve. Up until just a few years ago, this place was an active mining camp. When gold mining ended, the miners packed up and left the infrastructure behind. When officials from Los Amigos found the camp, most of the roofs were caved in and plants were growing in many of the buildings. In spite of this, the officials knew they had found the perfect spot. The kitchen made the camp suitable for researcher and tourist housing. There were also several buildings for offices, classrooms and other housing.
Guests who come to visit can go on several hikes through the rainforest with experienced guides, many of whom come from the local community. This site has a very high concentration of bird, mammal and bug species, so guests are guaranteed to get plenty of good pictures. Many of the species around CICRA are hard to find anywhere else in the world. Though they are typically the first to disappear when development (mining and farming) takes over, spider monkeys and razor-billed curasaos inhabit the area surrounding CICRA. Their presence here indicates a pristine forest.
Guests can also take boat-rides up the Amazon River to tour the area and see what mining and logging are doing to the environment. While both mining and logging create problems, Los Amigos Director Adrian Tejedor explained to us that logging is less problematic because it only opens up small areas of the forest. Mining, on the other hand, opens up huge areas of the forest and invites mercury contamination, which is either dumped in the river or burned and inhaled by the surrounding population. Hunters can devastate animals like the tapir, which only live in clay lakes. There are few of these areas around, so hunters know exactly where to go to find the animals and in one small area can wipe out an entire population.
Many of the guides here, like those from many of the places we visited, used to work in logging, mining or hunting businesses. According to Tejedor, most new immigrants to this area are searching for jobs and have very little connection with the forest and absolutely no conservation consciousness. Whenever possible, community members are hired on for different roles around the camp. Some are even allowed to help out on research projects. Even more importantly, a few people from the community are allowed to conduct their own research projects, like monitoring the short-eared dog and keeping track of species they identify while walking through the jungle.
Another way Tejedor hopes to inspire rainforest conservation is by focusing on educating the youth. Once a month, researchers from the station go out into area communities to educate and play games with the kids to teach them about the wonders of the forest. The kids then go home and spread their knowledge to their families. Tejedor hopes this education program will steer kids away from destructive professions like mining and logging.
Researchers at Los Amigos are trying to identify the types of flora and fauna in the area, the number of species living in the area, threats against them, and their characteristics so they can better understand how to protect them. Guests who stay at Los Amigos are allowed (and encouraged) to go along with researchers to conduct studies, monitor species, and even collect bugs for the scientists while out on walks.
One researcher we spoke to said Los Amigos is special to her because of the high concentration of long-horned beetles, her specialty. She also likes working with the guests, taking them out to her different project sites and teaching them about things they may not have seen before and may never see again. The work she and other researchers are doing here also supports Los Amigos as it quantifies just how many and what type of species can be found in this area. Los Amigos then supports the researchers by giving them a place to stay and work and helping them attain additional funding so they can continue their work.
One guest we spoke with said he appreciated that they hiked for 3 days and only saw 2 other people on the trails – it increased the chance that they would see animals without them getting spooked. He also loved the allure of the place and the feeling that at some point a jaguar had been walking on the very trail he was on, even though he didn’t get to see one while he was there. He also commented on one of the most amazing sights of his lifetime: Standing in the Amazon, looking out towards Peru, but seeing glaciers!
Instead of spending a vacation doing typical touristy activities, why not explore the Amazon and gain a greater appreciation for the rainforest?
