Advertisement
Published: February 27th 2010
Have been meaning to write a blog about the station since I got here but not managed it yet, so here goes!
Have also managed to get some better pictures over the time as well, been here four weeks now already!
I think I said before that the island of Utila has several animals Endemic to the island the Swamper iguana (Centanauri bakeri) also called wishi willy by the locals, being one of them.
A biologist discovered the swamper over a hundred years ago but all his papers were lost until the 90´s when a german biologist came to the island and took an interest in the swamper.
The swamper is on the critically endangered list and probably always will be because it is endemic, even though the station has been successful in increasing the population.
The iguana Research and Breeding centre was set up to protect and increase the swamper population as well as to understand more of this little studied iguana.
The station was built and funded through a german foundation but last year that funding came to an end so the Hondurans set up Foundacion la bahias and are continually
The balcony
Where we can chill in hammocks and get bitten by sand flies!seeking funding, just last week we were told a sheik had made a donation!
Income comes from visitors and of course the volunteers!
Breeding
During the first week of March we will go to Iron Bound beach to catch pregnant females that will walk (or waddle!) to the beach to lay their eggs. Not sure if we catch them as they walk to the beach or in the mangroves?
They will then be brought back and put into breeding cages with nesting boxes of sand in the cages, we still need to collect some sand!).
Once the eggs are layed the females will be returned to the mangroves near where they were collected. The eggs are then put in an incubator and hatch around July August time.
Once hatched half of the hatchlings will be released and the other half kept here for 12 months before release back into the mangroves. Breeding groups are also retained from the hatchlings each year to continue next generation breeding, all the lizards here have been hatched here the oldest being 13 years.
Research
As little is known still about the swamper we have to carry out
A banana spider
see loads of these around, the really small spider is the male! It is said their webs are as strong as steel (obviously thin!) transects where we walk through the black mangroves recording how many iguanas we see, their sex approx age and type of lizard. Not easy as they sit high up in trees and are well camouflaged!
We will also be monitoring insect and crab life in the mangroves to better understand the condition of the mangroves, however i think if we dont get a protected area it will all dissappear to tourism and money.
Education
The swamper has been endangered for 3 key reasons, tourism taking over the mangroves by reclaiming them and building houses, poor waste management with rubbish washed up on the beaches from Costa rica and finally the fact that the islanders find the swamper very tasty particularly the eggs!
As such the station works closely with the schools to educate bthem about the swamper the eco system and what they can do to make their island a better place.
Hence the reason for building the school house )the wishy willy educational centre!).
The station has a visitors centre, kitchen, workshop and storeroom downstairs with the volunteers rooms upstairs, 6 rooms some for two some for 3 people.
No air conditioning just
a fan in your room and no hot water which sounds awful but in this heat is quite nice! Like Cyprus you cant put toilet paper down the pan so as such one of the chores is to burn pooh.lol
The volunteers carry out many tasks here at the station the main on ebeing feeding the iguanas. We pick hibiscus leaves and flowers slice them up add some grated carrot and beetroot, some mangrove leaves and oats.
The green iguana eats bananas and several times a week we feed the babies termites and the adults are given fiddler crabs, both of which we have to go and collect (mangrove leaves, crabs and termites).
Other tasks are giving visitors a tour of the centre explaining the station purpose and showing them the iguanas, building the school house, feeding the snapping turtle, feeding rosalita the parrot who by the way hates women and I have to feed, she likes me and lets me stroke her head!
She can say her name, hello and pretty bird so far....
Releasing babies and collecting pregnant mums, collecting sand for the nesting boxes, cutting the grass once a week, Friday cleaning
morning, clesning the iguanas cages, making repairs around the station, other gardening tasks such as cutting down hibiscus trees.
Think we supposed to give tours to the bat caves, freshwater caves etc but not done any yet, don’t think it really tourist season yet just travelers and divers.
Volunteers stay for different periods Linus is here for 5 months! Some just a few weeks. Most seem to be british at the moment, other than the 2 honduran people running the place (helder and andrea) plus 2 hondurans who are doing a sort of internship towards their ecology degrees. Normally get more germans later in the year, I am told.
We cook meals together occassionaly or go out into town for food, getting a decent meal like 2 pork chops, mash, rice and salad for 3 quid. Sometimes we just do our own thing. We also set up the projector screen and watch dvds in the week or go to the pub!
Think we were gonna use the new school house this week!
Tranquila seems to be one of the favorites with a Wii to play and regular cheap drink nights. Tretanic also pretty cool built over
Juvenile swampers
40 in a cage all under 12 mths old, to be released soon the years by a hippy with bottles, china tiles all over the place and built into the trees, the diving centres use a lot for partying.
Well written quite a few blogs this week now but am caught up with everything now speak soon
Marky larf
Advertisement
Tot: 0.135s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 16; qc: 69; dbt: 0.0762s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.2mb
lee gibbs
non-member comment
BORED BORED BORED. SUNDAY AT WORK DEAD DEAD DEAD. JEALOUS OF THESE BLOGGS. HAAMOCK ON YOUR STATION BLACONY LOOKS GREAT, CAN SEE MYSELF LYING THERE GETTIN BATTERED! DONT GET TOO BURNT.