N Ecuador – detailed Andean Bear work and recollections 8 years on

WEEKS ONE AND SIX

Week One was for training and orientation. The study area in the Intag region on the western Andean slopes is part of the Choco Bioregion extending into S Columbia and is one of the ten most biologically important areas of the world. We usually got the 9am bus along to drop off points on the main road and then walked 4 -8km listening at set stations.  Names of the radio tracking routes are Vuelta de Osa (Return of the Bear) starting at about 3400m dropping to Santa Rosa on the valley floor at 1500m, road to Cazarpamba village, dirt track to Siempre Verde and forest paths to Tubla Chupa and Loma Redonda. The walking was fine as I felt sufficiently fit from the Honduras work and this further improved with the Bear Project hikes. I’d spent some time in Quito and Cotopaxi getting used to the altitude too but as my last Bear Project trip to the high paramo showed I felt poorly and very tired at 4500m.

During Week Six, I did some of these easy half day walks after the gruelling previous week on Toisan Mountain.  I recall a great time wise-cracking with one of the volunteers R who got through the Project on rum, a sardonic wit and good humour plus chats and laughs with the main guide B and much to his entertainment, buying rum in wooden shacks in one horse settlements whilst chasing butterflies through the sun dappled tree lined tracks. It was very idyllic in warm, easy going weather where we remembered to conscientiously twizzle the antennae and focussed attention back to the recent bear field signs. The sharp claws were seen where a bear has climbed a tree to tear off the bromeliads which are strewn on the ground.  They are omnivorous, in some areas occasionally taking cows, but mainly eat hearts of palm and soft insides of bamboo and bromeliads as these are rich in sugar plus fruits.  We saw faeces, one lot was white from a diet of bromeliads, bamboo cane and maize and another black from a plant called mortino (vaccinium spp) found on the higher paramo grasslands.  I didn’t understand all the Spanish but thought the females travel between the bamboo forest and the paramo for this plant in the autumn.

WEEKS TWO AND FOUR

I spent 2 weeks in total camping at a farm owned by Don Efren who worked closely with the Project. In return for monetary crop compensation, he no longer scares the bears away or shoots at them and had a bear trap cage set up in a very steep and high maize field. The bears can take over half a crop which as a year´s lifeline for many families causes much concern. The mixed stock –crop farm is a 2-3 hour hike along hill paths or tracks on loose stones and dust near the River Azibi in a lovely, green valley, although there was deforestation and steep, black charred slopes too. I’ve good memories of these hikes to the farm, camping in the field behind the buildings and family meals.

The family were friendly, welcoming and hard working with high self sufficiency. The 2 boys aged 8 and 10 rode one of the 8 horses to school each day about 1 hour´s walk away. Other stock included 6 or so Friesian type dairy cattle and a bull, chickens, a huge sow and few smaller pigs with crops of blackberry, beans, maize and cabuya on about 60 ha which was a big holding. In Week 2, we worked for two mornings picking bean stems by hand or blackberries as part of the community volunteering element. I wasn’t too enthralled as I wanted to focus on ecological field work but as a fuller picture was gleaned of the wider Project, I better understood the rationale. I recall finding the threshing quite hard work and getting couple of hand blisters but added another new activity to my log book of experience. My two fellow men heaved river stones around as part of building a bridge or something which they never really sussed out along with some bean work.

We set the bear cage with another collar and transmitter so on shutting, a radio would pick up the signal and a lowered plastic bag inform the family who would phone or otherwise let us know.  The volunteers needed to arrive as soon as possible day or night to tranquillise the bear and put on a radio collar. During my visit, nothing happened with this trap. I recall the very steep slope to the trap, which I could just about climb by heaving myself up using the lower stems/roots of the maize and descend using them as brakes! Working such slopes must be very hard work but highlighted the need for land and food.  A highlight later on in week 4 was seeing a male bear in the maize field which stayed for at least 3 hours. I couldn´t see the animal at that distance without binoculars!, but the farmer and his wife spot them easily. I clearly saw the white face markings as he wandered about the old maize stems.

In Week 4, I spent the time camping with R and we listened to bears at different locations around the valley and a female, Rosalba, was very close for the 3 days being in a well wooded valley leading up onto the as yet, still forested high ground. In between listening every hour, we read books, ate sweets and were accompanied by a small Heinz 57 black, young dog who was appallingly emaciated and simply not fed by her owners.  She swam rivers, followed us faithfully and bit through her rope lead when she was taken back by her very pregnant owner, all to race back to us at our tent night and day and was so desperate to be wanted.

WEEK THREE – PINAN LAKE

We went camping again on a 6 hour trek from Irubi village 4km beyound Cazarpamba which is about 7km from Pucara, north into the hills and Pinan lake at 3300m.  I recall a fantastic montane and lake landscape, good company and a cheerful lady with a pig whom we met on one of the paths. The lower paramo grasslands were grazed with parts burnt to presumably increase carrying capacity for domestic stock / crop growing. The mornings were superb with crystal cut clarity of the snowy Cotocachi  mountain and lake reflections of the foothills.  There were lovely wooded gills cloaked in lichens, mosses and bromeliads with swampy fens and beautiful flowers amongst the coarse grasses, rushes and sedges.

All our gear went on one horse which our guide S organised, loaded and took charge of.  All we had to do was to walk mainly up hill with one spectacular descent and ascent into a partly wooded ravine and up through forest being cut down and burnt as we walked.  We passed old and young alike either walking or on horseback carrying stuff to market, or bringing back lengths of timber strapped across a donkey´s back, plus one old lady in traditional attire accompanying a cheerful sounding pig.

We camped by a small stream near the Lake and conditions were basic.  It was pretty cold at night with rain in late afternoon and evening with the low cloud swirling in across the lake and hills very fast. The toilet was the scrubby undergrowth and one had to be careful where you walked as all was not buried. The greasy plates and cooking pots were washed in a cold water stream with cooking over an open fire.  S was great at getting fires going in the rain, macheting wood, cooking food etc. There were 5 blokes on a camping trip too who waded the stream with a net trawling for trout and they shared some with us that evening with rice and lentils and puro in tea.  A quaint scene of 8 of us huddled under a couple of bits of tarpaulin next to a very smoky fire in the low cloud and drizzle with bits and bobs of chat in basic Spanish.

The bear work was done in about an hour by walking up a nearby hill to listen for Fernando who may have been on this side of the hill. We picked up very faint signals denoting he was probably 20km distance.

We got back to Irubi with S disappearing on horseback to his second house at Cazarpamba. The three of us whiled away a 4-5 hour wait for the open cattle truck which acted as the school run.  I had a go on the swings which were not bolted to the ground so recall an interesting pendulum effect along with feeling very contented as I simply whiled away time watching chickens, pigs, horses and a few folk go about slow business in a soporific dust bowl. I recall too the jumper which had been ripped completely across the back for although tucked into the top of my rucsac, it probably got caught on a stick or barbed wire as the horse navigated along the paths. A momento!

WEEK FIVE – TOISAN MOUNTAIN CLOUD AND LOWLAND FOREST

The boss wanted to investigate the possibility of 1 or 2 tapir species being present in the forested Toisan Cordilleras and the Cotacachi- Cayapas Ecological Reserve which covers 2000 sq miles from Cotacachi volcano at 4944m to the coastal lowlands.  This was going to be a tough expedition carrying full packs into a remote and rarely visited area and a great opportunity.

Although there had been various ideas about who was going to go, the leaders decided at the last moment it should just be a couple of blokes one of whom had been there just a short while acclimatising. I recall feeling very put out as I thought I’d worked well on the hikes and sensed this was probably my last hurrah in age and fitness for giving such trips a good go and this revved my strong wish to be allowed to go! The leaders agreed saying I had a ‘good attitude for getting up hills’ and I closely studied S face as to his expression when he asked if I was going too and said fine. I took this as acknowledgement of my efforts and the respect we also got on our return still means a lot to me 8 years later.

C and I took the one bus a day at 3pm to a village Cuellaje about 25km N -NW of Pucara.  We spent the night at S house on thin mattresses on hard slatted bunk beds and had dinner and breakfast. This was another way of the Project being able to contribute, albeit occasional and small scale, incomes to the community. We left Monday on the 7am milk truck for a few km up a valley where S father had a farm with horses we used.  For the next 6 hours up hill through pasture fields and small areas of woodland, the horses carried all our kit and we took it in turns to ride one of the horses.  We had lunch near a small hut used by herders where the horses were left in a recently felled, large field.

Then it was serious expedition time as we divided the camping and food stuff of a heavy tent, metal cooking pots and several kilos of potatoes, rice, pasta, sugar, salt, milk powder, lentils and onions. I was given the lightest goods comprising many packets of biscuits, lots of bread rolls, tuna and tomatoes. Off we went for the next 4 days into an interesting hell hole of high cloud and tropical wet forest with dense undergrowth comprising fallen or semi prostrate trees, mats of dead branches, macheted cut bamboo stems which got me in the legs, thighs, bum and fortunately missed my eyeballs whilst I crawled on all fours through the mud, under or over trees, slid down toboggan runs or hauled my butt up near vertical ascents hanging onto a few roots. I recall feeling very sweaty, tired with a maze of fallen vegetation and mud to tackle and wondering if being a jungle explorer was all it was cracked up to be!

We hiked about 4 hours in the forest on Monday and although S wanted to keep going as we had no water he could not say where there was water!  So, I made an executive decision as I was the spanish -english translator and asked to stop and camp as it was becoming dusk.  In the cold drizzle and low cloud S macheted some low vegetation, cut banana type leaves as the under tent bedding and we put up the tent.  With no water or fire as it was too wet to light, we crawled into our sleeping bags and had tomatoes and biscuits with a tin of tuna for dinner.  I then listened to my I-pod in the jungle. I recall the tent site and basic supper but not any music.

Next day was about 8 hours of hiking mainly downhill as we started at about 3300m near the ridge to drop to 1000m.  This was a new route for S and he navigated on a simple compass bearing to hit a river. This was a tough day and although S did a great job of macheting a sort of path, C and I did a lot of stumbling and crawling and we had to backtrack on several occasions as he tried to find the right way through a series of ridges, valleys and bluffs to the river.  I had an abiding memory of Samuel after 6 hours, macheting with one hand, fag in the other, heavy backpack and still looking like it was a walk in the park! I found the downhill hard work on my knees so it was a hard slog and I was often on auto pilot and sheer bloody mindedness – especially as I had insisted on going along!

At the river, S found a dry spot under a huge tree in a small clearing for the tent and fire.  I went to C’s rucsac for the tent only to find it had gone. Some translations later I inform S there is no tent and C who was utterly exhausted had no recollection when it was last attached and I didn’t know either.  C asked if S could look for it as too tired and the trail is so faint he and I would be lost in a few yards. Quite reasonably S was tired too and had a fire to get going in very damp conditions, firewood to cut and dinner to make plus with darkness just 45 mins later and no idea where it could be on the trail, we agreed it was daft to go searching. So, we’d accepted we would have to camp down under the tree canopy amongst a swarm of ants and hope a small party of his mates from the village who were following on behind would find the tent. Then, wow! – his mates appeared with a tent they had found 3 hours back up the trail. C crashed to slumbers without wanting a hot drink or dinner.  I was hungry so helped with the fire and food.

The next day I was disappointed not to do any wildlife tracking, but asked to stay by the camp trying to keep the fire going whilst cooking lentils etc for our dinner.  I recall trying to dry our clothes over the fire with the consequence my trousers got a huge hole burnt in the backside.  S went fishing for 4-5 hours with his mates and looked for tapir tracks and C went off to photograph flora and fauna as requested by the Boss. Although C was adamant he wanted to leave the hell hole ASAP, I stood my ground and said I wished to stay another day. I recall differences of opinions! – I wanted to do some ecological work after the hard slog and see something else apart from the immediate camp! S wanted to stay as he had pals there.

So, we stayed on and went on a 3 hour slow hike across the river, having an opportunity without rucsacs and at a snail pace to look at flora and fauna.  A fab place.  I would have loved to go tapir tracking by the river, but told it was too dangerous from slippery rocks which was true in places and also possibly interference with a boys at play trip?! I had a couple of nice but ´hard work´ Spanish chats with his 5 mates who were army or farm fit and had come for a few days to fish and hunt. They kindly included me later in a communal meal of meat, rice and yucca which was quite tasty.

On Friday we left camp just gone 7am for what turned out to be an epic of a journey lasting 14 hours. It took me to the edges and beyond of my strength and stamina but with half of my backpack taken by S after 8 hours and being fed cans of tuna and biscuits at critical moments, I managed the 2000m climb back up the mountain covered in sweat, mud, rain and scratches. I´d said to S when he started mentioning a return in just 1 day that we likely need 2 days based on our experience on the outward trip, but as so frequently seemed to happen I found out bits of information half way through a trip. And so it was at 9am on Friday, I learnt we did need to return in 1 day as he had motorbike business to do on Saturday morning!  His mates did the entire trip on foot the next day in 10 hours.

Although the trail was more direct on the return it was very tough and occasionally S would wait for us at a particularly vertical pitch to reach down a hand and haul me and backpack up in one move. I was dredging every ounce I had and was becoming very slow. We were battling against time and darkness to reach the herder´s hut by dusk and just made it. Whilst S tried to find and catch 2 horses in the dusk and low cloud which sent him flying at one point, I changed into dry clothes as I was very chilled and shaking. Fortunately, there were shepherds at the hut who had a fire and hot tea which I recall was like finding gold and seeing S trying to tie saddle and bags on to a horse which bucked and careered around the yard.

We left for a 3 hour trip down the mountain through the early night. It transpired S did not know the first part of this other path very well so we wandered about fields looking for exits, which he mainly did leaving us to wait until he´d worked it out, or more entertainingly trying to recapture the manic horse which had broken loose and was yomping about a hill with pots clanging and appearing occasionally from the low cloud. This I recall as a comic piece in a day full of drama with silhouetted outlines of horse and man in half moonlight against a muted backdrop of softly contoured hills. Once the horse had been brought back on course, we continued downhill, part riding and walking. I remember thinking at the time, it was a magical night of a full moon, stars and no wind and doubly so as the 3 of us had achieved a lot. I rode behind S on the saddle for about 1.45 hours and without a rucsac, powered down the track when walking. A third wind of energy from somewhere! He asked if we wanted anything from the shop as we approached the family farm and as usual, food and beer!  However, my knees lock up on a horse and with no stirrup help, I yet again fell off in a not so dignified but happy heap by the roadside. The shop was in darkness, but seemingly one just knocks to arouse the shopkeeper from bed and exchange local greetings.  All they had was coke and biscuits and I could pay the next day.

C was very disappointed to learn there was no transport back to the Bear House at 10pm but I´d understood we were staying at the farm so another night was spent in rustic splendour!  His wife was there with the kids and she heated up food which was welcome then I had the child´s bed and my feet stuck out the end for a dawn cacophony of horses, cows, pigs, roosters and children outside the porch at 5.30am. It took us 5 hours to get back the next day, first on the milk truck and then we hitched lifts, followed by the first proper wash in 6 days!

WEEK SEVEN    TOISAN AGAIN!

I was not going on another camping trip as I thought I was leaving, but S turned up Monday evening at the Bear House covered in motorbike oil and farm dirt and smiling angelically as the puro had been flowing. In conversation, he said why don´t I come along on the trip as its to a different location and be back by Friday so no second offers I was going! .I told him he was too well oiled for me to jump on the back of the bike so A arranged a private taxi ride for 20$ to Cuellaje and I packed bags in 20mins.  S got a lift too with the bike in the pick-up.

It was a surprise to the 2 other volunteers, D&E when I turned up at 9pm who were not too impressed by matters and been waiting since about 5pm for food as seemed to be the plan. It could be frustrating such unpredictability but I’d set myself goals to chill more and go with the flow and found it did make things less stressful – not an amazing statement but did me good! I’d also seen that he and the others who worked hard for the Project did so to a different tempo and nuances to my western clock watching and paper chasing world.

Next morning, S appeared hour and half later with 2 horses and the same arrangement as last time of carrying bags on one with a rider on the other.  We had a 5-6 hour walk firstly up a steep hill for 2 hours then gently undulating through open forest on a well used track. I rode for about 45 minutes on the way up and about 1.25 hours on the return and managed to not utterly panic when the horse stumbled on the steep, stony narrow channels or went down steep bits. I am a scared cat around horses and made myself ride sometime hoping a slither of confidence and skill would emerge. It didn’t but at least I tried. For the last hour on more steep ground where the horses were working hard in the mud and descents – ascents, no one rode.

This time, we had use of a small wooden planking hut in yet more recently cleared and burnt forest for cattle.  I think this was owned by his sister´s husband and it was basic but fine for a couple of nights with a roof, open fire place and running water just outside.  We put up the 2 tents on the floorboards as extra protection from the cold and got on with making food and hot drinks. Next day we explored the forest for 5-6 hours, following bear-animal paths up and along a ridge passing through different types of forest from open understorey with easy walking to dense bamboo areas needing the machete. We were looking for bear hairs on trees where they rub themselves or as they climb trees.  The Project wants to clean frequently used trees on x routes to then collect ´new´ hairs every x days for DNA analysis and population structure.  I loved this type of exploring at a slower pace and being shown bear scratches, footprints etc including some lighter and finer hairs probably from puma.

We spent part of the afternoon in the sunshine on the rickety porch teaching S the card game of shitheads in Spanish and later on by candle and fire light having a good craic. The others were adamant we left on Thursday morning as they had things to get on with and so back down the hill to the village. I accepted the offer of lunch out of respect and played patience on the porch letting the small daughter help me and mum came over too. This did feel a bit of a breakthrough as we had the impression life was not easy. I wandered off to the plaza to lie by a wall for an hour waiting for any passing vehicle and played cards. Got a lift by a great bloke who turned out to be one of S many cousins and practised yet more Spanish. It is still basic but surprisingly can hobble through some conversations with some laughs for good measure.

WEEK EIGHT ..HIGH PARAMO

I was leaving to go travelling in S Ecuador but there was an opportunity to go to the High Paramo which was fabulous for flora and sheer beauty of high montane landscapes. It seemed daft to book a guide through a tour agency which would cost me a bomb as a single person and on asking was welcomed to stay on. The 4 of us were told to take overnight stuff for the typical circular route and so lugged tents and food up about 900m which at 4100m I found very hard going on the heart, lungs, digestive system and head. I was surprised I found the additional 500-1000m in altitude so much harder as I thought I had become much fitter but salutary lesson as to how my body reacts.

Once again, during conversation, it turns out we are not doing a circular route as S does not know the way although I suspect he does or would wing it with a compass bearing as he can see his village! However, it transpired he had a motorbike meeting at 2.30pm so we needed to get back to the road for the 1pm bus. I recall the uncomfortable night with just more bread buns for supper and one hot drink each over a primus stove in the drizzle. The bonus also included fantastic views of the lower ground such as Cazarpamba, the paramo and Cotacachi with our tent site on a ridge on the immediate flanks of the volcano with sweeping views appearing in and out of the swirling low cloud.  I had several hours without a rucsac to move slowly, looking at the superb low growing montane flora of various vibrant colours with tough, waxy, prickly leaves and stands of the tall bromeliads eaten by bears.