Hi, my name is Sam Earle and I am one of the Zoo Keepers at Chessington World of Adventures & Zoo. For the next three months I am taking on a very different challenge – Chessington is sponsoring me to go to Peru to undertake a conservation research trip with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to study Jaguars in the wild!
Yes, from 6th June I will be trekking through the jungle every day together with Peruvian and American scientists to estimate and assess the current Jaguar population in the South American region.
This really is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will make a real difference to the conservation of these enigmatic and powerful creatures, and I can’t wait. The Jaguar is considered near-threatened in the wild and the work done by WCS to both monitor the existing population, and to educate ranch owners and promoting eco-tourism is essential to ensure their habitat is not destroyed further. I am so excited to be part of the Save the Jaguar project, and look forward to sharing my experiences with you in this weekly blog. Check back often for an update – hopefully I will be able to send you some pictures, too!
For more information about "Save the Jaguar", visit www.savethejaguar.com or if you would like to join Chessington and sponsor me with this project, please contact Maria Hamilton on 01372 731 528.
My Blog
4 July 2007
Hi Everyone,
Finally I am able to send you an update from my trip – sorry for the delay, but I have actually not reached the field yet!
I have spent the last few weeks in sunny Bolivia – to be more precise, in the capital La Paz. At an altitude of 3700m I am feeling pretty good (most people suffer from headaches, nausea etc), and although it is sunny it’s not baking hot. La Paz is an amazing city, full of hustle and bustle. I arrived in the dark, but sunrise revealed a city sprawled in a steep valley, totally surrounded by mountains - just beautiful. I do not think that any photos I take will be able to give it any justice.
I have spent the past couple of weeks working in the WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) office reading info about their projects, meeting up with the staff and working behind the scenes. We haven’t been able to go to the Research Site in Peru as of yet, as the raining season is dragging on. Last week I started and completed the identification of individual Pumas from photos from previous camera-trapping sessions. It was difficult work as Puma do not have obvious marks (like the spot of Jaguar, for example), but it was very interesting. Another project has been to identify Ocelots – medium-sized spotted cats - from photos. There are around 250 photos, so that should keep me out of trouble for a while!
It’s not been all work and no play, though! I booked myself on a tour of the Tiahuanaco Ruins, which is about 1.5 hours out of La Paz. It was a very interesting day – I didn’t think I’d be able to appreciate the significance of lumps of stone, having no understanding whatsoever of ancient civilisations – but I was wrong as it was very, very fascinating and the surrounding area just beautiful.
I have also managed to take a bus trip up to Lake Titicaca, which straddles the border of Peru and Bolivia. The lake looked more like the sea, as it is 230km by 100 km, and I actually stayed on an island in the middle of the lake called Isla de Sol. The views were incredible and I could have stayed for ages!
However, I had to get back to La Paz to get ready for my big trip to the jungle. We are finally due to go, and I needed to buy last minute field items such as wellies from the market!
Tomorrow I will fly to Cobija on the Bolivia-Brazil border with a Spanish volunteer called Miguel. We will stay there for a couple of days assembling the team and the kit before crossing the border to Brazil, where we will carry on by road to the Brazil-Peru border. Once inside Peru we will stay in Puerto Maldonaldo before spending a day or so going up river to where we will set up camp. What a journey in itself!
That’s it for now – off I go to the jungle! I promise to send you an update as soon as I can!
Sam x
