Carnegie Museum of Natural History
One of the Four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
José Padial and his team have established camp in the remote Vilcabamba mountains of Peru in the pursuit of biodiversity research. He blogs and sends photos as often as possible capturing his expedition along the way. These photos were taken during the week of 2/7-2/11/16.
José Padial and his team of researchers are traveling in the remote Vilcabamba mountains in Peru. He blogs and sends photos as often as possible capturing his expedition along the way. These photos were taken during the week of 2/7-2/11/16.
Photos
1) A moth reflects UV light thrown to it using a torch that biologist Victor Vargas uses to look for scorpions. (Photo Maira Duarte).
2) Our kitchen at Camp 2. (Photo Maira Duarte)
3) Drying clothes on the kitchen at Camp 2. (Photo Maira Duarte)
4) The branch of a Polylepis tree completely covered by exuberant vegetation. (Photo Maira Duarte)
On Monday, February 8, biologists Santi Castroviejo and Victor Vargas, along with journalist Andy Isaacson (working for the BioGraphic project of California Academy of Sciences) arrived exhausted and wet to Camp 2. They had hiked a long way by themselves because two Ashaninka workers had deserted them and the rest of the team was opening a track above the precarious Camp 3 at 2,650 m.
Despite the weather conditions, the shortage of dry clothes, and the fact that Camp 2 is less comfortable than Camp 1 (where we at least had cooking gas and an electric generator), we enjoy our life in the forest. Tracks, footprints and scats of the secretive spectacle Andean bear are abundant; and shy birds such as tinamous, hummingbirds, anteaters, tanagers, wrens, manakins, toucanets, pigeons and others visit the bushes around our campsite everyday.
José Padial and his team of researchers are traveling in the Vilcabamba mountains of Peru in the pursuit of biodiversity research. He blogs and sends photos as frequently as possible to capture his expedition along the way.
February 11, 2016
I am in the town of Pichari with my colleague Juan Carlos Chaparro. The weather is fine: no rain, no clouds, and it’s not cold. We woke up this morning under a plastic tarp at 2,000 m in Camp 2, where rain and chilly weather have been constant for days. We had coffee, rice, and beans cooked on a wood fire for breakfast. We departed in our wet and smelly clothes for the town of Pichari.
We have been in Camp 2 since Monday and many things have happened in these few days.
All attempts this week to connect with our satellite communicator had failed. Reception is poor in the forested steep slopes of Vilcabamba. I tried to connect from partial clearings in the forest, from the ridge that leads to Camp 2, and from Camp 2 itself, but it did not work. Finally I decided to take a two hour hike down the hill to a confluence of rivers near Camp 1 and was able to connect last Sunday.
Santi Castroviejo and I left Camp 2 under heavy rain; we hiked down the muddy track to Camp 1. By the time we got to Camp 1, my computer was swimming in water at the bottom of my backpack. I had placed the laptop in a plastic bag that has resisted many days of hard work, but a tiny hole was enough for an inch of water to go through and stop the computer from working.
José Padial and his team of researchers are traveling to the remote Vilcabamba mountains in Peru in pursuit of biodiversity research. He blogs and sends photos as often as possible capturing his expedition along the way.
February 7, 2016
José Padial and his team of researchers are traveling to the Vilcabamba mountains in Peru in the pursuit of biodiversity research. He blogs and sends photos daily capturing his expedition along the way.
February 7, 2016
We have reached 2,600 m by opening a track from Camp 1 to Camp 2 and beyond. The narrow track follows a very steep slope; so steep you can readily notice dramatic changes in the forest type as you climb up. Herpetologist Juan Carlos
Chaparro and Roberto Gutierrez are at Camp 2 (1,950 m), surveying the area and opening a track further upwards to the grasslands above 3,000m. Problem is, there is no water, as Camp 2 sits on a ridge, and streams are far down the
hill. A small spring, 30 minutes away from the camp through a difficult path, provides the only source of water for drinking and cooking. But difficulties do not deter us. We wake up everyday surrounded by a beautiful forest abundant with flowering orchids and bromeliads. In Camp 1 we wash ourselves everyday in streams with cool and often transparent waters. And, although we’ve been here less than a week, we found many strange amphibians and reptiles that will form the basis for exciting research in the months to come.
José Padial and his team of researchers are traveling to the Vilcabamba mountains in Peru in the pursuit of biodiversity research. He blogs and sends photos daily capturing his expedition along the way.
