Ooga Booga! Jungle man here!
I've finished up my time at the ONCA Animal Rescue in the Amazon Rainforest. With what felt like never-ending things to do, these past 6 weeks flew by super quickly. Here's a quick breakdown of the sights and experiences I've had.
Arriving to ONCA
The only way in and out of the rescue is with a 20 minute boat ride up the Beni River from the nearest town of Rurrenabaque, Bolivia. Because of this, we were very reliant on river conditions to get things in and out of ONCA. Around the middle of my stay, we had a few days of non-stop downpour that nearly caused the river to flood the rescue, and boats weren't allowed to come. If this had lasted any longer, we would have run out of food for the volunteers! Oops!
Life in the Jungle
Day to day living in the Amazon is exhhaaaausting! With constant humidity and daily temperatures frequently in the 90s, the sweating never stops. The ever-present mosquitoes, flies, and ants add another layer of discomfort that make everything that much harder. I guess that's the experience, though! ONCA's amenities are very basic, but sufficient, and the people made passing the time a breeze.
The Jungle out to get me!!
The Work
My jobs were split between 3 areas. This first, and most interesting to me, was with the Spider Monkeys. The main daily tasks were to feed them, clean their cages, and walk with them around their various paths. Watching these 24 monkeys interact and getting to know their personalities was absolutely my favorite part of ONCA.
The second part of my work was in the Quarantine Room, an area dedicated for new arrivals, some babies, sick, and injured monkeys. Here, I got to interact muuuch more with the monkeys and got to work with Capuchin and Squirrel monkeys, along with more spider monkeys.
Baby squirrel monkey Acai
My favorite Capuchin monkey, Antonia
Unnamed baby Spider monkey
My final job, and the biggest reason I decided to come was Khali the Jaguar. Although, for obvious reasons, I was never in the cage with her, giving her meat and just watching her was incredible. (Khali photo credit to my coworker Linn, who has a very very nice camera)
And that about sums it up! Now I'm headed to Peru to hopefully do a lot of hiking and backpacking. Thanks for reading, and I'll update you again before you know it!
xoxo, Colin
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