Fw: Orinoco River expedition (Venzuela) in October

Lemmon lemmon at snet.net
Sun Aug 8 11:24:32 EDT 1999


I am passing this info along as a courtesy.  It sounds like a great trip,
something for everyone.  Contact Humboldt if you are interested.


----------
From: humboldt at nemaine.com
To: humboldt at nemaine.com
Subject: Orinoco River expedition (Venzuela) in October
Date: Sunday, August 01, 1999 12:18 PM

Announcement ... Please distribute ...

Humboldt Bicentennial Botany and Ornithology Expedition to the Upper
Orinoco River in Venezuela

October 14 - 31, 1999

	  This bicentennial expedition-style seminar involves an extended trip up
the Orinoco River to La Esmeralda, the furthest point reached by Alexander
von Humboldt during his 5-year pioneering expedition deep into the Amazon
basin 200 years ago. Participants will travel in dugout canoes
approximately 330 km on the Orinoco River, stopping regularly for field
trips. Excursions will be made into the Cunucunuma River (considered the
most beautiful tributary of the Orinoco); up Cerro Duida (a tepui or table
top mountain), from which one has a panoramic view of the Amazon basin;
and
into the Casiquiare River, the river which connects the Orinoco and Amazon
Rivers, a fact that was first discovered by Humboldt. The program provides
a broad overview of the botany, ornithology, biogeography, and natural
history of the Orinoco region.
	  The program offers the opportunity to explore the flora of the
different
plant communities and the diversity of vegetation along the Orinoco River.
It will review the differences between whitewater, blackwater and
clearwater rivers and the ecological functioning of the forests that
produce these kinds of waters. Different savanna types will be visited,
i.e., on white soil sands (Amazonian type savannas), normal soil sands
(llanos type savannas), inundated savannas, and floating savannas.
Seasonally inundated forests will also be visited. Systematic botany
discussions will focus on common species and characters that can be easily
used to identify families and genera, based on such books as Alwyn
Gentry's
superb field guide to woody and herbaceous species. The program will also
review the flora and fauna of the Guayana lowlands and highlands, focusing
on the geology of the Guiana shield, plant endemicity and the adaptations
of plant species to poor and acid soils. A visit will also be made to a
150
year-old Hevea (rubber) plantation. There will be opportunities to
understand indigenous food resources by visiting "conucos" (cultivated
fields) that are cut out of the rainforest, planted for a few years, and
then abandonned to revert back to forest.
   Those who are interested in ornithology, will be able to devote their
time to observations in the wide variety of habitats that will be visited
throughout the trip. An ornithologist who is throroughly familiar with the
birds of the Amazon basin will accompany the expedition. A smaller boat
will be available for short excursions up smaller streams for quiet
observations of such species as hoatzins and the possibility of
encountering an elusive harpy eagle. Macaws, toucans, hummingbirds,
tanagers,  orioles, oropendulas, parrots, screaming pihas, antbirds,
kites,
all can be seen (or heard) in the area. Mist nets will be set up to
capture
birds in order to facilitate discussions about their habits, ecology, and
distribution before their release.
	  On this bicentennial expedition, there will be a special focus on the
impressions and accomplishments of Alexander von Humboldt during his
pioneering expedition to the region 200 hundred years ago.
	There will be evening discussions throughout the program. Accomodations
during the expedition will be in hammocks within churuatas (thatch-roofed
dwellings), some of which will be in Yanomami and Ye'Kwana Indian villages
or criollo villages, thus facilitating interactions with the indigenous
cultures in the region. Travel will be by dugout canoes ("curiaras") with
outboard motors. There will be a chance to explore the Picua, Casurua, and
Picure Raudales (river rapids).

Instructors - Angel Fernandez is Head Botanist of the Research Division
and
the Biomedicines of the Rain Forest Project of Fundacion Terramar, S.C.,
and the Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC) in
Caracas, Venezuela. He is a key author of family treatments within the
Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana series, which is monographing the vascular
plant species in this region (published by the Missouri Botanical Garden).
Fabian Michelangeli (Ph.D., M.D.) is Scientific Director of Fundación
Terramar, S.C., one of the organizations conducting natural history
studies
in Amazonas State. He is also Director of the Laboratory of
Gastrointestinal Physiology at IVIC in Caracas. He has numerous medical
and
natural history publications. Christopher J. Sharpe is Coordinator for
Latin America of Fauna and Flora International, the world's oldest
conservation organization, based out of Cambridge, England. He has worked
throughout Latin America and specializes in biodiversity conservation,
particularly with regard to field ornithology for rapid biodiversity
appraisal, environmental interpretation, and protected area management,
and
is author of several books on these topics.

Co-sponsors - The seminar is offered in collaboration with the Instituto
Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Fundación Terramar,
S.C.,
and Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana (CVG).

Tentative itinerary. . .
Day 1	Arrival in Caracas (mid-afternoon to late evening). Overnight in
Caracas.
Day 2	Flight to Puerto Ayacucho at approximately 11AM (1 hr.). By jeep to
camp on Orinoco River (20 min.). Afternoon introductory lectures and field
trip.
Day 3	Flight to San Fernando de Atabapo at approximately 6AM (1 hr.).
Travel by dugout canoe ("curiara") from there. Field trips to dry and
floating savannas and 150 year-old rubber plantation near Trapichote on
Orinoco between the Atabapo and Ventuari rivers. By curiara in afternoon
to
Santa Barbara.
Day 4	To San Antonio.
Day 5	To Cariche by Isla Congrejo.
Day 6	Into Rio Cunucunuma, a blackwater river that is considered the most
beautiful tributary of the Orinoco. To Ye'Kwana Indian village of Akanaña.
Day 7	Continuation upriver on Rio Cunucunuma, past the Casurua and Picure
Rapids. To Ye'Kwana Indian village of Culebra.
Day 8	Hike up the tepui (tabletop mountain) Cerro Duida. Examination of
altitudinal variations in vegetation and high plant endemicity.
Day 9	Return down Rio Cunucunuma. Overnight in Ye'Kwana village of
Huachamacare.
Day 10	Continuation down Rio Cunucunuma. Overnight in Tama Tama on
Orinoco.
Day 11	To La Esmeralda. Hikes in region of La Esmeralda.
Day 12	Field trips in region of La Esmeralda. Start of return trip. Into
Rio Casiquiare, the river which connects to the Amazon River. To Yanomami
Indian village of El Cejal.
Day 13	To San Antonio.
Day 14	Into Rio Ventuari, past Picua Rapids. To Carmelitas.
Day 15	Field trips in area of Carmelitas, including hike up Cerro Gavilan.
Further studies of savannas.
Day 16	To San Fernando de Atabapo.
Day 17	Flight to Puerto Ayacucho at 7:30AM. Same-day flight to Caracas
around noontime. Overnight in Caracas. Possible same-day departure from
Caracas.
Day 18	Departure from Caracas.

$2570 all inclusive program fee (see exclusions in flyer) for the 18-day
program, plus $290 for 2 roundtrip flights within Venezuela. Total =
$2,860. Travel Insurance is required (see below). Estimated roundtrip
airfare from Boston or New York City to Caracas was $350 at the time of
the
printing of this flyer.

For information about this and other neotropical seminars . . .

Humboldt Field Research Institute
Dyer Bay Road, PO Box 9, Steuben, ME 04680-0009
207-546-2821, FAX -3042, E-mail   humboldt at nemaine.com
http://maine.maine.edu/~eaglhill

Humboldt Field Research Institute
Northeastern Naturalist
PO Box 9, Dyer Bay Road
Steuben, ME 04680
Phone: 207-546-2821, FAX: 207-546-3042
http://maine.maine.edu/~eaglhill


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