Explorer´s Inn RN Monthly Report: September 2007

RNs: Toni Aragon, Chris Fritchman, Elena Melero, Lindsay Utley, & Megan VanHaren.

Volunteers: There were no volunteers for the month of September 2007.

Notes:

• Megan VanHaren arrived on the 11th of September 2007.
• Toni Aragon arrived on the 14th of September 2007.
• Toni in Puerto: 19th and the 28th.
• Chris in Puerto 5th, 10th, 19th and 27th.
• Elena in Puerto: 5th, 19th, and the 28th.
• Lindsay in Puerto: 5th, 12, 19th, and the 28th.
• Megan in Puerto: 19th and the 27th.

TRAILS
Trail work has continued throughout the month of September. 5 new signs have been created to make the trail intersections less confusing and replace old ones. Some of the RN’s and Elisban spent the majority of one day clearing all the windblown trees that were covering certain sections of trails. Namely Tapir, Main, PanChita and part of Ant trail were cleaned. Elisban also cleaned up Quebrada trail. The RN’s also spent one morning helping to clear the first portion of High Forest Loop trail to make it easier for guests to access the loop.

LIBRARY
The scientific library has been used very sparing by guests of the lodge throughout the month of September. It was checked and cleaned regularly by the RN’s.  The position of the scientific library at the Explorers Inn is the main reason that it is used so sparingly. The RN’s sat down with Jan and Rodolfo one night to discuss ideas on how make the books and information within the library more accessible to guests. We feel that it would be best to try and update some of the books and papers because they are quite out-dated. The RN’s think that it might be best to more the majority of the books to the dining room so that the guest will have access to the information. We would also setup a system where guests would be required to check out the books that they would want to take out of the dining room.

ENGLISH TRAINING
The arrival of the new RN’s from the USA will allow for the English training of the guides and other RN’s to continue. During the month of September Fernando has continued to improve his English speaking abilities. The RN’s from Spain (Elena and Toni) have been nice enough to start teaching the RN’s from the USA Spanish. The English lessons will continue throughout the month of October. 

MEDICINAL GARDEN
The medicinal garden has been raked and weeded once a week during the month of September. The medicinal garden was used sparingly by guest in September. The RN’s are waiting until closer to the rainy season to replace some of the missing plants. This should allow the plants the greatest chance of survival.

DISCOVERY CENTRE/DISPLAYS
The Discovery Centre was sweep and cleaned once a week during the month of September. The RN’s also discuss the idea with Jan of making the Discovery Centre more interactive. The RN’s are in the process of developing an interactive game that the guests can follow along to while they make there way through the Discovery Centre. The RN’s are also thinking about different ways to make some of the displays more interactive for the guests.

CONTACT WITH TOURISTS – GUIDING, RN TALKS, etc.

Guiding

• Elena guided a group of 5 guests on a night walk, a trip to cococoha, the collpita and a trip to the local farm on the 20-22nd.
• Chris and Megan guided a group of 5 guests on a trip to the farm on the 16th.
• Lindsay guided a guest on an afternoon walk.
• Toni guided a group of 4 guests on a night walk to look for amphibians.

Talks
The RN’s are working on developing a series of talks that can be given to the guests during the afternoon hours. There is some concern about what would be the best time to give the talks. Most guests are generally tired after lunch. But Five o’clock seems too late because most guests want to go to sunset point to watch the sunset.  Some ideas would be talks about the Esa-Eje people of Infierno, amphibians in and around the lodge, land use and management in the Tambopata area, parrots and macaw talks and ways to make your stay safe and enjoyable.

CLIMATE MONITORING
Weather data was collected for all days in the month of September. The new rain gauge is working well. The RN’s assisted Filio on downloading the climate data from the data logger. The RN’s will start putting the weather data into the new format that Chris Kirkby has suggested.

RESEARCH ASSISTANCE

• Chris and Lindsay assisted Jorge Vivanco (CSU) on his tangarana project on the 6-8th.
• Lindsay and Elena assisted Filio on his leaf litter collection project on the 11th and 12th.
• Chris, Megan and Lindsay assisted Eric Cosio on his projects on the 20-23rd.
• Megan, Chris, Lindsay, Elena and Toni assisted Filio on his project on the 24th and 25th.

NEWSLETTER
The RN’s are currently preparing the newsletter that will come out in October.

OTHERS/PERSONAL PROJECTS

• The RN’s developed a new sign and put it up at Cocococha to help prevent guests from feeding the piranhas.
• A previous RN sent the Lodge a poster on Macaws and Parrots which was hung in the Discovery Centre.

           
RESEARCH / MONITORING PROGRAMMES

Caimans – Cocococha
During the month of September, the Caimans at Cocococha were monitored on 17th and the 29th.

17/9/07

• The caimans were monitored from 18:57 until 21.27 in the western half of the lake. The weather was good, with new moon and a clear sky.

01/10/07

• The caimans were monitored from 19:45 until 22:02 in the eastern half of the lake.
• 18 caimans were spotted.

Caimans – Tambopata

Caimans have been surveyed regularly this month.

Otters

Cocococha
14 recording forms were filled in during September.  Again this does not represent all of the trips to Cocococha.

The otters were seen on 11/14 occasions and between 2 and 5 otters were recorded.
One day Elisban went to the lake around 11.30 am and he saw a group of 4 otters swimming together and a solitary one swimming in the opposite direction.
Katicocha
Elena and Lindsay went for a hike to Katicocha on the 9th and saw three otters. Since that day, we have visited the lake for 4 occasions more but there were no evidence of the otters. Nevertheless we have made new monitoring sheets for this lake and we have programmed a weekly visit to check the possible settling of this group.

Collpita

RareSpecies seen in August September

Rare Species recorded in August/September are listed in the table below.

Mammal Transects

Mammal transects were done once each this month except CQ. The RN’s were shown were CQ transect is on the 27th. We will start doing this transect the next time.