Monkey bussiness

/ Ineke Knot

Average maximum temperature: 30 °C
Average minimum temperature: 13 °C
Sunrise: 06:23
Sunset: 17:23

Somewhere in the Swakop River, Northwest
The shade provides some shelter from the heat, but not a lot. It’s half past one and the sun is at its highest point. I’m surrounded by the rustling and munching of the baboons, while a slight breeze occasionally blows around my head. Straight ahead of me are the hills we’ll undoubtedly climb in the remaining six hours of daylight, behind me are the hills we’ve already concurred. We’re following J-troop, who’s notoriously eager to climb. The hills might be a physical challenge, I prefer them over the woodland we’re currently in. We have to follow the baboons the whole day, and that’s a lot easier on the open rocks compared to the dense vegetation of the woodlands.

The mountains of Tsaobis Nature Park, with the Swakop river (including the Shitty Woodland) in front.

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Comfort zone

/ Ineke Knot

Woah. I had expected it to be so similar to leave for Namibia. Boy was I wrong. When I left for Panama last year, I sincerely didn’t understand the question ‘Are you nervous?’. Now, on the day of my departure, I had butterflies in my stomach and I survived the whole day on a few sandwiches and peppermints. And that while my friend Geeske had given me a big bar of Tony Chocolonely’s chocolate! (Sea salt & caramel, jummy!) I couldn’t get an appetite for it, neither as the fries which I normally treat myself with on a long journey. It’s on. I’m finally really going to Africa. And not only that, I’m going to study baboons and cheetahs. Large mammals in Africa. I’m going to see the animals I’ve been watching documentaries about my entire life. I still can’t believe it. Dire Straits’ Money for Nothing swelled while we take off. We landed on Windhoek Hosea Kutako Airport, named after an important leader of the Herero ethnic group and one of the leading commanders against the colonial powers in Namibia. The hot air pressed against my face while I walked through the open air to the arrival hall. Continue reading →

That’s why they call it cloudforest

/ Ineke Knot
Being on cloud nine is amazing.
The view from the cabin.
Sunset on the mountain range that separates north from south.
That’s why they call it cloud forest.
The idyllic ranger post where we spent our nights.

A weekend in El Copé sketched the beautiful nature that is captured on these images. I was surrounded by scenic beauty, in the rol of a silent witness. On an altitude of 1600 meters we were bordering north and south: de mountain range Serranía de Tabasará divides Panama in humid tropical rainforest on the Caribbean side and montane forest on the Pacific side (north respectively south). On a clear day National Park Omar Torrijos is one of the few places in Panama where you can see both the Caribbean as the Pacific coast. We were fortunate enough to feel surrounded by the cloud forest: the veil of clouds deprived us of the view of both coastlines, but placed us on an island amid a sea of mist.

Hold on to me

/ Ineke Knot

We sat there holding hands. Or better said, she was holding my hand with her foot. Her hands were occupied clasping my leg, by which it was pressed against her cage. Preciosa is a spider monkey, and she’s depressed. And that makes sense, if you’ve been kept in a too small cage for years, in an establishment that was open each night until 3 am. Drunk men would lure her with food, to break the bones in her stretched arms and fingers with their intoxicated power. Now she tries to grab a piece of banana with her deformed, grown together fingers.

Holding 'hands' Continue reading →

Spidershine

/ Ineke Knot

Like all the other nights, this one also feels like a warm blanket around me. There has been little rain lately, so it’s not clammy. With my big backpack filled with field equipment I walk over the path, carefully holding my two speakers in my hands. The slope is steep, will I get my speakers down in one go? Carefully I balance, and then a small jump. I look back: how I’ll get them back up is a care for later.

I set up my new experiment (read here about my previous one). Speaker on one side, speaker on the other side. In this new experiment we investigate the influence of habitat on the predation preference of bats. Does vegetation affect the echolocation of bats? Aside from that, there is the suspicion that vegetation influences the amount of flies bothering the frogs. The speakers play the sound of the tùngara frogs (listen here), sometimes with vegetation on top of the speakers and other times without. With this experiment, we hope to see an interaction between vegetation and predation risk by bats or parasitic load by the bloodsucking flies. I put the cameras in their place, so they can be the silent witnesses of the visiting bats. The fly traps are ready to catch ignorant flies with their stickiness. Infrared lights, cameras, action! Continue reading →

Good neighbour or far friend?

/ Ineke Knot

His skin is a testimony of his lifestyle. A beaded skirt is the only cover for his skin, the rest is literally exposed to the elements. Members of his tribe traditionally hunted for capybara’s, agouti’s and peccaries in the tropical rainforest and went fishing in the river. They grew their own vegetables and were largely self-sufficient. He is a part of the Embera-Wounaan tribe, one of seven indigenous tribes of Panama. Originally from the Darién province, he moved to the region east of the Darién with multiple families.

Photo by Peter Marting

Photo by Peter Marting

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Work ethics and tropical farmers

/ Ineke Knot

6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
8 yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
Proverbs 6:6-8, NIV

Leafcutter antsAnts and their sophisticated habits have intrigued people for ages. The above noted passage in the Bible proves that: the book of Proverbs was written in the 2nd century before Christ. Here in the tropics I’m also confronted with the never-ending motivation of ants. While I’m continuing my path up a hill, sighing and groaning, I see leafcutter ants carrying their load with indefatigable strength. A continuous line of moving green leaves shows me the way to the top, while the setting sun frames the rocking leaves and their carriers. Continue reading →