Lost worlds: adventures in the tropical rainforest

273 Pages·2008·1.71 MB·English

by  Bruce McP. Beehler

Lost Worlds
Lost Worlds
Bruce M. Beehler
Illustrations
by
John Anderton
Yale University Press New Haven & London
Adventures in the
Tropical Rainforest
Disclaimer: Some images in the printed version of this
book are not available for inclusion in the eBook.
Published with assistance from the foundation established in memory of
Philip Hamilton McMillan of the Class of 1894, Yale College.
Copyright © 2008 by Yale University.
Illustrations on title pages and chapter opening pages
copyright © 2008 by John Anderton.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations,
in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108
of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press),
without written permission from the publishers.
Designed by Sonia Shannon.
Set in Monotype Bulmer by Duke & Company, Devon, Pennsylvania.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Beehler, Bruce McP.
Lost worlds : adventures in the tropical rainforest / Bruce M. Beehler.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-300-12228-2 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Birds—Tropics.
2. Beehler, Bruce McP.—Travel. 3. Ornithologists—United States—Biography.
4. Naturalists—United States—Biography. I. Title.
QL695.5B44 2008
508.315′20913—dc22 2007044560
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council on Library Resources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Carol, Grace, Andrew, and Cary
who keep the home fi res burning
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Preface ix
Introduction 1
one
In the Rainforest 4
Two
In the Zone and on the Plantation 30
Three
On the Trail of Ripley and Ali 54
Four
Wallace’s Promised Land 84
Five
Biodiversity and Intrigue across the Inner Line 105
Six
Forest Gardens 128
Seven
Local People Really Do Count 155
Eight
Pitiful Scraps of Forest 181
Nine
Lemurs, Vangas, Chameleons, and Poverty 199
Ten
The Lost World 221
viii Contents
Epilogue 249
Bibliography 253
Index 255
Preface
August 28, 2000. Yongsu Camp, Papua, Indonesia. Here I was in western
New Guinea. A light rain pattered on the roof of my green mountain tent. It
was dark. Supper was best forgotten. I was snug in my tent, reading a tattered
paperback copy of Isak Dinesen’s Out of Africa, the pages illuminated by
the narrow beam of my tiny fl ashlight. (Two AA cells are really not suitable
to power a light for reading, but I could make do.)
I was content, for a number of reasons. I was happy because I was
dry. (It’s hard to stay dry in a rainforest.) I was pleased because I was at ease
and comfortable. (Getting around in a rainforest often means straining and
sweating a lot.) I was satisfi ed because it was night, and I could listen to the
waves charging up the white coral beach. The end of a fulfi lling day in the
rainforest need be nothing more than this. The sound of the waves mixed
with the sound of jungle katydids (CHH CHH CHH . . . CHH CHH CHH
. . . CHH CHH CHH . . . ). Even the sound of light rain was pleasant in this
state of restful bliss. After I read a few more pages, sleep gathered me up,
leading me to dreams of another day in the jungle.
Camping where the forest meets the beach at Yongsu had special sig-
nifi cance for me, because at the time I was a deskbound environment offi cer
working for the U.S. Department of State. Somehow I had sold my Foreign
Service boss on letting me make a trip back to New Guinea, where I had
started my rainforest studies a quarter-century earlier. Here on Yongsu beach
I was far from my Washington offi ce and its fast-accumulating emails and
interagency meetings. Here at Yongsu I was playing hooky in the forest with
a team of scientists from Conservation International, a Washington-based
organization focused on rainforest conservation. Nothing could be more
revitalizing. Thoreau was not wrong when he wrote, “In wildness is the
preservation of the world.” It is also salvation for the soul wearied by offi cial
briefi ng papers and multilateral negotiations.
I was gratifi ed to be once again in the tropical jungle. It wasn’t because
of the food, certainly. The cook at our Yongsu camp seemed to have a fi xation
ix