ReportageWithin the coronary heart of the Amazonian Park of Guyana, scientists exploring biodiversity rub shoulders with unlawful gold diggers from Brazil and Suriname, able to devastate every little thing to make a fortune. Two definitions of wealth which can be in direct opposition.
Appears like a gold digger discovering a nugget. Sébastien Sant scrutinizes the tangled vegetation of the equatorial forest and throws himself on a liana that an ignorant eye considers completely peculiar. However no. The botanist of the Amazonian park of Guyana crouched down, stroking the flower. «Aristolochia wankeana, breath the person with delicate gestures, described a couple of months in the past as a brand new species particular to this a part of the Amazon… ”
The big stakes resumed his exploration: right here, an orchid nonetheless in bud, there a hibiscus maybe of a brand new kind, which he’ll assess on his return to Cayenne. It’s a hammam warmth originally of March, the rain soaks the muddy floor, however the naturalist is completely happy to herbalize.
Eleven days that he wades by means of the guts of the inextricable forest within the firm of his colleague Clément Lermyte, that he shares a bivouac of tarpaulins stretched over hammocks with 9 different scientists, ornithologists and specialists in reptiles or amphibians.
Under, the waters of the Grand Abounami cross the rapids which give the place its title of Gros Saut. Between two highly effective downpours, we hear the hoarse cries of a howler monkey or the hissing of a sentinel chook. “We’re fortunate with the climate”, rejoices Timothy The Pope, shirtless and in flip-flops, whereas he strokes a younger rainbow boa. Together with his bun and his hipster look, the 30-something is without doubt one of the 4 specialists who, on the finish of the day, will go within the rain to trace frogs and snakes by the glow of headlamps. At evening, the purple eyes of the caimans lie in wait on the opposite facet. At daybreak, the cicadas get up with a strident noise of a grinder reducing metallic.
Remoted web site
In November 2020, ichthyologists got here to establish the fish and a carcinologist the shrimps. Others had tried to identify tapirs, monkeys, peccaries and even jaguars to ascertain “kilometric indices of abundance”. On the finish of March, a 3rd squad regarded into the ants and the mushrooms. All dropped off by helicopter from Papaïchton, the village two days by canoe and 7 by strolling, off any path.
It’s for its isolation that the location was chosen by the administration of the nationwide park, the second largest on the earth. “It covers 40% of Guyana and we solely know part of it, explains Hélène Delvaux, scientific supervisor of the park. This sector, which had not benefited from any biodiversity stock, is remoted sufficient to think about it being preserved. “
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