17 March 2006
The pitter-patter of little feet
Ants on the move
© Greenpeace/Prout
Two dragonflies, with velvet black wings and bright blue little bodies, fly around our canoe. We are paddling over a little river through green wilderness. Ferns, vines, big trees, small trees, palm trees – they all grow over, under, up and through eachother.
A warning comes from the bow of the canoe: "Tree!" A fallen tree crosses the little river like a bridge. There is just enough space for the canoe to pass underneath it. Our crew – two men from the Kuni tribe, who paddle the canoe standing up – simply step out of the boat, onto the tree, and back in on the other side. "I think you better sleep," Jamie says to me, meaning I should lie flat on the bottom of the canoe instead of trying to climb out of the canoe and risking an unwanted swim for us all!
"Here we are," says Steven, a leader of the Kuskus clan (part of the Kuni tribe), after paddling for almost an hour. The foresters get their GPS out, the Kuni men their bush knives, Bart and I our cameras, and we are ready to go! Steven goes in front to show where the boundary of a 50ha area should be. This is where his clan plans to practice ecoforestry.
We stop every 10 to 15 minutes on an open spot to get a GPS position. These are ideal moments to look around and to pick the last leeches from your legs. At one of these spots I found some bright purple, peach-shaped fruits. Unfortunately, they’re not fit for eating.
At another stop, there’s a very special ants nest along a tree. It is a flat and log nest, glued to the tree like a second skin; underneath the ants are hiding. "If you are very quiet, you can hear them walking!" says Bart. And indeed, I can! Thousands of little feet trample chaotically over the paper walls of the nest.
"Ready?" The GPS points have been registered and we can trample on as well.
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