Bulletin 5
– 18 August 1997
Telecom Amazon Adventure Update
 Update
from Andrew
My trip to Machu Picchu - the lost city
of the Incas - was one of the most exciting days I've had
on my adventure.
The helicopter ride to high in the
mountains was a lot of fun, and the views from the
windows were quite spectacular. Twenty-five minutes after
takeoff, the helicopter landed in a field by the train
station – about 1,500 feet below the ruins. At the
train station I bought my return ticket to Cuzco. I
decided to travel local-class instead of on the Tourist
Train – the cost was 15 soles (NZ$7).
I had a late breakfast in a restaurant
that was really just a big tarpaulin cover on poles with
a dirt floor and a few tables underneath. But they served
good banana pancakes and coffee. I felt so lucky being in
such a beautiful place, outdoors, and being able to eat a
wonderful breakfast in such an exotic location.
I caught one of the small buses that
takes visitors up the remainder of the mountain to the
ruins. The bus ride took about 20 minutes – and had
to zig-zag up the mountain because going straight up
would have been too steep. The view from the bus window
was incredible. Seeing the steep mountains it is easy to
see why Machu Picchu remained hidden for so long –
and why it's possible that other cities may still remain
hidden.
Then, I was in the ruins and exploring
the Incas' ancient city. I wandered around the ruins
until 3pm when it started to rain lightly. The experience
was a little awe-inspiring, but not as magical as I had
imagined. I think that it is very hard to learn about an
entire culture by the cold dead stones they leave behind.
It struck me that cultures are living breathing things
– just seeing where they once lived doesn't give you
much of an understanding about them. Fortunately I'd done
lots of reading about the Incas, and had a guidebook
explaining the ruins, so I was able to understand and
interpret some of the things I saw. I took lots of
photos, and also got to play
with some llamas that were munching grass in the centre
of the ruins.
I left the ruins and caught a bus back to
the train station below. When my train finally arrived,
there was mad pushing and shoving to get on. I discovered
that even though I had a seat number, all of the seats
had been grabbed at a station further up the mountain.
Inside the carriage was standing-room only, but people
still pushed in, until eventually there was no room at
all. The train was full of local people, and the doors of
the carriage remained wide open because there were simply
too many people in the carriages to close them.
I was standing next to an open doorway,
with just a few people between me and the outside. I was
worried because each time the train went around a bend,
the people behind pushed me and I was afraid I would
topple forwards and accidentally push others out of the
moving train. So I held on very tightly to avoid knocking
anyone over and to fight those pushing behind me.
Miraculously, a ticket conductor somehow managed to work
his way through the tightly packed crowd to check tickets
and collect money from those who hadn’t bought them.
Then, he climbed out of the doorway while the train was
still moving, and around the outside of the train to the
next carriage (presumably checking the tickets of the
people on the outside of the train, too).
The crowded conditions continued for
about two and half hours until the train reached the
station of Ollantayambo. Here, the train half-emptied and
I got a seat for the remaining three hours of the
journey. The train arrived in Cuzco just after 10pm. I
jostled my way through the crowd to get off, then walked
back to my hostel. I was so exhausted I didn't bother
with dinner, I just climbed into bed and went to sleep
– thankful that the experience of the train ride was
now behind me.
That’s all for this week. Cheers for
now,
Andrew
Manu Reserve National Park
Manu Reserve National Park is a huge
reserve of rainforest, located 40km north-east of Cuzco
on the eastern slopes of the Andes. Because the area is
difficult to get to, it has never been developed. Things
there look much the same as they did thousands of years
ago, long before the arrival of the Europeans.
Even though the Reserve was near the
former Inca capital at Cuzco, the steep mountains, dense
jungle, and local Amazon Indian tribes made the area too
difficult to conquer, even for the mighty Incas. The
local Indians fought bravely and fiercely - they knew the
secrets of the rainforest - and were able to drive the
Inca armies away with poisoned arrows and blow darts. The
Indians are still there, and live in much the same way as
they have for generations. Although most Indians don't
have contact with the outside world, this is gradually
changing as more visitors venture into the park.
The park’s purpose is to preserve
the environment around Manu. With all the developments
and changes occurring elsewhere in Amazonia, it is
important some areas are set aside and protected so the
unique plants and animals don’t become extinct. The
park is extremely important for the Indians who
don’t want their culture destroyed by 20th century
developments. The park provides them with a safe place to
live, where they can continue to hunt and fish. Of the
park’s total 1.8 million hectares, only a small part
of it is open to visitors, and the Indians live
undisturbed in the remainder. The park has a small
“cultural zone” where Indians and visitors can
meet each other, so visitors can learn about the Indians
and the Indians can learn more about the world outside
their rainforest.
Access to Manu Reserve is tightly
controlled. All visitors must obtain a permit from the
authorities, and most visits are organised by tourist
companies who must follow strict rules so they don’t
damage the environment. Despite the park’s huge size
it is only visited by a few people each year. Getting to
the park is not easy. Visitors need to travel over very
rough roads on the back of a truck for about 20 hours, or
in a small boat along one of the rivers. Once inside the
park, there is a small lodge with no electricity or hot
water. A small airstrip has recently been built near the
lodge that is making access easier.
Manu Reserve has a very rich ecology. It
has a huge variety of different plants and animals. This
is because the reserve is on the side of a mountain
– where the mountains meet the Amazon rainforest.
There is a mixture of environments, called micro-climates
– which means that it is hot and tropical in some
places and much colder in other places close by. As a
result, many different species of plants and animals,
which normally live far away from each other, are all
found within a small area.
Manu Reserve is one of the best places to
see wild animals in South America – especially
birds. The area’s greatest attraction is a Macaw
lick. Macaws are big colourful parrots that live in the
Amazon rainforest. They have strong beaks which they use
for cracking open nuts and eating fruit. But during the
months when their food becomes scarce, they are forced to
eat other fruits that contain poisons and make them feel
sick. The only way for them to feel better is by eating
clay fromriverbanks. The clay contains special minerals
which cure the effects of the poison. As a result,
thousands of macaws gather on the riverbank to eat the
clay and this is called a Macaw lick. Seeing thousands of
these colourful birds gathered together in one place is
very spectacular.
Lots of other animals also live in the
Manu Reserve including monkeys, river dolphins,
alligators, river otters, wild pigs (called peccaries),
tapir (related to rhinoceros), sloths, snakes, capybaras,
giant anteaters, ocelots, and jaguars. Unfortunately,
animals in the wild are not very easy to see, and may be
scared away by a lot of noise. Finding animals in the
rainforest takes skill, and a lot of luck.
Adventure update
If you want an update on Andrew’s
progress or would like to find out more about Amazonia,
then you might like to check out the Amazon Adventure
homepage.
At the Telecom Education Foundation
homepage (address: http://www.telecom.co.nz/tef) click on
the Explorers and Adventurers pointer and you’ll see
the Amazon Adventure button.
Win, win, win
with Telecom Innovative Amazon Classroom
Activity Competition
2 1/2 weeks to go
Yes, the countdown has begun in
Telecom’s Innovative Amazon Classroom Activity
Competition. Let us know how you’re using technology
as part of your Amazon studies and you’ll be in with
a chance to win some beautiful books about the Amazon,
donated by Andrew Mercer.
You can either fax your entries to
Adventure Line on 0-4-498 5575 or post them to
Explorers and Adventures Telecom
Education Foundation
Level Two Telecom Networks House
PO Box 570
Wellington
Entries must reach us by 3 September.
See last week’s Fax Bulletin for
more details about Telecom’s Innovative Amazon
Classroom Activity Competition.
Check the fax
We’re aiming to get the Amazon
audioconference agenda and weekly Bulletin out to you
each Monday. Can you please ensure your fax machine has
enough paper to receive this material.
If you do miss getting some pages, please
note the pages you’re missing on the Smartfax
coversheet and fax it back to Danielle on the Adventure
Line fax 0-4-498 5575. She will then
refax the missing pages.
An important audioconferencing tip
Please don’t call into the live
audioconferences at 11am or 12 noon any earlier than 10
minutes before they are due to start. This gives
Telecom’s Audioconferencing group time to set up the
call.
Also, please don't be concerned if, when
you call into the recorded audioconferences at 1.30pm and
2.30pm you don’t hear the chairperson on-line. This
is because these audioconferences are recorded from
earlier in the day and are not “live”. The
recorded audioconference will simply begin at the
allotted times.
Amazon activity
Find out about and research eco-tourism.
What is it and why is it so important in the Amazon
region? Are there any examples of eco-tourist activities
in New Zealand? Think about tourist attractions like
Whalewatch off the coast of Kaikoura - would activities
like this be considered
examples of eco-tourism?
Fun facts
The world's biggest freshwater
fish is the Pirarucu. The biggest pirarucu ever
caught, over 100 years ago, was 15 feet (4.6
metres) long.
Electric eels and stingrays live
in the Amazon. Sharks, from the Atlantic Ocean,
have even been found swimming up the Amazon as
far as Peru.
Amazon books
Here are some more book titles on the
Amazon that you might find useful during Telecom’s
Amazon Adventure. . .
Rainforest Animals: Questions and
Answers, Michael Chinery, Kingfisher,
London.
Jungle Stories: The Fight for the
Amazon, Sting and Jean-Pierre Dutilleux,
Barrie & Jenkins, London.
Lost Cities of the Maya,
Claude Baudez and Sydney Picasso, Thames and
Hudson, London.
Explorers Mystery Quiz - Bulletin 5
Answer the Explorers Mystery Quiz
questions below correctly and be in to win a Panasonic
cassette recorder for your class. You will find the
answer to this week’s first question on your
Explorers and Adventurers Mystery Trail poster. You might
need to do a bit more research to answer question two.
Fax your answers to the Telecom Adventure
Line: 0-4-498 5575. Entries close at 5pm on
Friday 22 August 1997.
The classes whose students correctly
answer the most Explorers Mystery Quizzes during the
Explorers and Adventurers programme will go into the draw
for a grand prize in December. So good luck everyone.
This week’s questions
Question One
What is the slowest moving animal in the
world and what is its average ground speed?
Question Two
The world’s largest water lily grows
in the Amazon. What is its name?
Last week’s winner
The winner of last week’s Explorers
Mystery Quiz was Room 3, West Eyreton School, Rangiora.
Last week’s answers
Answer One
The Amazon River is 6,000 km long.
Answer Two
The Amazon River is sometimes called
the Ocean River because of its vastness, annual
floods and because it can be navigated.
 
|
