The Salopian no. 157 - Winter 2015

20 SCHOOL NEWS
different views as well as the unique
flora and fauna which included giant
bromeliads containing endemic golden
frogs and carnivorous plants. There
were no safety barriers, no shops and
we were the only people there. It
was such a privilege to see the falls as
Charles Barrington Brown might have
seen them when he discovered them
in 1870 – that’s something none of the
other great waterfalls can offer and an
experience none of us will forget.
After returning to Georgetown, a tenhour
drive south took the group to
Iwokrama Research Centre where three
days were spent training to gather the
skills to gather data accurately, sleep
safely in the forest in hammocks and
use machetes (or cutlasses as they
are known). The health and safety
presentation we had on arrival was
pretty sobering given the long list
of incredibly scary things that could
happen to us but ended with cheerful
reassurance from Scot Sveiven, a
specialist on forestry and our superb
expedition leader. An excellent series
of lectures by the resident scientists
enabled us fully to appreciate the
importance of the work we were
doing. The Centre was situated in a
clearing surrounded by rainforest on a
broad sweep of the mighty Essequibo
River which was 200m wide even
though we were 200km from the sea.
From the moment of our arrival, we
were surrounded by wildlife with
woodpeckers, macaws, parrots, hawks,
giant cane toads, howler monkeys
and agouti at the forest margins as
well as caiman in the river. Walking
at night revealed a different set of
organisms including a beautiful but
very dangerous fer de lance snake well
camouflaged on a tree trunk.
A further three-hour drive south in
two Bedford four-tonne trucks took
the team to Surama, an Amerindian
village belonging to the Makushi
Tribe which has set up an awardwinning
ecotourism project to bring
income to their remote community.
We spent the following three days
carrying out surveys for mammals,
bats and herpetofauna. The mammal
day involved walking along a transect
(a straight line through a habitat)
recording evidence of mammals
including their tracks with jaguar
expert, Matt Hallett. Matt is studying
for his PhD at the University of Florida
and has built up an extensive network
of camera traps to study the behaviour
and distribution of jaguar. He had
unbelievably sharp eyes and his
tracking skills were truly impressive.
Each group spent the afternoon setting
up camera traps with him, which
revealed the many details which need
to be considered when locating a
trap. The work of the bat groups was
nocturnal so their morning was spent
hiking up Surama Mountain – a steep
climb in stifling conditions but well
worth it for an amazing view over the
forest and rare sightings of macaws at
eye height. In the evenings mist nets
were opened and checked every hour
Finn McCormack handling a cat-eyed snake
into the small hours and bats caught
were bagged and taken back to camp
for identification, weighing, and wingclipping
with bat expert Stef Bonat.
The area has one of the highest levels
of bat biodiversity in the world and
one group was lucky to catch a rare
Hugo Moran counting dung beetles
vampire bat, although it escaped from
the mist net before it could be bagged.
The herpetology groups walked along
transects by day and night attempting
to catch any snakes, lizards and frogs
spotted. Peruvian herpetologist, Alfredo
Martin Beraún Rivera did most of the
catching but he let us handle the nonvenomous
species such as the Amazon
tree boa, blunthead tree snake and
cat-eyed snake. During downtime in
the heat of the day, cool drinks and
comfortable hammocks in the bar of
Surama Ecolodge provided a chance to
rest and rehydrate.
The team then walked deeper into the
jungle, spending a further three days
at Carahaa Landing – a jungle camp on
the banks of the Burro Burro River. As
river levels had risen due to the daily
torrential showers, we had to take to
boats to make our way through the
flooded forest. The camp had an opensided
wooden structure in which many