By ADRIAN FORONDA AND LAURA GIRALDO.. Consonant*
In the Guaduas village of El Carmen de Atrato, 213 species of amphibians and eight of reptiles have been found, some unknown to science a few years ago. Based on the photographs of guide Josué Restrepo, the community has begun a conservation process that they hope to replicate.
Josué Restrepo sees what others do not see. He tells that he learned to observe looking for frogs, snakes and snakes in the Guaduas village of El Carmen de Atrato. “To find the frogs, one already knows more or less the point where they are. For example, between 9 and 12 noon they find it easy because they go out to sunbathe. The one that is a little more difficult is the ‘golden dart’ because it stays in the leaf litter. But since she is very territorial, one records her vocalization, she goes out to see who arrived in the territory and that way one catches her easily”, says Josué.
“Listen… that’s the transparent frog,” says Josué, interrupting the conversation in the middle of the road to his house, located in the foothills of the Farallones del Citará, a six-hour walk from the La Sánchez sector. “It sounds like a little bell,” he says, adding that to become a reptile, amphibian and bird watcher it is essential to be patient.
Frog Pristimantis sp. Josué says that this frog usually lives near torrents of water and in the branches. Photography: Josué Restrepo
Josué is one of the three local Guaduas guides recognized in the municipality and the first to turn his social networks into a window, so that other inhabitants of El Carmen de Atrato and Colombia learn about the biodiversity of plants and animals that his village has. Species of orchids, bromeliads, amphibians, and snakes have been found in Guaduas that, according to the Natural Alliance Foundation, cannot be found in other parts of the country and some are even “unknown to science.”
The sighting is part of Josué’s daily life. In the daily journeys that he undertakes from his house to the Guaduas village, he can find up to three different snakes, ten different birds, or at least one frog. This would not be possible without the abundance of water along the way. He has to cross the La Cristalina stream, through a wooden bridge and a metallic one; the Grande river, the Pedral river and the Grande river, again, at a point where the Guaduas and Piedras rivers, the La Albería ravine and other ravines converge. That is why he always carries his cell phone in his pocket, “ready for action”, as he says. In his Instagram account he already has 100 photographs and videos of land snakes, snails and “juetiadoras”, mapaná and “rabo de chucha” snakes, iguanas, chameleons, frogs and toads.
Wooden bridge over the Rio Grande. Photography: Adrian Foronda
Josué’s passion for spotting amphibians and reptiles began in 2021 after he participated in a biological characterization of the path carried out by the Natural Alliance Foundation, with the support of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECID), the Adelco Network and the Agroecotur Guaduas association. Josué and eleven other inhabitants of the village became local guides for scientists and researchers who are experts in birds, mammals, amphibians, orchids, and reptiles, who traveled through Guaduas for 15 days to search, identify, and record various species of fauna and flora, analyze water resources, and install camera traps and mist nets to monitor and observe mammals.
Through his work as a local guide, Josué got to know the trail, learned to identify the animals and how to relate to them. Since then he has mixed his work as a watcher with his work as a farmer in the cultivation of fish, cocoa, cane, grass for cattle feed and aromatic plants. This has allowed him to awaken a greater sensitivity to listen, see and register the animals.
Josué returned to the village three years ago to support his parents. He has an organic cocoa business from its planting to distribution as table chocolate. Photography: Adrian Foronda
“One learns the difference between a snake and a snake. It is easy to confuse snakes with snakes, but they are even faster and more cunning. Snakes bite but they are not poisonous, but if a snake bites you it is very possible that you will die”, warns Josué. “Knowing this not only can save the life of a species, but also that of a person. Most of the peasants when we see this species, we take out the machete and cut off its head, out of fear, out of ignorance. If we learned to know them, another would be the story ”, he adds.
Mastigodryas danieli in juvenile state. It has daytime habits and aggressive behavior when it sees humans, but it is harmless to human health, says Josué. Photography: Josué Restrepo
The sighting work that Josué has been carrying out has inspired other inhabitants of the village and the municipality to carry out sightings. Flor Alba Dávila, who was also a local guide like Josué, has focused on orchids. She walks the path looking for species, plants them in her house and collects them. Flor Alba recounts that she even recently found a variety that she had not previously identified: “it was a broad-leaved orchid.”
Having greater visibility of the wealth of fauna and flora that Guaduas has has also generated that the inhabitants of this village work for the conservation of the species and the territory. In consensus between the community, which is represented by Agroecotur Guaduas and the Community Action Board, they have agreed not to allow the entry of energy mining companies or the use of machinery to extract minerals, prohibit fishing with cast nets, poisons or seine nets, and hunting of any species. Also, you can not extract wood for sale. Some people have even chosen to allocate large areas of their farms to conserve them and allow the fauna and flora to develop.
Ángel José Rentería, president of the Guaduas Community Action Board, explains that identifying the biodiversity of the territory is important because: “many species are recognized that one is unaware of and there one can acquire knowledge of what is in our region in order to take care of it. Man has depredated and invaded, making so many species extinct, but some of these are still in our municipality and that is why our position is that we must conserve and care, rather than knock down and destroy”.
“Many species that one does not know are recognized and there one can acquire knowledge of what is in our region to be able to take care of it” Ángel José Rentería, president of the Guaduas Community Action Board,
A similar opinion is held by Floralba. “We need to know the natural wealth that we have. Our ancestors knew about it and valued it more, but we do not know it and that is why its destruction does not hurt us so much, because we do not know what we have, we do not value it, ”she affirms.
Guaduas, a path with species to discover
Guaduas is the only one of the 31 villages that El Carmen de Atrato has where a specific characterization of its biodiversity has been made. In 2021, it was chosen by the Natural Alliance Foundation, the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECID) and the Adelco Network because its location in the foothills of the Farallones del Citará mountains and the humidity that occurs there allows it to house various species. “It has several ecosystems, each with groups of fauna and flora that are different from each other, which has allowed its species richness to be one of the highest in both the municipality and the department,” says the report presented by Alianza Natural.
View of the Citará Farallones on the way to Josué Restrepo’s house. Photography: Adrian Foronda
In Guaduas, the researchers identified 213 amphibians and eight reptile species. There were three species that did not match previous records of any other known in the region: poison dart frogs (Phyllobates sp), “dink” (Diasporus sp). and crystal (Hyalinobatrachium sp). “These may be species potentially new to science or at least new distribution records,” the report says. Likewise, the frog C. xanthocheridia was found for the first time in the department, which had previously only been seen in the departments of Antioquia, Córdoba and Risaralda.
“They can be species that are potentially new to science or at least new distribution records” Report Fundación Alianza Natural
In addition, they found 92 species of orchids. During the tour, two new species for science that are part of the Lepanthes family were identified. According to the researchers, they recorded two endemic orchid species and one bromeliad species and found for the first time in Colombia the Elleanthus orchid species, which had previously only been identified in Ecuador. Although they managed to register the species, the biologists considered that there would possibly be other new organisms, since there were no details for the classification of some.
Frog from the poison dart frog family. Photography: Josué Restrepo
Otters, foxes, corn monkeys, red deer, taira, kinkajou, bats, armadillo, chucha, wild rabbit, and wild dog were observed. Some of these animals are in danger of extinction or with some kind of threat to their subsistence.
Nature tourism to do pedagogy
Josué, Floralba and the rest of the community have found that conservation is linked to the possibility of conscious tourism. Josué says that since he began to publish his photographs and videos, he has been contacted by “professionals and tourists who want to come and look at the species.” That is why he dreams of doing: “tourism for bird watchers, tourism for people who, beyond a simple walk, seek to learn and at the same time get to know a territory where conservation and respect for life in all its expression prevail.”
“Tourism for people who, beyond a simple walk, seek to learn and at the same time get to know a territory where conservation and respect for life in all its expression prevail” Josué Restrepo
Josué, along with other people from the municipality who have started sightings, have as a project to make an inventory path by path of the flora and fauna species in El Carmen de Atrato, to raise awareness of biodiversity. “Very little is known here. We have some of our own records of birds and reptiles, but there is a long way to go”, says Kenyi Paolo Pérez, a young bird watcher. Pérez believes that this could be an opportunity to show that you can get to know the Chocó. “The department and the country are still highly stigmatized by the conflict, which mainly influences international tourism,” he adds.
In this regard, Olivia Usuga Montoya, partner of the association Agroecotur Guaduas that works to position the sidewalk as an ecotourism destination, says that “it is very important that all the villages of the municipality appreciate the natural wealth of their territory and contribute to its conservation.” For her part, Flor Alba Dávila believes that in order for these projects to materialize, the support of the State is necessary. “There is an absence of the State to generate a culture of care, where they give that peasant a livelihood so as not to cut down a tree and be able to eat. If that were the case, in Colombia the flora and fauna would be even bigger”.
The projection for Josué in the future is to take his knowledge to other peasants in the municipality. His mission will begin on April 29 at the Peasant School of El Carmen de Atrato, which will take place in all the villages throughout the year and will bring together people of all ages. There Josué will teach the differences between snakes and snakes, how to do sighting and other recommendations to take care of the environment. “You learn from what you like. My purpose is to publicize all the variety of reptile and amphibian species that we have on the sidewalk and in the municipality. I will continue here”, emphasizes Josué.
*Consonante is a communication medium that produces information on municipalities considered information deserts in Colombia by the hand of a network of citizens trained in local journalism. Consonante is a project of the Foundation for the Freedom of the Press. Visit our website at www.consonante.org