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Deiter Schonlau and Sandra Hanke came in January when it was very dry and many animals would come to the river to drink.
They are nature photographers, and dazzled us with stories of rainforests around the world and showed us lots of tricks.
To get great photos they go out at night and wait very quietly. You can see their photos on-line or at presentations
throughout Europe.
Steve Hilty came in late January leading a group of bird-watchers. He wrote The Birds of Venezuela
which is the best field guide to the birds that are found at Raleighvallen. He guides birding tours for Victor
Emanuel Nature Tours in addition to writing field guides and about Neotropical bird behavior. http://www.ventbird.com/
In March our first visitors arrived from the
south, on motorized inflatables. They had flown to the headwaters of the Coppename at Tafelberg Mountain(there
is an airstrip on the high plateau). Then their gear was helicoptered down to the river edge. Four adventurers with
their leader, Michel Boeijen, came over 150 miles downriver, seeing many birds and animals, including 5 family groups
of giant river otters. Michel and his partner own Challenge Travel of the Netherlands.
Our only neighbors in the park is a primate research camp just up the ruver. There researchers follow capuchin
monkeys everyday to learn about their behavior. The 4 to 6 people are usually pregraduate students who spend one year
here. We like to invite them to birthday parties when we all dance to the Raleigh Boys. They invite us to learn
about monkeys and birds with them. They come to the island at least once a week to collect supplies and use our internet connection.
Dr. Susan Boinski of the University of Florida began this project 7 years ago, studying squirrel monkeys.
Our dad works for Conservation International.
There are websites for both CI which is based in Washington, DC and CI-Suriname. The links below are for the pages
on the Suriname and the CNSR:
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