The Tiputini Biodiversity Station

This last weekend I had the amazing opportunity to go to the Tiputini Biodiversity Station. This is a station that is owned by USFQ in the east part of Ecuador which is also in the Amazon rain forest. This is a place solely dedicated to research and learning and has actually been highlighted in National Geographic Magazine in past years.

Getting to the rain forest is no joke. I woke up at 4 a.m. and took a taxi to a nearby bus station. From there I met up with my group and we took a bus to the airport outside of Quito. Once we got there we waited for our plane. We took a plane ride for half an hour to an airport in Coca. Then from there a short bus rides to a motel on the Napo River. Here we waited. We waited for a long time but we were all excited and we made friends with the squirrel monkeys that seemed to be pretty tame. Finally our boat arrived. We took this boat for a couple of hours down the Napo River which was the widest river I have ever seen. I really enjoyed the boat ride because we were out in the open and we could begin to see that rain forest that was surrounding us.

 

After this boat ride we arrived and a security check point that was owned by an American oil company. Here we waited some more and had a sack lunch. You could defiantly feel a difference in the climate here, there was way more humidity than in Quito.  Once our chiva (a bus with no walls or windows) arrived we started our journey down the oil company’s dirt roads. At this point things started to get a little weird from me. I felt like I was on a dirt road up north in Michigan surrounded by nothing but green trees, but the trees looked nothing like any trees in Michigan. I felt like I was home surrounded on all sides by nothing but green. 

                 

After the 90 minute chiva ride we arrived at the Tiputini River where there was a small boat launch. We helped unload food and other supplies off the chiva and got in the boat. We were all excited to be almost there. This boat ride was long because the river was smaller and had many twists and turns. Everyone was soo excited when we finally arrived at the station. We ate some snacks and the manager Juan de Dios gave us the run down.

                                        

In the station all the water came from the river and was processed and clean, so we could drink any water from any tap. Because of this we had to use their special biodegradable soap and shampoo. Also the station only ran power at certain times so we were informed when the best time to take showers and charge electronics was. We had specific meal times and we needed to try our best to be quiet so not to disturb the researchers since noise travels far in the jungle. After this we got our cabins and went to pick out the boots that we would be hiking in the next two days.

                                                        

The first day that we went hiking we met up after breakfast and split into groups to get our guides. My guide was named Ramiro and I was in a group with all girls which turned out to be very fun. The first day we hiked in the morning and after lunch. Ramiro was amazing. We would be walking on trials that were pretty defined in the jungle then he would spot or hear something and start running and tell us to follow.

Many times we would be far from the trial in the middle of the jungle looking at all kinds of wild life. The first day we saw 3 different species of monkeys and by the end we saw 4. The different species are Titi, Golden Tamara, Wooly and Spider.

We also saw many different kinds of insects, some of which we even got to hold. Before I came to the jungle I made up my mind that whatever the guide asked me to try or do I was going to do it even if I was afraid. I wanted to get the full experience. So when Ramiro stood next to a tree that had lumps in its limbs that were filled with lemon flavored ants, I stuck my tongue right in and took a taste. I also got to chew on a root that made my tongue blue for the rest of the day  

    Another awesome thing that is part of the Tiputini experience is the towers and bridges. They own two towers that researchers can us to get a view above the canopy of trees and look out for birds and monkeys. One of these towers you had to wear a harness that had two safety lines and it contained different bridges with platforms. One of the platforms had a ladder connected to part of a tree that you could climb even higher. So of course I climbed up this ladder. It was pretty scary because part of the climb on the ladder all that was under you was a steep drop that you could see in-between the rungs of the ladder.  Once you made it to the top the view was incredible.

                               

On the last day at Tiputini it is tradition to take us on a boat ride for the river float. We took the boat a little ways away from the station while on the ride we saw a caiman on the bank of the river. Then we put on our life vests and jumped in. This was probably my favorite part of the whole trip because the water felt so good on my sweaty body. The Tiputini River has zero visibility because of all the minerals and sediments. So who knows what could have been swimming around with us.

Tiputini was an amazing journey. I learned so much about all the different animals and lots about the different kinds of plants. In such a small part of Ecuador there is more diversity than the entire U.S. and it was a once in a life time experience to live with all those creatures for such a small time.