17-01-22
A raucous flock of parrots flew overhead as I sat down to write this, sitting here in a hammock on the veranda of a palm-frond thatched cabin in the rain forest. This lodge is just right for us: owned and run by members of the San Jose de Uchupiamonas village and sitting on the land set aside as their indigenous territory and only 3 hours upstream by boat from the town of Rurrenabaque. We are inside Madidi National Park, and as with many national parks in Bolivia, the park and the indigenous-rights territory overlap, giving the original people’s that have lived there rights to continue to do so. The people of San Jose are a good example of how a community can benefit from their locale. Originally farmers, hunters, and loggers living off the richness of the rain forest, they now have established a series of eco-lodges that cater to people like us who want to learn about the rain forest here in the Amazon basin and who also want to support local communities. Chalalan was the first of San Jose’s initiatives, a lodge located 2 hours farther upstream from here (and a place I’ve happily stayed before). Madidi Jungle is the latest one, built and run by families from the community, and more cozy than the larger Chalalan; we occupy all but one of the rooms.
Our cabin in the rain forest
We have three excellent guides assigned to us: Alejandro (who is in charge), Norman, and Simon. All are fantastic naturalists, and all have learned English as part of their preparation for working here. This makes it very easy for us, and makes the long hikes, piranha fishing, and tubing down the Rio Tuichi possible to do without needing Sonia along to translate. Generally we divide into three groups of about 6 for expeditions into the rainforest, a number that keeps the noise level down and allows us to see what our guides point out. And what have we seen? Giant almandrillo and ceiba trees (known as the father and mother trees by our Tacana guides), lianas reaching to the canopy, epiphytes, orchids, bromeliads, killer strangler figs (that grow as large as their hosts) and countless understory plants that I don’t know but appreciate. Besides the parrots and macaws that make their presence known with their loud chatter, we’ve seen turkey-like guans, prehistoric hoatzins, and spectacled owls, among many other birds. Howler monkeys, tamarinds, spider monkeys, squirrel and capuchin monkeys represent the primates, and packs (herds? Sties?) of wild peccaries cross our path frequently. Yesterday the group I was in was followed on our morning hike by the lodge’s tame tapir, Tonio, rescued from a river bank when he was a baby and now 1.5 years old. He follows along like a dog might, his floppy proboscis checking out smells, but will mouth a dangling backpack strap and snap at you when you push him away. Probably the highlight from today’s walk was when Norman pointed out a tiny red fungus sprouting from a log and explained that it was one that shot its spores into ants when ant-like vibrations triggered it. Digging into the log a bit he pulled up a 1.5 inch long bullet ant (one of the most painful stingers in the forest) that the fungus was growing out of. Our crew recalled with enthusiasm learning about fungi that took over the behavior of the ant and caused it to do strange things like dig into a rotting log and wait for the fungus to consume it. And it is definitely a tropical rainforest: hot and humid, we sweat much of the day, and we bring rain coats along on the hikes for when the sky opens up!
The larger issue that brings us here is the plan by the Evo Morales government to build two giant hydroelectric dams, one on the Rio Beni just downstream from here, and one farther upstream. The Beni dam, named El Bala for the cleft in the mountains we passed through on our way here that it would fill when (if?) built would flood this lodge and all of the forest for miles around. We heard in La Paz from speakers there that the flooding and consequent decomposition of all the vegetation that would die would release a massive amount of carbon dioxide and methane (potent greenhouse gases), as well as remove hundreds of hectares of some of the most biodiverse forest in the world. This diversity, and the massive trees and vegetation that it comprises, is a huge carbon sink, pulling greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere, and has been called the “lungs” of the planet. It’s interesting (and more than a little ironic) that sources of energy that one might think are carbon neutral (like hydroelectric power) could, when placed in such a lush area, actually be a large source of carbon pollution. Plus the dams are not cheap–a Chinese company is contracting to build them for $6 billion dollars, more than all of Bolivia’s current foreign debt. The stated reason for the project is to sell the electricity to Brazil, but apparently that country is also embarking on similar massive hydro projects, so people we’ve talked with are skeptical of the potential for future earnings. We are happy to be here now while the rain forest is not underwater, and hope that it stays that way!