PACT challenge targets Chiquibul
The organisation known as PACT has for years been funding initiatives nationwide to help grass-roots groups manage, develop and preserve protected areas. This week PACT is doing something a little bit different to focus on one of Belize’s largest and last frontiers. On Wednesday I took bush to check it out.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
Challenge has been the works for the past three years…
Located deep in the Cayo district, the Chiquibul National Park and Forest Reserve spans some four hundred thousand acres of rainforest, and encompasses Belize?s highest mountain, one of the largest cave systems in the world and the twisting waters of Rio Chiquibul.
Although the area was deemed a reserve more than a decade ago, a management plan was never formulated for the Chiquibul.
Janelle Chanona
The isolation of the Chuiquibul National Park and Forest Reserve is surmounted only by the wonder of its vast resources which is why local environmental organisations are keen to protect this area.
One of those organizations is called the Friends for Conservation and Development. According to its President Rafael Manzanero, the Chiquibul is under constant threat from illegal intruders searching for the fish tail Xate palm.
Rafael Manzanero, President Friends for Conservation and Development
?The xateros by themselves are bringing along other kinds of threats, for example, looting of archaeological monuments which as we know all of this area, from Caracol going all the way down to Guatemala, it?s a whole system and those monuments more than likely have been looted quite heavily. Also they do hunting, which once again we don?t know the extent that this really happens but that?s also another threat and thirdly, there is the threat of forest fires, we don?t really have a lot of forest fires here but if we look at the dry season, and people living and working in the forest, more than likely it can become a threat.?
To curb this disturbing situation, F.C.D. partnered with the Protected Areas Conservation Trust in a creative, not to mention adventurous, awareness campaign for the Chiquibul.
The event is called the PACT Challenge 2005. On Wednesday ten participants gathered at the Las Cuevas Field Station to begin a four day journey of intense exploration in the Chiquibul.
Lenney Gentle, Expedition Leader
?We have to work together, it?s going to be different people doing different things but basically it?s one objective at the end of the day and we?re going to try to deal with this thing one day at a time.?
Lenney Gentle is expedition leader. With technical assistance from the Belize Defence Force and logistical support from Las Cuevas, it will be his responsibility to safely guide the team through the forty mile route, carrying food and gear for thirty people. They will travel within an area some fifteen miles south of Caracol, and just eight miles from the Guatemalan border
Lenny Gentle
?We have a river phase, a river where we will be doing kayaking and canoeing on the Chiquibul River, upstream from the natural arch which is fifteen miles south of Caracol. The other phase involves caving which is we are going to be caving a cave called Actun Cabal, this is one of the four caves that make up the entire Chiquibul Cave system which is about thirty-five miles long. We are only going a fraction of that. And the last phase is the jungle hike back to Las Cuevas which is about five miles.?
According to Gentle, the one thing you don?t want to be without on this trip is water.
Lenny Gentle
?In this environment in the Chiquibul area, its karst, or it has limestone caverns and the water goes very fast into the ground so there is hardly any water running on the surface at this time in dry season. So it?s very important that each person is well hydrated, drinking at least a gallon of water a day to stay hydrated. We also have oral re-hydration salts that is provided by the Belize Defence Force.?
Participants range from environmentalists to archaeologists to architects and tropical biologists. Challenger Cecilia Neal says she packed nothing but the essentials.
Cecilia Neal, PACT Challenger 2005
?Aha, very important, my little water bottle with special filter so I don?t have to worry if they don?t give me any water.?
Janelle Chanona
?So you can drink river water with that??
Cecilia Neal
?Yeah.?
Janelle Chanona
?So what?s the one item that?s purely for motivation??
Cecilia Neal
?The challenge itself. (LAUGHS)?
Janelle Chanona
?Like a lipstick, anything like that??
Cecilia Neal
?No I have nothing like that. I got to have a toilet paper, that?s for sure. ?
Inside David Craig?s backpack, we find patriotism mixed with bush reality.
David Craig
?The Belize flag, got to make sure we left this back there to make the xateros know who run Chiquibul.?
While the participants are expected to enjoy the adventure, organizers hope that at the end, the team will be able to make suggestions on how to protect this area.
Rafael Manzanero
?We can talk about the xateros, we can talk about the other stakeholders around such as the tourism organisations so there are a lot but we need to bring everybody together. So to sum it up, yes, if they can come up with one kind of consensus. Yes, we need to protect it and if they can up with recommendations on how to do it. At Friends for Conservation and Development, we already have some recommendations but we actually want to pull up other people along with us.?
For tropical biologist Dr. Bob Thomas, the protection of the Chiquibul is crucial.
Dr. Bob Thomas, Tropical biologist
?The biggest recommendation is obviously conservation of forest, if we keep the habitat in place, the animals live. But one of the challenges here for Belize may be that it?s a continuum into Guatemala so you cross an international border and to really save the integrity of an incredible rain-forested area. You almost have to come to some international agreements to save the land on both sides but if that isn?t possible, Belize can do a tremendous thing by saving Belize?s side of the Chiquibul. It?s just a wonderful resource.?
As these men and women embark on this challenge, with them goes the hope that when they emerge from the bush, their voices will be heard for the increased protection of the Chiquibul.
Among the attractions within the various protected areas comprising the Chiquibul are the ancient Maya site of Caracol and Doyle’s Delight, which at one thousand, one hundred and forty metres above sea level, is Belize’s highest peak. The Doyle referred to is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of “The Lost World”. The unusual terrain of the mountain is said to resemble that described in the classic adventure novel.
