My two weeks as a wildlife photographer in Ecuador

I was recently asked by the Fundacion Fauna de la Amazonia, a conservation project located near the tropical Llanganates National Park in Ecuador, to volunteer my services as a wildlife photographer. Being an amateur, this was my first "official" photography position, and I was delighted!

For two weeks, I happily traipsed around the jungle searching for anything that moved and photographing it, or more appropriately as the case may have been, trying to photograph it. I volunteered to document the animal life present at the “finca” of the Fundacion Fauna de la Amazonia, as it is a newly-purchased plot of land and it’s important to know what kind of life is present before conservation work begins. 

I spent my days getting up before dawn and walking for two to three hours to see what I could spot. I watched the sun rise from my favorite bird hotspots and watched it glint off the spectacular blue and green feathers of Paradise Tanagers. As hawks preened quietly in the nearby trees, and butterflies flitted lazily in the morning sunshine, I photographed hummingbirds, parrot flocks flying overhead, kites circling high, and the many songbirds that wake up on those forested slopes.

During the day I either sat in the middle of the forest and quietly listened for life, or walked up the only rocky road leading through the project area to look for animals which venture into more open habitat. At night I took walks to look for frogs, and found them in abundance. I photographed five species of frog, two of them unknown, an unknown lizard, and discovered three species of birds not previously documented on the land. I also witnessed a land crab carrying away a giant millipede at least as big as its own body, a clutch of lizard eggs that hatched shortly after being discovered, and two juvenile hawks newly fledged from the nest . Much to my chagrin, I also found myself photographing lots of giant spiders. Colorful and sometimes amusingly-patterned insects abound in the area, and when they are not busy biting you or sucking your blood, they do make for a great picture. My favorite was a small beetle that looked like a piece of gold sitting right atop a leaf, reflecting the sun like a bright piece of metal.

With each new photo snapped, more information about the area becomes available. This information will be useful in the area’s future conservation. Some of these animals are endemic to this area, and are not seen anywhere else in the world, and it’s important to document them to raise awareness of the area and its need to be preserved. I not only enjoyed my two weeks in this jungle immensely, I have hopefully helped and will continue to help keep it around for many years to come.

 More Photos...

 

 

Thailand Through the Eyes of an Alcoholic London Photographer: Guest blogger Matt Goldsmith

My friend Matt, who lives in London, just returned from an adventure to Thailand, where he ventured with little to no money. So if you're in the same boat, take some tips from him. Matt is a pro photographer, so you're in for a treat with this photo-summary of his trip. Enjoy!

Thailand Through the Eyes of an Alcoholic London Photographer

So I went to Thailand for a month.. It was meant to be three months, but... stupid money!

I'd never been to Asia before - I didn't really know what to expect - and I thought that my Western money would last a lifetime.. this was a mistake, but my only mistake I'll admit.. Okay, maybe ordering that food that one time, but that's another story.

I had no plans beyond landing in Bangkok. This was the plan in itself, I didn't want to set anything in stone because I knew that by following an organic route I'd find more valuable experiences. If I planned ahead then I wouldn't be able to divert from the plan, and I wanted to escape from routine.

So, first to Bangkok.. Bangkok in a nutshell? It's very busy, modern, extremely rich people living in the vicinity of the extreme-poor, it all just sort of gels together. It's a good central staging point for getting all over the country, with train, plane and bus connections to get you wherever you want. All-in-all I spent around 10 days, over four trips, in Bangkok.. It's an interesting city, huge and sprawling, with many amazing sights to see.
 

One of the many beautiful temples (wats) in the centre of Bangkok

 
I'd met a Scottish guy in Bangkok the first day.. Mike.. he and his wife were doing an around the world trip and were three quarters the way around. We talked about my plans and he suggested - for my budget - to go down South to Krabi. I booked my hostel in Krabi and the next day I set off for the train station.

Krabi doesn't have a train station so the nearest point is Surat Thani and from there it's a 5 hour bus down south. This meant a 17 hour total journey, longer than my flight from the UK to Thailand.

When I arrived at the station to buy a ticket there were none left for the 1st and 2nd class sleeping carriages, only 3rd class seats - I didn't immediately think this was a problem.. until 8 hours later, no sleep, cold, crabby, uncomfortable.. The trains are an amazing experience, the windows can be pulled all the way down and the doors either side of the carriage in the vestibules can be opened if you want to have a cigarette or take a running leap.

Down to Krabi by Train

After not much sleep I arrived in Surat Thani in the rain, immediately harangued by taxi drivers outside the train station, luckily I had a ticket for the onward bus so I waited for that and eventually arrived in Krabi. Southern Thailand is stupid hot, it was 32 degrees when I arrived in Krabi at 11am.

For all the heat though, Krabi is really beautiful, quite sedate and - like Bangkok - is a good staging point for all the southern islands. I intended to stay 5 days but ended up staying 8 it was that good. My first hostel  was pretty cheap, around £5.40 / $8.00 per night, air conditioned, clean, amazing showers, large lockers under the bed for your backpack and other items and centrally located in the town.

It was also where I first hired a bike in Thailand.. If you've never ridden a motorbike before I'd definitely advise against learning in Thailand.. There's a phrase: 'motorcycle tattoo' originating from the scars, cuts and scratches that tourists display after riding a motorbike and coming off. I've got a few of them.

Getting a bike meant that I could go wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted. And so I did! Up the river road to see the beautiful limestone rocks framing the river vista:

A tourist boat on Krabi river with one of the many beautiful limestone rock outcrops in the backdrop

And up North, in-country, where I came across an interesting restaurant - Thailand's first, global award winning, social enterprise, set up to promote safe sex, by making condoms as easily available as cabbages.
 

Despite the comedic name, Cabbages and Condoms has amazing food and a great mission

While down South I had to go and see the sea. Luckily everyone had buggered off to the islands for full moon parties, so a lot of the inland areas were less busy. I drove west to Ao Nang beach  for the day and chilled out in the sun.


A deserted and peaceful Ao Nang beach with Southern Thailand's islands in the distance

 

Time to Head Back Up North

The South couldn't keep me there forever and I'd planned to meet my friend's brother, Peter, in Hua Hin. Not far from Bangkok but just far enough to be difficult to get to at a sensible time by train from the south, I ended up heading to and staying in Bangkok for a night so I could arrive at a good time the next day. On the way I witnessed a robbery on the sleeper train that I'd made sure I'd booked a sleeping carriage for after the no-sleep 3rd class fiasco! I spent the day with a mixed-nationality group of guys and girls, playing pinball, visiting the mall, and drinking into the night.

I was told that there's a minivan which takes a few hours from Bangkok to Hua Hin, so I ventured over to Victory Monument and boarded the suicidally fast minivan down South.

Two and a half hours, and no nails left later, I arrived and headed over to Peter's and his wife's shop, The Family Tree to prepare for the next few days of relaxing, learning Thai culture and speaking with an ex-pat about his own adventure in the land of smiles.
Peter is an extraordinarily charismatic man, a testament to all ex-pats in the country, everyone he meets likes him immediately and together with his extremely calm and together wife, Dtor, they make an amazing couple. I really enjoyed my time in Hua Hin thanks to them. Without them it's really just a touristy town that most people spend a couple of weeks vacation in and then leave.

I arrived on New Year's Eve and after talking to Peter, getting loved to death by his two kids Rosie and Louie, the whole family sat out in the garden to welcome in the New Year, Thai style. It's possibly the least alcohol I've drunk on New Year's since learning about alcohol, and the first night of many in Thailand that I played Jenga until the early hours.

Wild Elephants in Kui Buri

Peter had suggested that on New Year's Day we try and see elephants in Kui Buri National Park. After an 80km drive down South we arrived at the ranger station for the park, picked up the ranger who was going to show us the way to elephants, and set off.

We parked up at a beautiful vista and waited for chang (elephants). We waited for around an hour before one showed up in the distance, then another. They milled around for quite a while but didn't come any closer, nor did any others appear. We decided to cut our losses and head back, we'd seen two at least.. On the way back though, not far from the ranger station in the trees we were treated to a female grazing around 50 metres from the roadside. She hung around for just long enough to get some good photos; this is the closest I've ever been to a wild elephant.


A beautiful wild elephant in Kui Buri National Park


Then more turned up, then more, and by the time we'd left we'd seen eight, plus a baby who was drinking from the watering hole. What a success and an amazing experience. This was topped off by having a BBQ, at 10pm on New Year's Day, definitely my favourite, and weirdest NYD so far.

I'd promised Peter and Dtor some publicity for letting me stay at theirs for a few days, Peter also helped me hire a bike in Hua Hin for a very good rate, so after hiring the bike I headed over to the Family Tree to shoot some photos, take the story of each item, and I wrote a blog about it for them. This place is truly amazing once you hear the tales behind the items.

Time to Hit the Beach

Another good thing about having a local 'guide' is being told where the best places to go are. Sam Roi Yot beach was said to be deserted and the best beach in the vicinity. I put on my helmet, filled up the petrol tank, and drove the 60km or so there. En route there was so much beauty either side of the road.



Beautiful mountains either side of the road en-route to Sam Roi Yot beach


The beach really was deserted and around 3 miles long. I drove up the entire length, grabbed a shake from a ladyboy waitress, and then drove all the way back to the start. Parking up I decided to walk as far up as I could, half-in and half-out of the water.



The beach at Sam Roi Yot with Monkey Island in the backdrop

I drove back before sunset and – feeling like I'd outstayed my welcome – decided that next day I'd head back to Bangkok, before heading up to Chiang Mai next. I explained to Peter and Dtor, thanked them for their hospitality, and slept peacefully ready for the journey back the next day.

Third Time Lucky in Bangkok

Another short minivan back to Bangkok and I'd chosen another new place to spend a couple of days (this turned into six). It was also where I met loads of people who I connected with on varying levels. Australians and a Brummie who went out partying and the latter missed his flight, a Dutch girl who got more mosquito bites in one night than I did my entire trip, a super-hot Spanish girl, two German lasses, a Brazilian, two Korean's and a Brit.

We went up the rooftop bar that the Hangover II was filmed at and I managed to score a shed load of beautiful shots of Bangkok by night, from 64 floors up.



The view from the sky bar, Lebua at State Tower, Bangkok


I arranged to head up North to Chiang Mai with Julia and Nina in a couple of days, and so I mostly spent the next day catching up with blogging and staying out of the blistering sun.

Up North to Chiang Mai

I didn't manage to get a sleeping carriage on the 15 hour journey up North, but the one saving grace was that we'd hit sunlight around 6:30am, and we'd have about 6 hours of it until we hit Chiang Mai – photo time!



A moment that took me with absolute breathtaking beauty, the train with sunlight glinting off its carriages


I maxed out two of my CF cards photographing the scenery on the way, I'd long ago given up on the idea of sleep and moved willingly into 3rd class as they have better windows than 2nd for photos, and I'd secured a booth all to myself. By the time we arrived I was a bit grump and we soon headed to the guest house for a shower, food and some well-needed sleep.

I'd spoken to a girl the night before about Pai, and I'd said that I was going to hire a bike and drive up there, apparently 3 hours drive on a road with 762 turns! I checked into my new place for the night and readied myself for the insane drive North in the morning.

The Life of Pai

I set off around 11am to drive to Pai, my intent was to stay there for one night and return the next day. The road – whilst dangerous – offered up some amazing views.



HDR shot of the scenery en-route from Chiang Mai to Pai, by bike, on route 1095


Halfway there though the temperature dropped sharply, with wind chill it was down to about 5 degrees C, so my hands were blue by the time I arrived, 5 hours later, sore arse and numb. What a place though, Pai is dreamlike, all hippies and hill farming, I really wish I'd chosen to stay some more time. I'll definitely go back there again and stay for longer, with warmer clothing!

I did have to go back though, after heavy drinking around the campfire the night before, the next day was slightly more dangerous on the road for me, though I'd found I packed extra clothes so I wore layers on the way back!

Back to Chiang Mai

It took me slightly longer to drive back on the bike, I was being more cautious than the way up. I made it before sunset though to avoid the crazy night time Thai drivers, and settled my sore arse into the guest house I'd booked. I figured I'd better see some of the local sights whilst here and while I still had my bike, and the next day I went HDR crazy with the local wats dotted around.



HDR of a wat's side doors in Chiang Mai


After hooking up with a load of Brits and drinking to excess for a couple of nights, I noted that my return flight date was drawing ever nearer and so I made plans to return to Bangkok for one night before my flight.

Back to Bangkok for the Final Stint

I took the 3rd class train back down South, sadly the majority of which was during night time, but the sunrise on my penultimate day in Thailand blew me away.



Sunrise en-route from Chiang Mai to Bangkok


And I even caught some fishermen in the early hours going about their business, one of them either seemed to notice me, or was just naturally paranoid..



Two fishermen on the outskirts of Bangkok in the early hours


The last 24 hours in Bangkok, with precious little money left, weren't amazing.. I ate very cheaply and didn't drink any alcohol.. I had to while away the hours watching back to back episodes of Game of Thrones.

My flight was on time, I made it, spent the whole flight without in-flight entertainment (still trying to work out if that was a positive or a negative) and my heart finally sank when – close to landing – the pilot piped up "We're coming in to land at London Gatwick, the weather is calm with -6 degrees and the local time is 06:30"..

I will be back Thailand, wait and see.. If you're planning to go travelling there, then you should check out my list of do's and don't's.. and if you're going there in 2016, give me a shout and we can hang out.

Matt [http://matt-goldsmith.co.uk]

Daniel Velazquez: an artist with a mission

My friend, Daniel Velazquez is an artist, photographer, and filmmaker residing in Belize. I met Daniel on my 2004 summer volunteer trip to Belize to study ocelots in the jungle. I came through town (San Ignacio) on my way to the forest and met him hanging around a favorite volunteer joint, Eva's kitchen and bar. He is a friend of the project I was volunteering for, and had done a fair amount of filming and photographing at the site (which was 2 hours into the jungle at the Las Cuevas Research Station).

At the time, Daniel was working on a series of paintings which featured red-eyed tree frogs in his artistic interpretation of the forest. His residence hosted a number of these paintings, and felt like a forest itself with all the green paint and frogs. Daniel has since moved on to a number of other projects, and is now working on creating his own studio and space for artists. He is also in the midst of editing one of his many documentaries.

Daniel's up and coming artist space

Like many people in his country, Daniel believes in living life simply and sustainably. The majority of his pieces and his films demonstrate this lifestyle. His message is one of conservation and a love for the world and wildlife that surround him. Many of his pieces demonstrate a level of social commentary, and often comments on how materialism and consumerism has "consumed" our society. His gas mask series is made up of mixed-media, paintings, prints, and photographs, and have obvious messages that we could all afford to heed.

All photos copyright Daniel Velazquez



Daniel first started working in film as a subject and production coordinator for a National Geographic series, Tales of Belize, working with natural history filmmakers Richard And Carol Foster (whom I also met at the research station in 2004). Daniel owns two production companies which create multiple documentaries. He has done film work for many conservation organizations in Belize. An example of his work is Izzie's story, the heartwarming story of a rescued monkey brought to the Belize Wildlife and Referral Clinic (BWRC). If you want to see a tiny monkey in a leopard-printed cast, you're gonna want to check it out...



I wanted to know more about Daniel, and his roots in conservation. So he agreed to an online interview with me. Here it is...

Q: Where did you grow up and what was your childhood like?

A: I grew up in South Gate, California, in LA county. It was a very industrialized city, with many polluting factories along the LA river. It was a crazy time my childhood, and as a child I loved hopping the train, exploring old factories, climbing trees. As a teenager we were all into hip hop and metal, at my time in the 80s we were into our music and partying. South Gate produced bands like Slayer and Cypress Hill, and Slayer used to play our back yard parties. I actually used to drink 40s with the Cypress Hill tribe. There were a lot of garage bands around at the time.

Q: How did you become interested in art?

A: As a child in school, I was a victim of the newly implemented ESD (English as a Second Dialect) system. My parents are from Mexico, so I learned English in school in order to fit in with the other kids. While learning, I drew pictures. I was good at art, and other students used to ask me to draw on their folders. The teacher would also ask me to draw something for the art contests, which I always won.

Q: How did you become interested in wildlife, conservation and rescue?

A: In 1994 I joined the US peace corps, and got invited to serve in Belize. I started working with the Belize Zoo in the implementation of a Green Iguana conservation project, and there I got the opportunity to work in all types of wildlife conservation. Today I document wildlife rescue, for public awareness and education. Most of the time I do it as an art project. I find that art is the best communicator, the language we all speak for the rich and the poor - and it's free.

Q: What are the major messages you display with your art?

A: My message is always environmental. A healthy environment will produce a healthy life for everyone and everything. It's personal for me as well. I love my job, it's never the same, I never know what's next. I love how I can learn so much by making a documentary about something positive, in a beautiful environment, to help people understand the reasons behind my subject matter and why it is important.

Q: What kind of organizations have you worked with?

A: I work in collaboration with governmental and non-governmental organizations. Recently I have been helping Belize Wildlife Referral and Clinic with a campaign to raise votes for a contest, through social media and documentation. I'm also working with someone on opening an artist space gallery in San Ignacio town.

Self-portrait of Daniel

You can check out more of Daniel's video work at http://www.youtube.com/user/BelizeArts?feature=mhee, and more of his art at http://guanamon.deviantart.com/.

Macaw research in the Peruvian Amazon

Wow, where can I start? I just returned from a stint in the Peruvian Amazon. More specifically, in the Tambopata Research Center (TRC) situated in the Tambopata National Reserve on the upper Tambopata River in the center of a large uninhabited track of primary tropical lowland forest near the Bahuaja-Sonene National Park in the Madre de Dios Region of Peru. Whew! In short, it was beautiful and amazing, and the work I took part in was so important to the conservation of some of the most colorful and spirited birds on the planet.

Proyecto Guacamayo, or the Tambopata Macaw Project, is based around a series of clay licks in the area (in fact, this area hosts the highest concentrations of avian clay licks in the world). The director of this project, Dr. Donald Brightsmith, has been working on this project for over 10 years. Dr. Brightsmith was my professor for a month-long tropical ecology field course in Costa Rica in 2000, and was a huge factor in getting me interested in birding and the tropics.

So for over a decade, scientists and volunteers have been monitoring parrot and macaw populations in the area. This involves studying clay-lick activity on a daily basis (the birds come to the lick in hundreds to eat the clay and receive nutrients that are lacking in their forest diets), conducting parrot census in the forest, collecting data on foraging habits of the birds, and recording daily climate data.

The project also collects nesting and breeding data, through a number of artificial nests placed in the area, and tracks some of the birds via satellite telemetry to discover home ranges and seasonal movements.

In short, here is what I did on a daily basis at TRC:

Morning
Get up at 4 am to go to the clay lick. You would think this would be done reluctantly, but the excitement of what I might see at the lick surpassed my tiredness from staying up late the night before drinking pina coladas or talking with my fellow volunteers. The boat to the lick left the dock at 4:50 sharp, which gave me just enough time to make my giant jungle hair presentable in the pitch black darkness of the dawn and brush my teeth, all while stumbling around not trying to wake everybody else up. There are no "doors" at TRC, simply hanging curtains outside of individual and shared rooms. Therefore, everyone is privvy to your morning stumbling.

At the lick, we record what birds we see flying toward the lick. These include big blue and yellow macaws, mealy parrots, scarlet macaws, red-bellied macaws, chestnut-fronted macaws, white-eyed parakeets, blue-headed parrots, and many more. The parrots usually arrive around 5 am and alight on nearby trees until it gets light. They then circle the lick a few times and land on it. We record all of this behavior and then take counts of which species and how many of them are on the lick every 5 minutes for 2 and a half hours. Sometimes we stay at the lick all day, recording which birds (and how many) come and go from the lick throughout the day. Volunteers trade off half-days when an all-day lick observation is required.

Being at the lick as the sun rose, hearing millions of bird calls around me, watching monkeys wake up in the trees and being surrounded by the many colors of the parrots flying over me was an amazing and unique experience, unmatched so far in my many adventures abroad. I quickly had to learn the calls of around 10 species of bird and how to identify them as they grouped onto the lick, flying in and out constantly and oftentimes in large numbers. It was a challenge! But in three days I was able to identify all the birds on the lick. The calls came more slowly ("all parrots sound the same!" was a common refrain at the center), but I was able to guess most of the calls I heard correctly in about a week's time.

The rest of the day
After breakfast and lunch, if it wasn't laundry day (all laundry was done by hand in plastic tubs outside and was a time-consuming affair), we would choose from the following activities, depending on what needed to be done: census walks, foraging walks, or nest checks.

For census, we walk to pre-determined points in the area (or in nearby areas reachable by a short boat ride) and stand for 10 minutes at each census point, recording what we see and hear in the area. We record the birds we see flying over us, or those we see perched, how many of them, and how they are grouped. This is where my birdwatching activity came in handy, as many times there will be parrots or macaws in a tree directly over your head (watching and laughing at your pathetic birdwatching abilities) and you won't even be aware of it. As brightly colored as they are, they can be neatly camoflauged in the large tropical trees, and insanely quiet. At other times, of course, they can be the most obnoxious thing in the forest with their loud screams and calls.

Foraging walks are similar, in that we arrive at checkpoints in the forest and identify any parrot or macaw that is in the area and record what plants and fruits it is feeding on. It is easiest to identify these food items when they are dropped on your head by a mischievious macaw, at which point you look up at the macaw and give it a thumbs up for its help in the matter.

Nest work and nest checks: There are over 30 artificial macaw nests in the area (as well as natural ones). We monitor these artificial nests with cameras, to find out how many eggs are laid and the behaviors of mother and babies as they fledge. During breeding season, the babies are removed from the nest for health checkups. This is done by having one of the volunteers (the least important one, presumably) climb 40 meters up the Ceiba tree (biggest and oldest trees of the forest), gather the chicks, and lower them to the ground in a bucket (bucket o' chicks). Measurements are then taken and the health of the chicks assessed. We then raise the chick bucket back up the tree and return the chicks to their original positions. The macaws are cool with this and seem to understand that we mean no harm to them or their babies. They usually take a perch on a nearby branch and watch curiously as we do our work.

Unfortunately, it was just before breeding season when I volunteered at the center, and, though I did learn to climb, didn't get an opportunity to be raised 40 meters into the forest canopy, nor did I get to handle macaw chicks. I climbed about 5 meters using my newly-acquired death-defying climbing skills up a tree, and that was just fine with me.

The rest of our time at TRC was spent either on the computer (or more accurately, trying to get the dodgy internet to work, and by the time you did get it to work, the power was shut off. I think I sent a total of 3 emails during my time at TRC. Then again, who expects internet 8 hours into the Amazon?), preparing cables for nestcams, reading, hanging out, showering (possibly more important than sleep), finding new ways to make chicken and rice interesting, entering project data, and learning macaw calls via mp3 (or more accurately, falling asleep in your hammock during "example 5" of the mealy parrot calls).

This experience is one I will not soon forget, and I hope to return to do more work on it. Seeing these beautiful birds in the wild, how intelligent and curious and happy they are, really makes their conservation status hit home. Many of these birds are endangered due to poaching, the illegal pet trade, and habitat loss. It was heartening for me to see the dedication of volunteers and scientists to these wonderful and important creatures. The more information we gather on these birds, the easier it will be to protect them.

For more information on project goals, research performed, and outcomes, visit TRC's home page at
http://www.macawproject.org/.

Some of the highlights of my trip:

Seeing a spider wasp (about the size of my hand) carry off a paralyzed tarantula (also about the size of my hand) to its nest, where it would shortly proceed to lay eggs in the spider, which would then hatch into lovely larva and consume the spider from the inside out as they reach maturity

Getting the opportunity to meet semi-wild macaws in the area. These macaws were hand-raised during a project to save 3rd and 4th chicks from macaw nests (3rd and 4th chicks normally die in the wild) and were released around TRC to help stabilize the macaw population

Climbing trees! Although I didn't make it far, this was one of my favorite activities.

Seeing some wonderful and rare species of animal in its natural habitat, including the giant river otter (which basically only exist now in Peru and Brazil), toucans, and hoazins (the only species of bird that eats leaves)

Seeing some beautiful landscapes, including the Andes at dawn (from Cuzco), our island census points, and the clay lick itself

And, of course, THE BIRDS! I've a new respect for macaws. They are delightful!

Thank you, Don Brightsmith and TRC!