Sept 24th: To my pleasant surprise the book I ordered from Alibris arrived, barely been a week. " Time is short and the water rises" by John Walsh is about his gallant efforts at the Afobaka Dam in Surinam. A total of over 10,000 animals was rescued in Operation Gwamba over 18 months. This account is closer to our own situation because it happened in the rainforest of Surinam, unlike Operation Noah which took place in the savannah of Africa.
Finished the book the same night and gleaned a lot of helpful info from it. Very funny actually, like how they managed to subdue a giant armadillo with a ton of tranquiliser and ten men. They hired over 40 workers at one point and everyone was paid, down to the hunting dogs used to scare the animals out of the bush. Deers also proved to be troublesome as to be expected. The waters covered a flattish area that is roughly square in shape and over 600 square miles in size. The furthest distance it covered, out from the dam is less than 50 miles and its only about 140 ft deep at the deepest. Bakun will be something like 600 ft deep but " only " 700sq Km( 273 sq miles). However a much longer section of the river will be flooded as the river valley is steep and narrow( according to Google Earth topo data). We will have to travel in excess of 100km upstream. Since Bakun is only half the size, we can approximate the number of animals we can rescue at 5000??. Well its just a figure to start with. Hopefully most of the ground dwellers can flee up the steep sides of the valley out of harms way, leaving us to catch those trapped on islands and in trees. In desperation a porcupine can climb a tree.
One thing we must learn from this book is that resuce efforts at canopy level is tough. The boats will get stuck everywhere. All kinds of trapped hungry insects will be there to greet you. Fun. This is not the plains of Africa. And if the river has rapids we will have a tough time going upstream, until they are underwater. By then it may be too late for a lot of animals. Reading his account is quite sobering, I must take my hat off to the man. And we dont have to worry about Vampire bats, piranhas, all kinds of insects.
Some to the animals rescued:
3-fingered sloth 2104
armadillo 1051
monkeys 528
2-fingered sloth 840
Tortoise 973
Tree Porcupine 927
Porcupine 518
Deer 671
Tamandua Anteater 261
Pygmy " 161
Tapir 36
Jaguar 3
and Agoutis, peccarys,opposum, paca, capybara, etc, etc,.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Things are starting to move
Today I finally sent off my appeal letter to Rebecca and Nazeri of MNS Kuching and Miri resp. Will try to attach a copy here I can figure it out. Couple of days ago found books on Operation Noah and Operation Gwamba( Suriname) from alibris books. Best thing is that they are willing to send to Malaysia, unlike many others who think we are all crooks here. Cant wait for the books to arrive, can learn a lot. If not at least a source of inspiration.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Sept 08
Reacently it was published that the contract for the dam had been extended to June 2010 for completion. Is this a good sign? I am a bit behind, have to send my email with supporting materials to Nazeri and Rebecca. Dont quite have the layout of the email yet but I know it has to include at least the following:
1. Precedents; Kariba, Balbina(?), Guri, Suriname,
2. How we intend to do it, manpower, financing, equipment,
3. What we intend to rescue
4. What we need
5. Attachments.
have to put pencil to paper and draft out the letter.
1. Precedents; Kariba, Balbina(?), Guri, Suriname,
2. How we intend to do it, manpower, financing, equipment,
3. What we intend to rescue
4. What we need
5. Attachments.
have to put pencil to paper and draft out the letter.
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