Dry forests (Part 6):Up the valley of the Salas River

Driving up the Valley of the Salas River, towards Lanchaco, the landscape changes drammatically. The higher we get, the greener the forest. We drive till the boundary with the cloud forest. Tilansias and Bromelias and occasional orchids are abundant. The tree with The flying tilansia beards and the red seeds is, I guess, a "hualtaco" tree (Loxopterigium huasango). Some one told us, that it's seed are the favorit food of the rare "pava aliblanca" (Penelope albipennis).

Dry forests (part 5): La Peña

La Peña is a big basin, a savannah like region, part of the Salas province, in the back country of Chiclayo. It is certainly a most fragile ecosystem. It's vegetation is here in it's majoriy, like in so many other regions of northwestern Peru, a remnant of the 1998 Phenomenon of El Niño, except for the capparis angulata, called "sapote", a tree which grows very slow, one could say, with almost no water, and is very appreciated for its wood to make handicrafts. Very common are also cactae, which form unique symbiosis with prosopis and capparis species, here especially the raimondi gigantae. Then those spiny trees with striking green stems, the Cercidium praecox, also Cordea Luthea (yes, it's "my" tree), with it's yellow flowers, beautifully contrasting with the aridity of the landscape, as well as Bursera graveolens, known as "Palo Santo", which spreads an incredible smell, like myrrh. For moments I couldn't help but feeling lost somewhere in the plains of Africa.

Now, should the agro-industrial project "Olmos", widly and wildly promised in the region, become a reality, La Peña, and with it, thousands of hectares of dry forest will be smashed and flattend by whole fleets of bulldozzers to give way to huge esparragus fields or artishock fields or paprika fields or whatever product is up in the market -whatever it may be, this mega project which shall cover 3 departements obeys to the patterns of distorted mentality of unsustainability. The responsibles calculate that the construction (mainly the building of a tunnel through the Andes to bring water from the Rivers Huancabamba, Tabaconas und Manchara to the coast) will take at least 10 years. The works have started 3 months ago. Once finished, there should be enough water, so they say, to irrigate 40'000 hectares, produce energy for 600 megawatts and create 80'000 jobs. Why is it, that these kind of mega-projects are so suspiscious? But then, in ten years a lot can happen...

Dry forests (Part 4): Salas

On H. E.'s property, on the other side of the riverbed, remains (thanks to his protection) a unique fragment of primary forest, which consists mainly of (if I'm right) Pithecellobium excelsum, Muntingia calabura, Loxopterigium huasango, Cordea luthea, Acacia macracantha and, of course, the king of peruvian dry forests - the "algarrobo" (prosopis pallida). Altough we haven't seen any (all forest animals are shy), there must be still ant-eaters living here. There sure are a lot of ants, and lots of birds, iguanas, squirrels, termites, wild honey bees, etc. And then and when the puma appears. We saw bones and furs of goats or sheep.

House and Garden of H. E.

Near Salas (Lambayeque), in the middle of the dry forest, lives a german architect who has dedicated 7 years to raise sheep, but then, due to a prolonged drought, saw himself forced to sell them. He also runs a small but exclusive hostel. It's an ideal place to stay for bird watchers and the like. On these pictures one might not see, how urgent the water ptoblem is. His place is near the riverbed, where humidity has been retained over the years of drought and he and his partner do what they can with water drawn from a well, to not let the place dry out completly.

Dry forests (Part 3): Carrizalillo

"Algarrobo Milenario"









This forest is located in the northeast of Tambo Grande, Piura, near the ecuatorian border. It shows a high variety of arborean species. Here it hasn't rained for four years. My friend, the botanist was shocked when we arrived at the "Algarrobo Milenario". Last time he was here -more than ten years ago, in company with several auhorities, amongst them the maire of Tambo Grande, the tree was surrounded by the thick, original forest. Now the site has been cleared, paths have been laid and a plaque installed, with the name of the maire. The thought, that he might have inspired the maire with his distinguished presence from abroad to turn the unique tree in a tourist-attraction, depressed him. Well, it's Peru -"Es el Perú...", like we say here, shrugging shoulders. Far worse are the many wood-extracting companies that are operating in this zone, despite that the INRENA (National Institute for Natural Resources) has declared these activities in dry forests illegal.

Dry forests (Part 2): Cañoncillo

The "Cañoncillo" forest consists predominantly of prosopis pallida and is unique for its lagoons which provide enough humidity. "Cañoncillo" means Little Canyon. On this picture of Google Earth, one can see why:



It is considered a protected area, managed by the people of local communities, who use it exclusively for wood supply and forrage for their goat, sheep and cow herds. In fact, there is not much vigilance and we could hear the dry chopping sounds of axes ecoing through the woods. The signs of over-grazing are here, like almost all over the dry forests, far too evident, and it is said that the lagoons are drying because of the growing rice plantations around the forest. Still, how not to be owerwhelmed by this beauty!

Dry forests of northwestern Peru (Part 1)

Although it is well known that the dry forests of norwhestern Peru are being constantly depredatet by charcoal burners and overgrazing of goats, sheeps and cows and and threatened by big mining- (see here and here) and agro-industrial projects, they are still impressivly extense, especialy if one has seen the situation in the south of the country (see my post from Ica). They are also known to be based on very fragile ecosystems. But then they seem to be incredibly resistent and skilled for survival. They await the rain, reduced to their minimal expression, barren and naked, suffocated by the heat and dust during the dry season, which is most of the year. In the rainy season, from december through april, it might rain occasionaly. Enough for the forest to come out of it’s lean season. But the highlight is the El Niño phenomenon, with heavy rainfall, floods and run-off streams, known as "huaicos". New forests might rise seemingly out of nothing, in deserted areas, and the existent ones turn into real jungles. For several years the forests and the people and animals that live in them and from them thrive in abundance and sumptuousness.
In the following posts I want to show the pictures I took with my little Pentax Optio of different types of these forests, depending of their geographical conditions.
Further I want to make clear that I'm not a "ingeniera forestal", nor a botanist, nor even an environmetalist. I am not a "professiona" of any kind. I just love photography and happen to go along with a botanist, environmental scientist and manager of a conservation and reforestation project, and, of course, I love trees and plants (and don't understand cruelty against them). Therefore, my use of latin names is clumsy and I appologize for errors.