Expeditions
Legal Note
Equafor is constituted as a grant-giving trust; the trustees,
however, do not expect donations to expeditions to form more than
a minor part of expenditure for the foreseeable future. Applications
are not sought but, if received, will be treated on merit and
their relevance to the trust?s main objectives.
That aside Equafor has supported a number of expeditions by,
for example, giving small grants to individuals taking part in
Project Raleigh, and university expeditions, and by giving larger
grants to schools' expeditions.
More frequently, the trust has been able to assist individuals
and groups wishing to visit and take advantage of the facilities
of the Yorkshire Rainforest Reserve by providing them with advice,
information and, more importantly, contacts. Talk is cheap, and
so are we.
Volunteer Internships
Fundacion Jatun Sacha offer opportunities for volunteers to participate
in their programmes of research, conservation and community service.
Volunteers are expected to make their own travel arrangements,
to undertake sometimes strenuous and occasionally tedious work
in tropical conditions, and to live in primitive conditions. They
must also pay for the pleasure of doing so.
In return, they will be lodged, fed three meals a day, and given
eight days a month holiday.
Places are available at the Jatun Sacha stations on the Rio Napo
(Amazon basin), Bilsa (Coastal mountains), and Guandera (High
Andes) and at the National Herbarium in Quito. The cost is US$
220 per month except at Guandera which is US$300 a month. There
is also an application fee of US$ 25. All fees must be paid in
advance and are not refundable.(Prices subject to change)
If you are still interested, please contact us for further blood
curdling details; and don't say you weren't warned.
Epedition Reports:
The Nottingham University Peruvian Expedition
Wakefield City High School's Ecuador Expedition
A Volunteer's Reflections on Slave Labour
The Nottingham University Peruvian Expedition
In the Summer of 1995, Andrew Johnson, a Leeds student, with some sponsorship from Equafor among other organizations, spent five weeks deep in the Peruvian Rainforest as a member of the Nottingham University Peruvian Expedition.
His reason for this stay in darkest Peru was to study Katydid insects (It takes all sorts ? Ed). Katydids are relatives of the Bush Cricket and Grasshopper, and can display amazing and intricate leaf mimicry. They have been found to play a major part in the rainforest food web; providing food for animals ranging from Spiders and Wasps to Monkeys and Bats.
Although research on the expedition?s findings has not been completed, it is thought that a number of new species have been discovered, and that a more thorough understanding of the local distribution of the various species may result.
The expedition was a great success, even though a visit to the Matsé Indians (the Jaguar people) had to be abandoned because low river levels prevented access.
The low river levels also affected fishing. The expedition had planned to supply most of their own food in this manner. As a result, each member lost over a stone in weight during the expedition. This is an efficient but not a recommended slimming plan. Being students, they are probably recovering on a diet of chips and beer.
The Wakefield City High School Ecuadorian Expedition
Viewers of the BBC?s *Look North? will be aware that pupils of Wakefield City High School mounted an expedition to Ecuador in February 1996.
They were the first school to take advantage of the links Equafor has forged with the Jatun Sacha Foundation, who manage the Yorkshire Rainforest Reserve at Bilsa.
Visits were made to the National Herbarium at Quito and the Jatun Sacha biological station on the Rio Napo in the Amazon. While in the Amazon, students took part in a number of Jatun Sacha?s conservation and cultural projects.They write: Leaving early afternoon from WCHS, our cavalcade departed for the airport. Anxious parents, without whose support and hard work the expedition would not have gone ahead, helped to check in our mountain of rucksacks, then bid us farewell.
The journey began with a stormy departure. The aircraft was buffeted by high winds and turbulence, almost as though it was trying to tell us that the adventure had begun and that there was no turning back.
After a wonderful flight with KLM we landed in Quito the next morning. Our short journey from the airport to our hotel in a taxi (an open-sided pickup truck) gave the group their first taste of things to come.
Two days were spent in Quito, overcoming jet-lag and acclimatising, during which we visited the National Herbarium, where we were given a talk about the work of Jatun Sacha by M McColm and where we presented a cheque on behalf of Equafor and the Yorkshire Rainforest Project.
After meeting our guide, Soledad Bastedo, and after a visit to the monument marking the equator, we began our expedition to the Amazon. The 11 hour journey across the high Andes to the rainforest was the group's first unforgettable experience. From the near-tundra conditions on the snow capped volcanoes to the rich verdant forest, we seemed to pass through all the world's climates, not to mention some of the most spectacular scenery on earth.
Once at the Jatun Sacha Napo Biological Station, we were assigned cabins, mosquito nets, fed and introduced to some of the forest's riches. Myriad moths, beetles, crickets, and other creepy crawlies swarmed around the cabin's lights as soon as they were lit.
A night walk in the jungle was next on the agenda. It was only a hundred or so yards but novelty and legend made it seem much further. Each step was taken warily to avoid real and imagined dangers. The real dangers were mostly ants, but their sting was well worth avoiding. What the imagined dangers might have been were
thought best kept unmentioned. Needless to say the students were more than happy when the door of their cabin was closed behind them and they could hide under the mosquito nets, happier still when the incessant noise of the jungle (frogs and crickets mostly; but you never can tell) was replaced by that of a thunderstorm. A thunderstorm, no matter how violent, no matter how much more dangerous than the forest, was a known thing.
Over the next few days, we worked in and around the research station. As part of a research project suggested by Dr A Davis of Leeds University, we set up banana baited traps for fruit flies. The flies (and assorted beetles) enjoyed the bait but refused to be trapped. More successfully, we helped with the planting of bromeliads in
the botanical gardens.
We also visited the sanctuary, where animals confiscated from unscrupulous owners were being reintroduced to the wild. One of the Spider Monkeys did not appreciate what was being done on its behalf and bit a student?s leg.
The highlight of the visit to the rainforest was spending a night as guests of a Rio Blanco Indian Community in a village created by them, in part, to receive visiting tourists.
Tourists or not, we were made to feel at home.
The journey to the village was a long rucksack-laden hike along forest trails. After being shown round the village, we were fed, rested and had a much-needed swim in the river.
During the evening the indians entertained us with a concert of traditional music and dance. In return, we cobbled together what we could. One of the students played some tunes on a borrowed guitar, we sang a selection of the "Barber Shop" busking songs we had used to raise funds for the expedition, attempted a rowdy Spanish
drinking song, and finished making fools of ourselves with a display of basket-ball handling techniques.
We must not have made too much of fools of ourselves because, after presenting the gifts we had brought for our hosts, they returned the favour by bedecking us with beads. Our guide told us that this was the first time she had seen such welcoming and grateful gestures. A great success!
Our final day at Jatun Sacha was spent with the pupils of Tena High School, who were helping to create a butterfly and orchid garden on an island in the middle of the river as part of the city?s own rainforest reserve. Numerous hearts were broken despite the language barrier.
After leaving the rainforest we returned to the highlands and spent our last few days in Ecuador at Bella Vista, a cloudforest reserve. Here, we met up with a journalist we had last seen when he visited Wakefield City High School to write an article about our planned expedition for The Times. It?s a small world. Bella Vista is set in
another of Ecuador?s areas of astonishing natural beauty. It is a magical place of clouds and mists. The students loved it there even though the local fruit flies were as devious as those of the lowland and refused to lay their eggs in the deliciously rotting fruit we provided.
While at Bella Vista we helped to erect some tree-fern poles as part of the orchid garden that was being constructed near the visitors? accommodation. Leaving Ecuador was a very sad and solemn occasion. Nobody wanted to go home. Clutching our collection memorabilia, fruit fly traps, baggage, and the inevitable
tourist junk, we must have looked a miserable bunch when we clambered aboard our plane. Now, it seems a million years ago, but everyone carries with him fond memories of a beautiful country, welcoming people, and a wealth of experiences which will
never be forgotten.
Roll on the next trip!
Eco-slavery Nightmare Shock Horror Revealed - Exclusive
Leaving England at the end of May to spend three months in the jungle, where I could not even speak the language, filled me with something approaching dread, and I needed to do some quick positive thinking when it came to saying goodbye to my family. My journey passed in a blur and, before I knew it, I was half a world away from home.
Travelling in Ecuador is not something I would recommend if you don't know any Spanish but, aided by hand signals and some very helpful people, I arrived at the Jatun Sacha Biological Station on the Rio Napo. The station, however, is manned by people from all over the world and, though the native workers spoke Spanish, the main language was English.
As a volunteer, life was very flexible. There were always people coming and going; our number varied between two and ten. The main activities took place during the morning and could be:
Reforestation
Plant and seed collection
Measuring and mapping
Maintenance of facilities
Afternoons were either spent lounging in hammocks or swimming in the Rio Napo depending on how much energy was left. The station manager is a very informed man and bilingual. From general conversation it was possible to accumulate information about plants, animals, birds and the local environment. Other workers instructed us in the ways of the indigenous people, their customs and their history.
I did not find it easy at first to adapt to life at the station. Breakfast at 6:30 am and bed at 10pm was a trifle strange but, when daylight is from 6am to 6pm, it does make sense. The volunteer house, Ali Supai, was wooden with chicken wire windows. The toilet was hidden behind bushes in the garden ? it had a roof but no walls. The shower was a tap attached to the sides of the house, and there were many permanent residents (tarantula etc).
On the other hand, the view from the balcony was beautiful. There was every fruit tree imaginable in the garden. There was a river nearby to bathe in and to wash clothes in. We discovered an island paradise, there. The weather was constantly balmy. Needless to say, the station soon became home.
I am a scientist but not a biologist. For me, my time at Jatun Sacha was a period of learning, communication, and self-discovery. It is also satisfying to think that I have played a part in helping to save the tropical rainforest and had a wonderful time doing so. I intend to return there as soon as I may; once bitten, always smitten
(not by the tarantula, of course).
Liz Purves
