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A group of golden leaves fall from their tree high above the waterlogged jungle floor. They are pushed by a soft breeze which blows only above, and is not felt at ground level, as the surrounding thick, wet, green foliage serves as a protective cocoon to the many systems below the secondary jungle canopy.
Gus looks up and north-east to the swaying trees from the breeze and wishes he could feel it.
The leaves land in the still water below. Its colour is that of long retired machinery; a deep, metallic, rust colour, a colour most people would think twice about stepping foot in due to the unknown beneath. The water is strewn with green leaves, golden leaves, black leaves, amidst a path of macheted stalks of jungle plants, with the water depth ranging from three inches to over five feet. The jungle floor is vast with vegetation, but its common colours are green and brown.
Snowy breaks the stillness of the rusty water by slamming his massive gumbooted foot through the top surface in a leaping step. His foot is halted when it reaches the bottom, the final six inches of mud, where he can grip, and move on. He chooses to hold still, and grabs a patujú stalk in his hand for extra stability. A tenacious, ginger-bearded Australian man, Snowys disposition keeps his motivation constantly aroused, all fuelled by the pure love of this environment and the animals he works with.
The rippled water leads to hunting furred footsteps, about fifteen metres away. The right foot gently pushes into the water, quickly and effortlessly finds grip, and exits quietly, followed by the left foot, and so on. The chest is mostly white, and mostly dry. The head, above the water, is a white chin and mouth, a large pink nose flanked by long thick white whiskers, a long bridge which leads to two beautiful yellow eyes which have a hint of green and are enveloped by short dark fur, and a long dark brown strip of fur coming from between the two radar-like ears. This is Leoncio the puma. Further back, behind his ears, a strong black collar is fastened tightly around his neck. Attached to his collar, by way of carabiner, is a rope around eight metres long. At the opposite end, the left hand of Gus holds three small coils of the rope,
and in his right, the remaining length and second carabiner.
Gus, another bearded Australian, has been working with Leoncio for two weeks, but hasn´t yet seen him this motivated and naturally driven to hunt and stalk. Gus´ job is to walk with Leoncio, and to keep him on the trail that has been cut, while Snowy, up ahead, stays in limited view, and keeps the Puma excited about the trail he has done probably a thousand times.
As they walk, Gus closely watches Leoncios shoulders. They move slowly but always smoothly, and when they crease deeply, Gus knows to tread carefully in the knee-high water, to lift his feet a little more, or he may find himself tripped over one of the many hidden logs on the trail.
Gus wears gumboots that have slits cut near the toes to help the water drain out when finally returned to dry land The water on the trails are usually higher than his knees anyway. Now well accustomed to having wet feet all day, Gus puts on wet socks first thing in the morning and again after lunch. He wears two pairs of pants, which may be overkill, but anything
to avoid to hungry mosquitoes. He has two business shirts on, both stained with dirt, mould and sweat. He has a wide brimmed hat underneath a mosquito net which covers his face and neck.
Gus hears the hammering of a woodpecker and looks in that direction hoping to catch a glimpse of the rarely seen bird, then, without warning, he feels the coils of rope in his left hand pull then tighten as Leoncio jumps in five massive bounds towards Snowy. Gus tries his hardest to run in the now thigh-high water, but can only hold the end carabiner as Leoncio swims with vigour to catch his target.
Gus gathers himself, and can see Snowy hiding up ahead. Leoncio saw him ages ago, but has slowed back a little and walks steadily through the water which has again lowered in depth and gives Gus´burning thighs some required rest.
Snowy is on dry ground, where the trail continues for sixty metres or so before Leoncios cage. Leoncio and Gus, still in human-knee-high water, both see Snowy crouching, hiding behind a tree, holding a large leaf in front of his face, turning it only slightly, keeping the pumas eyes
fixed.
Gus can sense the chase is impending.
Leoncio crouches, wags his bum twice and tail once, then bounds after Snowy. Gus takes off at the same time, throwing the coiled rope ahead, while clinging tightly to the remainder and final carabiner. On the last step of water before dry ground, Gus trips on a log that he noticed earlier but lost consideration of and falls face first into the watery, muddy ground. He quickly crawls for a couple of lengths, hoping not to halt Leoncio, then regains his footing and starts to sprint, while ripping off his drowned mosquito net and hat.
Full sprint in gumboots filled with water, Gus is pulled along by Leoncio, who is, if anything, jogging, but fully focused on getting to his objective. After twenty metres, Leoncio runs under a patujú leaf which is growing over the trail, which pulls Gus straight through it.
Gus continues to run flat out, until two seconds later he realises he is covered in fire ants from the leaf. They deliver a initial quick burst of pain, a pinhead of fire, all over his face, head and neck. He drops the rope and swats
Cute cat
...couldn´t harm a fly!....actually he can, he eats them all the time!!all over, looking exactly like someone being attacked by bees, and yelling obscenities toward the ants, the leaf, to Leo, to Snowy, to everything!!
Leoncio pounds on, and quickly makes speed with Snowy, although rather than pouncing from behind, slows down, lets Snowy run on, and paws at Snowys calves from behind not using claws, as though giving an ankle-tap.
Snowy stops in a roar of laughter and gives Leo a big pat and much praise. He bends down to give him a hug and looks back to see Gus walking toward them shaking out the last of the fireants from his shirt.
They both erupt in laughter, for this was a good chase. This was a good run. This was a great day. This is what it´s all about. This, is what all three of them, love to do.
Parque Ambue Ari
Four hundred kilometres north of Santa Cruz lies the secondary jungle of the Amazon basin.
Communidad Inti Wara Yassi has one of its parks, Ambue Ari, here, which is a "refuge" to five jaguars, twelve pumas, five ocelots, many birds and monkeys, plus other breeds of animals. The majority of these animals have
Herbie the tapir
and friendliest, prehistoric-looking animal I have ever met!! He was so cool!! been saved from homes through South America, circuses, and other unfortunate or terrible circumstances.
The puma I worked with for the twenty six days I was there was named Leoncio. After his mother was killed for her fur, he was found in a family home in La Paz with his back legs broken. The neighbours heard his painful sounds and reported it, so Inti Wara Yassi took him from the home and had a vet fix his legs. He is now five years old and his legs are okay. Other cats and monkeys at the park have similar, if not worse, histories.
The park has no electricity or hot water, there are no mirrors and the windows are mosquito netting. The accommodation is simple, with straw-mattress beds, damaged mozzie nets, and wet clothes hanging from the rafters. There are two long-drop toilets, which no matter how hard you try, are pretty difficult to get used to. The food is consistently bread, rice, pasta or potatoes, occasionally with chicken or beef. The bugs are inescapable, and while everybodies reaction to bites is different, everybody still gets hammered by mosquitoes.
The day starts at 6.30am, where daily jobs like
Howler monkey
...howling... feeding animals, cleaning, and preparing for the day ahead are undertaken. Breakfast from 7 till 8, then work with your assigned cat until lunchtime. After lunch, back to the cat till around 5.30pm. Most people were keen to hang out and socialise until dinner, while some would go to nearby Santa Maria (kindly referred to as S&M Town) for beer, decent food, duke box and pool. Otherwise, it was cards, chess or reading, all by candlelight with constant mozzie awareness.
The basis of teamwork is what makes the park a successful place. Most volunteers have the same idea about the cats being top priority and that gives a common ideal for everyone to work together. Until, that is, the hypocrisy of the parks management comes in; the woman who is "in charge" is awesome with cats, and has been with the park since its initiation, but severely lacks people management skills in an environment where the volunteers are nearly as important as the cats they are there to help. Still, most people get on with their jobs and not stress at the annoying repetitive negativity of this woman.
The humidity during a dry day makes your pores sweat
Morocha the spider monkey
Resident trouble maker and Michael Jackson look alike non-stop, even when not doing anything active. Most peoples feet were wet all day, from the cats trails being very much underwater. Foot fungus was common place from having a scratch or bite getting infected, and wet feet harbouring the fungus growth. Some people had spider eggs or bora-bora eggs beneath their healing up wounds; this was fixed by the parks vet quick operation with scalpel and antiseptic.
Working at the park was an amazing experience. Talking, living, and coping with travellers from all over the world was also fantastic. Travellers from South Africa, Israel, England, Scotland, Australia, Holland, Norway, USA, Germany, Argentina, France, Italy and Canada all shared fun times, sometimes trying times, there. I met some awesome people at the park, some who I hope who will be friends of mine forever.
Forming a relationship with a big cat, especially one as forgiving as Leoncio, is something I will never forget, and I will remember very fondly.
When I see a Dave Attenborough special on big cats in the future, I will understand a little better, and remember the pure, natural strength they encompass, and think of their plight when faced with the stupid human desire
to simply want a pretty furcoat or reason to say ohh, ahh or wow at a circus.
Thank you Parque Ambue Ari.
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