01-14-2019, 02:31 PM
2018-12-30: Part 3 -- Snake Safari Denied
After lunch and a swim down by the boat with LC, JJ, Paula, and others, Mohsin approaches me to discuss a sensitive matter. Three rangers working for Jungle Keepers (they patrol the area for illegal loggers and poachers) are temporarily staying with us. They very much want to lead a snake hunt to a promising locale. Of course, that's not their job. Still, Mohsin will allow it with the understanding that the rangers stay on task while the snakers just conveniently follow them into the area. The problem is, this should stay a small group to be most effective. Mohsin knows I want to see snakes, but asks if it would be okay if I was excluded. I've been anticipating something like this, due to my age. Back in Puerto Maldonaldo while JJ was driving LC and me around, I heard him speaking Spanish on the phone and caught the phrase, "...sesenta y siete...," 67, my age when applying (though since turning 68), and suspected my age was under discussion as a concern. Alas, I yield -- though I really want to see snakes.
2018-12-30: Part 4 -- Devil's Garden and Mammal Copa
So the snakers follow the rangers off into the jungle while the rest of us embark on a long excursion to the mammal equivalent of the bird copa. Enroute, we stop to cautiously explore an area called the Devil's Garden. It's a sparse area of smaller, stunted trees, all of a kind. Mohsin instructs us not to touch any part of the trees, whose limbs are riddled with goiters. It turns out the trees are full of tiny ants with a very nasty bite, and they will swarm out of the goiters and other egresses and attack en masse. These ants systematically poison all plants in the area with injections of formic acid so this special tree can prevail. The trees have hollow limbs, ideal for colonization. Mohsin tells us that this patch of jungle soil has an unusual PH, which is the only place this tree species can thrive, and the ants thrive in these trees. We carefully make our way out of the Devil's Garden and onward on the trail.
Eventually we reach the mammal copa. It's not visually arresting and is hard to fully appreciate. Essentially, in a secluded depression, almost a cave, underground water seeps out to form an irregular pool with clay banks, and mammals come here at special times to drink and eat the clay -- again for its toxin-neutralizing benefits. We don't see any animals, maybe because it isn't the right time, or more likely because we are way too noisy. As Mohsin describes the nature of this copa, Stewart in his bright white shirt starts to trudge into the copa proper for a better camera shot, and Mohsin has to snap at him to stop. The copa is under study by a research team and shouldn't be disturbed. As I mentioned, the copa is a hard place to appreciate, despite its importance to the ecosystem, and Mohsin seems to realize this and asks for our feedback. I'm not certain we ever tell him much.
Before we leave, Mohsin points out another part of the depression that we can go down into. He says that on the mud banks are some stones. This is highly unusual, because this jungle does not have stones or rocks. Anything we've seen that looked like stone or rock is in fact compacted clay. Somehow this underground water source has deposited a few stones. Mohsin invites LC and Paula to go into the area and collect a few stones. When they come back with their spoils, he points to several in their palms and says he thinks they're clay. They look like stones, but sure enough, with some pressure and tapping these "stones" come apart. Still LC and Paula have a couple legit stones.
As we prepare to head back, Mohsin tests us. Do any of us know the way? Not me; I have no sense of direction. I'm sure LC knows, but Paula is better positioned, figures it out and takes point. Her pace is brisk, without pause.
At some point I realize Mohsin and LC have fallen well behind. I turn back and eventually spot them stopped on the trail, looking at something. By the time I get there, Mohsin is holding two vine snakes. He had pointed them out to LC in the foliage, which took her a bit to spot, then he nabbed them. He wants to bring them back to the ecolodge for now, though ultimately he'll return them to this spot for release, but we don't have a snake sack. So I volunteer my near-empty backpack.
Mohsin stuffs the vine snakes in my bag while I try to zip it shut. But they're lively, coils erupting again and again or sometimes a head. I keep pushing them back in. Vine snakes are venomous, by the way, but rear-fanged, which means that they mouth their prey without fangs, then work it to the back of the mouth to fang it and chew in venom. That's very difficult to do to a human.
Finally Mohsin peels off his shirt, tosses it to someone to tie into a makeshift bag, stuffs the vine snakes in it, and clenches it closed. We're ready to move on. Paula resumes leading the way, and while she can be very talkative at times, she is now silent, her pace brisk, never pausing. I'm at the rear, keeping up, but struggling; and this is a good time to tell more about Paula.
After lunch and a swim down by the boat with LC, JJ, Paula, and others, Mohsin approaches me to discuss a sensitive matter. Three rangers working for Jungle Keepers (they patrol the area for illegal loggers and poachers) are temporarily staying with us. They very much want to lead a snake hunt to a promising locale. Of course, that's not their job. Still, Mohsin will allow it with the understanding that the rangers stay on task while the snakers just conveniently follow them into the area. The problem is, this should stay a small group to be most effective. Mohsin knows I want to see snakes, but asks if it would be okay if I was excluded. I've been anticipating something like this, due to my age. Back in Puerto Maldonaldo while JJ was driving LC and me around, I heard him speaking Spanish on the phone and caught the phrase, "...sesenta y siete...," 67, my age when applying (though since turning 68), and suspected my age was under discussion as a concern. Alas, I yield -- though I really want to see snakes.
2018-12-30: Part 4 -- Devil's Garden and Mammal Copa
So the snakers follow the rangers off into the jungle while the rest of us embark on a long excursion to the mammal equivalent of the bird copa. Enroute, we stop to cautiously explore an area called the Devil's Garden. It's a sparse area of smaller, stunted trees, all of a kind. Mohsin instructs us not to touch any part of the trees, whose limbs are riddled with goiters. It turns out the trees are full of tiny ants with a very nasty bite, and they will swarm out of the goiters and other egresses and attack en masse. These ants systematically poison all plants in the area with injections of formic acid so this special tree can prevail. The trees have hollow limbs, ideal for colonization. Mohsin tells us that this patch of jungle soil has an unusual PH, which is the only place this tree species can thrive, and the ants thrive in these trees. We carefully make our way out of the Devil's Garden and onward on the trail.
Eventually we reach the mammal copa. It's not visually arresting and is hard to fully appreciate. Essentially, in a secluded depression, almost a cave, underground water seeps out to form an irregular pool with clay banks, and mammals come here at special times to drink and eat the clay -- again for its toxin-neutralizing benefits. We don't see any animals, maybe because it isn't the right time, or more likely because we are way too noisy. As Mohsin describes the nature of this copa, Stewart in his bright white shirt starts to trudge into the copa proper for a better camera shot, and Mohsin has to snap at him to stop. The copa is under study by a research team and shouldn't be disturbed. As I mentioned, the copa is a hard place to appreciate, despite its importance to the ecosystem, and Mohsin seems to realize this and asks for our feedback. I'm not certain we ever tell him much.
Before we leave, Mohsin points out another part of the depression that we can go down into. He says that on the mud banks are some stones. This is highly unusual, because this jungle does not have stones or rocks. Anything we've seen that looked like stone or rock is in fact compacted clay. Somehow this underground water source has deposited a few stones. Mohsin invites LC and Paula to go into the area and collect a few stones. When they come back with their spoils, he points to several in their palms and says he thinks they're clay. They look like stones, but sure enough, with some pressure and tapping these "stones" come apart. Still LC and Paula have a couple legit stones.
As we prepare to head back, Mohsin tests us. Do any of us know the way? Not me; I have no sense of direction. I'm sure LC knows, but Paula is better positioned, figures it out and takes point. Her pace is brisk, without pause.
At some point I realize Mohsin and LC have fallen well behind. I turn back and eventually spot them stopped on the trail, looking at something. By the time I get there, Mohsin is holding two vine snakes. He had pointed them out to LC in the foliage, which took her a bit to spot, then he nabbed them. He wants to bring them back to the ecolodge for now, though ultimately he'll return them to this spot for release, but we don't have a snake sack. So I volunteer my near-empty backpack.
Mohsin stuffs the vine snakes in my bag while I try to zip it shut. But they're lively, coils erupting again and again or sometimes a head. I keep pushing them back in. Vine snakes are venomous, by the way, but rear-fanged, which means that they mouth their prey without fangs, then work it to the back of the mouth to fang it and chew in venom. That's very difficult to do to a human.
Finally Mohsin peels off his shirt, tosses it to someone to tie into a makeshift bag, stuffs the vine snakes in it, and clenches it closed. We're ready to move on. Paula resumes leading the way, and while she can be very talkative at times, she is now silent, her pace brisk, never pausing. I'm at the rear, keeping up, but struggling; and this is a good time to tell more about Paula.