Establishing The Jungle Camp

One of the pack horses is loaded for the journey into the forest. the horses here are small (ponies really) but are very stong.  They also appear well cared for, with healthy coats and none of the harness sores you see in some other countries.

The first step in starting the suvey of the wildlife of the forests was to set up a camp within the jungle.  We were looking ideally for old growth forest, but due to timber poaching the best we could find was secondary forest – areas where tree had been cut in the past but where the forest had re-grown. 

Because the area is not accessible by vehicles we hired three pack horses to carry the equipment into the forest – a distance of about three kilometers from the dirt road, across steeply sloping terrain.

The pack horses fording the river.  The water came up to the top of our legs as we crossed, and was flowing strongly. We crossed this river at about five different points during the trek to locate a site for the base camp, as it meandered across our line of travel !

On the walk in we found out first species – a snake lying at the edge of the river! Eventually, an area of rainforest at a place called Tagapunan was selected as being the most suitable area for the researchers to base their camp, and we set about the work of unloading the equipment.   

With the group of researchers, guides, porters and provincial government staff, I arrive at the site of the Berseba jungle camp.  

We had hired five local people – four men as guides and for security, and one young girl as cook, general assistant and companion for Weng, the young female research assistant from Mindanao State University. A respectable Filipina girl will not enter a house with a man unless there is a ‘chaperone’ present, so we could hardly ask Weng to camp in the forest with a group of men without a female companion present !

The local guides set about clearing a small patch of flat ground for the camp, and constructing tables and benches from forest materials – branches lashed together with vines.

Lunch is prepared by Airene over a brushwood fire.

 

The camp takes shape.  After lunch we sit on benches made from thin logs.

Later that day the researchers started setting up mist nets to capture the forest birds by day and bats by night, drop traps to catch lizards, and live cage traps for capturing small mammals.  Very soon, they started getting results. 

 

From left to right – MSU researchers Alrey and Weng, Salome (from the provincial environment and natural resources office) and me, holding a white throated kingfisher – one of the first birds caught.

All captured animals are weighed, measured, identified. Red nail-polish is used to mark the animals before release, so that the resarchers can tell if an animal has been caught before, or is a new individual.

Me holding a Philippine frogmouth – named after its large wide beak.

Finally, it as time for us to leave the researchers and guides and head back to the car for the journey home.  Since the journey back was mostly up a very steep mountain, and the horses now had no load to carry, I decided to ride one of the horses back up the mountain to where we had left the car. 

 

A horse stands cooling its legs in the water in the shade of the riverbank trees while it waits to carry me back the long trek to the car.

All in all, very enjoyable day !

Before We Start….

 

A Greater Flameback Woodpecker. The mountains of the Andanan Watershed are full of rare and beautiful wildlife which has never been researched or documented.

One source of funding VSO is able to access for its projects here in the Philippines comes from the EU under a development programme on sharing and promoting of regional knowledge.  I recently put in a project proposal to get help from Mindanao State University (MSU) to carry out species identification in the Andanan watershed area.  Peviously no real information has been available on what species of birds, bats, snakes et cetera are present in the area, and what is in danger of being lost if the defeorestation of the area continues. We were lucky and funding for the proposal was approved - 255,800 Pisos or around 2,800 pounds.

However, that was only the start of things.  There were still lots of hurdles to jump and hoops to leap through before we could start the work.  One of the most important of these was obtaining the consent of the indigenous peoples who live in the area.  This involved meetings with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, then with the Datus (Tribal Chieftans), and finally we had to hold community meetings. 

Datus (tribal chiefans) and Barangay (village) officials sit around the table at the pre-project meeting.  The community members listen from behind. Manobo Datus traditionally wear red jackets or have red banding on their clothes. It is also traditional for food to provided at meetings, so we had to feed about 200 people !

MSU had tried to go through this process last november, but unfortunately they were unaware of the best way to explain the project to the indigenous people of the area.  As a result, the way the project was explained to the indigenous people (IPs) didn’t make it clear why they should give their permission, and what the benefits to them would be from the project.  Since the IPs are very protective of their rights and access to their lands, they therefore refused permission in November. 

In January I approached the Provincial Officer for the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, who is based at the Provincial Capitol where I work.  He gave us good advice on the correct process to follow, and put us in touch with the Regional NCIP Office in Butuan.  Together they guided us through the procedures for meeting the legal requirement for obtaining the Free Prior Informed Consent of the IPs before carrying out research in thie tribal lands.  The Provincial Officer even facilitated a new set of meetings with the datus, Barangay (village) officials, and the communities to explain why the project was needed. 

During these meetings, he explained the project to the tribal groups in their own language (Manobo) as well as Visayan, and clearly explained how the project on biodiversity would help the IPs to prepare their Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development Plan – an important requirement of the process of getting their ancestral lands recognised in a Certificate of Ancestal Domain Title. 

The end result as that the indigenous people agreed to the project going ahead, and agreed to offer their protction to the researchers from Mindanao State University while they were carrying out the work.  This was formalised by all the Datus and Barangay officials signing a document agreeing to the researchers entering their area to conduct the research.  However, educational facilities in the remote mountain areas are limited both by physical distance from schools and lack of money for families to pay for their children to be educated, and were even more limited when the current Datus were of school age.  As a result, many of the Datus’ ’signatures’ were in the form of a thumbprint.   

 

‘Signing’ the agreement.  An elderly Datu appends his thumbprint. 

The agreement of the datus, officials and communities to guarantee the safety of the researchers was of particular importance, as the researchers would have to camp in the forest overnight in order to catch and identify nocturnal species such as bats, some bird species, frogs, etc.   As there are members of the New Peoples Army (communist insurgents) in the mountains of Mindanao, it was necessary that the researchers be under the protection of the community, especially while staying overnight in the mountain forests.

So, with their safety assured and the ‘red tape’ complied with, we were able at last to begin the research to identify the biodiversity of the mountain forests of the Andanan Watershed. 

A warning sign on the access road into the watershed, at a site subject to major landslides during every rainy season.

Only the natural hazards such as snakes and landslides remained to be negotiated !

A large rat snake.  One of the many species of snake present in the forests.

Pit Senjor ! Viva Santo Nino !

The third week of January is the Sinulog Festival in Cebu.  

This year our Provincical Governor in Agusan del Sur, Governor ”Eddiebong” Plaza, took a group of about 65 staff and politicians to Cebu for the festival.  

It is a major event in the southern Philippines, and involves lots of street dancing, elaborate costumes, and basically having fun ! 

Amongst those invited to attend were the six VSO volunteers working in the province. 

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The festival revolves around a statue of the “Santo Nino” which was brought to the Philippines by the Spanish Queen early in the time of the Spanish colonisation. 

The statue is still held in a church in Cebu, and is much revered.  One a year it forms the centrepiece of a big parade at the Sinulog Festival.

There are a huge number of different performers, and the Festival lasts for about a week. 

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The climax of the celebrations happens on the Sunday, when there are river parades, a large open-air Mass, and the street processions of dancers.

In the Philippines you’re never too young to enjoy a fiesta ! While the woman on the left holds up the Santo Nino (Holy Child) statue, the man on the right carries a real baby ! 

Most of the dance groups carry a copy of the Santo Nino statue - which is wearing a crown and a wide red cape – and everywhere there are signs saying “Viva Santo Nino!”, and “Pit Senjor!”  The Santo Nino is commonly referred to as “Senjor”, and apparently “Pit Senjor” means something like “invoke the Senjor Santo Nino”.

 

Its a great festival.  Certainly worth seeing if you are in the Philippines in the month of January.