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| Ecotourism |  |
| Brazil/Bolivia | |
Last August, several other macaw enthusiasts and I accompanied Dr. Charles Munn of the Wildlife Conservation Society to Brazil and Bolivia to see first-hand the Hyacinth Macaw and Blue-Throated Macaw conservation projects he is currently working on.
We landed in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, the least expensive destination by air from the states to the project areas we wanted to view. Next we flew to Cuiaba, Brazil, where we took a two-hour bus ride north of Cuiaba to Serra das Araras Ranch (translated this means the Mountain Range of the Macaws), located on the edge of the Amazon. There we saw a flock of Red-Shouldered Macaws (Ara nobilis) plus a sampling of the amazing variety of 300+ birds that can be seen in this area.
From the ranch we headed south to the Pantanal, one of the richest habitats in Brazil. The world's largest wetland, around 55,000 square miles located on Brazil's border with Bolivia, the Pantanal sprawls across the middle of the continent. The lowland plains are characterized by pronounced wet and dry seasons. Habitats range from semi-deciduous and evergreen forest to palm woodlands and seasonally flooded grasslands with scattered clumps of cerrado scrub on elevated patches of land. An enormous number of lakes and rivers cross the region, constantly cleansing and renewing the wetlands.
The Pantanal is a great place to see a wide diversity of animals on the South American continent. The wide-open areas allow for the spotting of animals such as the Giant Anteater, Black Howler Monkey, Marsh Deer (a highly endangered species, due to hunting), Capybara, Jaguar and Yellow Anaconda.
As impressive as the animals are, it is the variety of bird life that is most spectacular in the Pantanal. Jabiru (a stork and one of the largest birds in the Americas), Maguari, Wood Storks, Toco, Toucans, Great Egrets and Snow Egrets, Roseate Spoonbills, Roadside Hawks and many other raptor species, Parrots, and yes, the most spectacular of all the birds in the Pantanal--the Hyacinth Macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus).
South from Cuiaba, the first 100km of paved roads passes disturbed cerrado (a Brazilian term for open, short woodland) vegetation, gallery forest, and a tall cerrado forest. After another 17 miles of dirt road from Pocone, we reach the beginning of the Transpantaneira, a raised dirt highway that is 150km long, with138 wooden bridges that took the Brazilian government more than ten years to build. The end of the highway brings travelers to a fishing village and a hotel.
Our first stop on the Transpantaneira, about 45km in, is at the "Rio Pixaim," a hotel on the water's edge where we spent the night. From there we took a short motorboat ride to see some engaging Giant River Otters, and of course, more bird life.
Then we were off to our destination, a modest ranch-hotel in the richest area of the Pantanal. This ranch-hotel is the only one wholly owned and operated by "Pantaneiros," the local Pantanal cowboys.
The farmer's land surrounding the hotel hosts the largest concentration of Hyacinth Macaws where there is easy year-round access by road. From the dinner table at the ranch you can see, and of course hear, the Hyacinthine Macaws as they fly overhead on their way to the palms for their breakfast and dinner. These palms are just a few hundred feet away from the ranch, so this provides a terrific view of some of these rare parrots.
In all my other sightings of Macaws in the wild they all seemed to fly from one site to another by the most direct route. But here for the first time I saw Macaws just soaring. On three different occasions, early in the morning, I watched two pairs of Hyacinthine Macaws floating with the air currents over the ranch, so high at times you could just make them out. It was quite obvious that they were just flying for the sheer fun of flying.
A short drive from the ranch along a road that led into another ranch was what proved to be the best area for viewing the Hyacinthine. We always saw at least 20 to 50 of these magnificent parrots at this location. What I noticed first was how inquisitive these birds were about us. They made a special point of flying right over the top of us and you could see them turn their heads to the side like macaws do when they want to really concentrate on something. It was quite apparent that they were as interested in seeing us as we were in seeing them. (Do you suppose they have a North American Visitors' Project?)
The Hyacinthine Macaws in this area eat only one food, the nuts of the Acuri Palm trees. This solo diet makes habitat conservation even more critical.
One of the other spectacular sites in the Pantanal is the large concentration of Caimans, hundreds and hundreds right along the road, and of course, under those wooden bridges. After saying our goodbyes to the Hyacinthine, and our hosts at the ranch, it was back up the Transpantaniera across a 100 or so wooden bridges and back to Cuiaba for our flight to Santa Cruz and on to the next macaws.
From Santa Cruz, we caught a flight to the city of Trinidad, Bolivia, where we took a three-hour-plus ride in our ground transportation to the home of the Blue-Throated Macaws (Ara glaucogularis). Trinidad is located in the Llanos de Moxos of central northern Bolivia. The Llanos de Moxos is an area about the size of New York State. Like the Pantanal of Brazil, it is very flat, seasonally flooded, with all of the wildlife of the Pantanal, except the Hyacinth Macaw. But, unlike the Pantanal, it has Pink River Dolphins!
Upon arriving at the cow station that was to be home for a few days, we were off to the "palm island," as they are called, to see the incredibly rare Blue-Throated Macaw, of which about 120 are known in the wild. This macaw is only found in the state of Llanos de Moxos. The area is mostly grasslands, that the ranchers burn constantly during the dry season, May through September, to provide better grass for the cattle grazed there.
Palm islands are just a little higher in elevation than the surrounding grassland, allowing the palms to grow because they are above the flood waters. Other palm islands can be seen as we drive out to the one that is a known nest site for a pair of Blue-Throated Macaws, who had a baby flying with them. Because they had the baby with them, they were very skittish and would fly off if they heard us or we got to close. But, we were able to view this pair on several occasions and did manage to get a few pictures.
We observed the Blue-Throated Macaws eating the outside pulp or "mesocarp" surrounding the palm nuts. This palm island was an area of approximately five acres, with just the one current nest site. A pair of Blue and Golds (Ara ararauna) had moved in and were guarding the cavity, not very good news for the Blue-Throated as they will surely lose this nest site in the future. This is probably one of the reasons the Blue-Throated macaws are so rare. They are about two-thirds the size of the Blue and Golds, so they can be driven off quite easily. Each time on arriving at the island we checked on the Blue and Gold Macaws and they were always on top of the nest tree or on an adjacent palm watching the nest tree. They would not be ready to nest for several more months, but like all macaws, once they have found a nest site will do every thing they can to hold on to it.
Each time we entered the palm island we also viewed a flock of Severe Macaws (Ara severa) who had six babies with them. The babies would always be squawking and flapping their wings trying to get the parents to feed them. We also had the opportunity to meet a Bolivian named Fellman, a former bird trapper who now works for the Wildlife Conservation Society. His job now is to protect these very rare and beautiful birds.
This island was scheduled to be cut down so the owner of the ranch could grow bananas, but thanks to Charlie Munn's project, the island remains as an area for Macaws. Recently some cabanas were constructed for tourists to stay in, along a small tributary of the Mamora River where you can see Pink River Dolphins.
One of the other spectacular sites in this area is a nearby lake, where you can view thousands of fish-eating birds, such as Herons, Egrets, Spoonbills and Jabiru Storks. This is what our planet must have been like tens of thousands of years ago. Such an abundance of wildlife is absolutely incredible.
The idea behind these projects is to promote ecotourism as a means of supporting the conservation projects for these very rare and beautiful macaws. To date, Dr. Munn and his work with other groups has been successful in setting aside approximately 15 million acres for wildlife habitat in South America. If you are interested in helping Dr. Munn with financial support for these or other projects or in making a trip to see the Hyacinthine in the Pantanal or the Blue-Throated in Bolivia, send me an E-mail, and I will provide you with the necessary information. You'll benefit from an enriching experience and so will the birds!
To book this trip, contact Tropical Nature Travel
Click here to see related photos.
More on the Pantanal
More pictures from the Pantanal
