Rainforests Stays

                                                Lovely Rainforests

     Besides visiting, seeing and playing in several rainforests over the years I have had occasion to stay and live in three. Each experience was a wee bit different but all were fantastic !

    The Daintree Rainforest, a World Heritage Site in Australia, is a coastal rainforest that runs in pockets for 450 kilometers, and as an upland rainforest the area protects 70 animal species, over 200 bird species, including the cassowary, which I’d never seen, plus many flower and plant species.

    My large cabin had lovely wooden floors and a large sitting area with huge picture windows—the equivalent  of glass walls that provided views of nothing but thick lush greenery. I woke early in the morning to the sounds of nature and enjoyed my coffee sitting on the couch watching dawn arrive and the small birds and critters shake off sleep and eat breakfast. Eventually I waved a fresh cup of coffee under my friend’s nose to wake her so she could also enjoy the beginning of a wonderful day.

     Great care had been taken designing this resort to blend in with its surroundings in an ecologically sensitive way.  Meant to have minimal impact on local flora and fauna, all cabins  were built high on set poles, that required minimal removal of trees. Boardwalks eliminated the impact of pedestrian traffic  that can damage the forest floor. The facility had its own water supply and generated its own electricity.

    We hated to leave this fabulous peaceful place, but Australia is a huge country  and after  a couple of days it was necessary, as we still had much to visit and see.

     In Costa Rica, Chachagua’s hotel was located in the depths of the rainforest on a private preserve, relatively close to Arenal volcano and adjacent to the Monteverdi Cloud Forest Reserve.

      We crossed a waterfall and walked through lush vegetation to reach our cabin. Because the cabins are hidden in their environment, our guide walked us to our cabin the first time. Our cabin was large and the bathroom floor was slated wood;  there were many potted plants and greenery inside under the high windows. The wet rainforest created a lot of mildew on walkways and stairs. The scenery was exquisite and I fell asleep to the sound of running water. Howler monkeys woke us early in the morning, then the singing birds followed and they were a lot more melodious!

    One evening while walking back to our cabin I heard this loud noise that sounded like a single knock on a clay pot, which I learned the next morning was a ting frog talking.

     The lodge dining room was a large railed patio, roofed but all open otherwise with lovely wooden floors. Nature was all around us at every turn!  The resident green macaw, would perch on the patio rail,  almost always visiting close to mealtime. He was free to fly anywhere anytime. He was a bit cantankerous as its mate had died a few years before. Macaws mate for life so more than likely she’d be alone for the years ahead. The food was fantastic—a huge surprise for hotel/lodge fare.

     This pleasant Costa Rican jungle and its lovely eco-lodge provided us an authentic immersion with nature without sacrificing quality or luxury. We could have stayed a lot longer!

   

    In Panama we stayed in the rainforest at a new eco-lodge.  Our patio with its nice big easy wooden rockers and slung hammock looked out on a cove of the Panama Canal river. The facility was large with a large dining building, A short hike in the back was a lovely orchid  and botanical gardens. The butterfly house fascinated my grandchildren. This facility was close to a Eros village with easy access by boat. Some American money had been invested in this native village and I'm not sure the easy access is necessarily good for the native peoples as slowly but surely their culture is being impacted. My grandchildren did have a wonderful time playing with the small native children. This rain forest was the least interesting and was located in a less dense environment than some others.

THE EDEN PROJECT

                      An Amazing Exhibit

        I had read about the Eden project in the paper a few months before a trip to England. We arrived just at opening time. Some waited for the little cars to take them down into the crater, but I walked it.

It took two and a half years to build the Eden Project, which did not open until Easter 2001. It created so much interest that 500,000 people visited during the six month period of May-November to view the construction and progress of the project. The mission of the Eden Project is, “To promote the understanding and practice the responsible management of the vital relationship between plants, people, and resources leading towards a sustainable future for all.”

            The popularity of the $150 million (US) Eden Project far exceeded expectations, and 300,000 people visited in the first ten weeks after opening! The project had large umbrellas in many locations. I grabbed an umbrella as it looked very threatening, and at the very least it would make a nice walking stick. I had no more than entered the first biome when it started to rain, and it continued to rain very hard all day.   

            Space age technology meets the lost world of a giant abandoned 50-meter (163’) crater china-clay quarry. The size of 35 football fields Eden houses two gigantic geodetic domes housing thousands of plants. These biomes are the largest in the world, covering over two acres, and are made by joining 800 huge steel hexagons. Each hexagon is 25-feet across. If tears or holes appear in the solar paneled roofs they can be repaired with a special tape. This remarkable engineering feat uses no internal supports.

            One dome contains a humid tropical rain forest, complete with waterfalls and ponds. The plantings were grouped in nine different areas designed as Madam Wealth, Dr. Health, Mother Nature, Lady Beautiful, World’s Feast etc. Plants were clearly marked, and periodically there was a small about 18 X 18” canvas bulletin board with drawings and interesting facts. In the 17^th century a cargo of cloves was a king’s ransom, pepper could pay the rent, and a packet of nutmeg could buy a mansion! The temperature in this biome was 98 degrees with humidity of probably 90%. The crowds here prevented anything but a leisurely amble.  Droplets of water were beginning to accumulate on me as I neared the end and the exit!

            The other biome was a bit cooler, but still demanded the peeling off of outer garments. This biome was also divided with winding paths, up, down, and around. Someone had a very creative mind and a good since of humor as whimsical decorations were found in various nooks and crannies.

            I managed to stay dry as I walked back up the hill to the coach. It is a very steep incline in and out of the project as you walk to the bottom of the quarry. Little Disney-like trains run back and forth, but we walked it faster than the line waiting for it, and the umbrellas were nice and big.

            The complex is an educational facility, museum and display area. There also are three indoor cafeterias and an outside café.  Benches surround an outside pool. One could easily spend all day here. The parking lot sections were labeled with fruit names (banana, apple, etc) as well as with numbers, the theory being that it is easier to remember a name than a number.

            The tremendous popularity of this project, I think, says something about our concern for the future. The project was a gigantic undertaking that is proving to have been worthwhile.  Now a decade later I’d like to revisit the site. It is an amazing place.

UNWANTED STUFF

Plants and Trash

In the early 1900s when the cable was being laid workmen and their families made Midway Island home by planting familiar plants and some even brought parakeet pets with them.

Eventually as people moved the parakeets were let loose and now there is quite a population of wild song birds on the island. A sun-flower type plant called verbacina was also planted and like many invasive plants had taken over the island making it almost impossible for native plants to flourish. The native vegetation is best for nesting birds. Small Spit Island had been cleared of invasives and the planted natives were doing well. At the time of my visit to the Island they were trying to rid Sand Island of all invasive plants, especially the verbacina.

During parts of the seal research program when we situated ourselves in inconspicuous areas to watch the seals sleep on the beach I easily got bored. Every day after awhile I’d leave Kelly to watch the seals while I went down a small hill to pull verbacina. It came out of the sandy soil easily and I created mounds and mounds of the small yellow sunflower stalks and roots.

On Eastern Island we saw several dead birds, many with insides exposed. Sea birds have learned that anything floating on the water is edible and until a few years ago it always was sea life.

 Now people carelessly throw junk in the water. Plastic is light and floats and comes in all kinds of pretty colors. The birds eat it, then because they can’t digest it they feel full and after awhile don’t eat and die of starvation and dehydration. Cigarette lighters deliver a double whammy as they are not only plastic but also contain toxic fluid.

During my three week stay on Midway we cleaned the beaches each week. I was appalled at the tons of trash we collected and piled up. We found everything imaginable but one big hazard to birds are the often large fishing nets that break loose. None of the trash is from the island but from heavens know where from afar.  It floats on the currents and lands on the island beaches. It is an ongoing and time consuming problem to keep the beaches clean.It is also a good demonstration that everyone worldwide needs to be conscious of what and where they throw their trash.