We finally made our way to Nyungwe yesterday. It was amazing. This huge, expansive rainforest that goes on and on as far as you can see. It is very cool up at that altitude (2900 m where we were staying for the night) and I wished I had warmer clothes. We spent the afternoon talking with the director of the Kitabi College of Conservation and Environmental Management. They have a great applied school for conservation for park rangers just on the edge of the forest with these very cute houses for faculty or visitors to stay in. The view from the college is gorgeous. There are major tea plantations that border the park that most of the community works in.
We were up this morning at 5:30am for our 6am hike on one of the trails inside the park. The hike was really beautiful. Although there is something extremely humbling about hiking at altitude, huffing and puffing, and DYING of exhaustion (where did all the air for my lungs go?). Especially when Okan and Paul were barely breaking a sweat. The 2 hour hike lasted 3 hours, partly because I was slow, but also because Paul showed us some extra trails along the way (I prayed they would all be flat or down hill, but they never were!). The hike fully kicked my butt and I couldn't help but wonder what in the world I had gotten myself into thinking I would trap carnivores in these mountains!
Alas, we saw THREE separate carnivore scats (poops) which means there are plenty of animals around! That is good news as one of my biggest worries was that I would trap for the entire 10 months and never catch an animal (since carnivores are at the top of the food chain, they need large home ranges and thus are usually at very low densities). So I was really excited to see the scats (much to Okan's chagrin, he doesn't get nearly as excited about looking at scat as I do). I've decided I will start trapping there once my research permit comes in. And that I will happily pay porters to help me deploy my traps! Some of which weigh 45 lbs each!
No comments:
Post a Comment