Ticks, ticks and more ticks
Trip Start
Feb 06, 2007
1
191
332
Trip End
Jan 14, 2008
Buena Vista,
Bolivia
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
We reckon we have till Tuesday till the arrival of the laptop Pete has bought from an Adelaide company and to be sent to Santa Cruz by DHL (express, $400 postage). So taking a punt on it being OK we have booked 2 days in Buena Vista at Hotel Flora and Fauna on its 'bird-rich ridge' (quote from the guidebook). You get to Buena Vista by shared taxi, with us squashed on the narrow front seat. 5 to a taxi is illegal, but they all do it. From BV it is a 6km ride to the hotel. We were greeted at the hotel by the owner, entomologist and bird expert Robin Clarke, an ex-Pom. We had a good BBQ lunch, loafed during the heat of the day, then it went downhill from there.
Robin and his wife Sonja took us to look for the band-tailed mannakin, a beautiful elusive little bird. It was conspicuous by its absence, as was almost everything else, except for more ticks.
Next morning we got up early and went out with a local guide to look for forest birds (which cost us another $10 US). And saw nothing unusual. The birds have fled. The weather is wrong, the forest dry. And with dry scrub come millions of voracious ticks. They ignore trousers tucked into socks, and repellent. By mid-morning we had had enough, Barb itching all over from bites. We said we'd only stay one night, not 2. 'I am running a business. You said 2, you pay for 2 whether you go now or tomorrow', Robin said (at $100 US a night, including food and beer). Given that we are 6km from town on a road with very little traffic we were kind-of stuck with not much choice. So we spent a miserable afternoon pulling off ticks, turning round, then pulling off the 10 we missed in the last hunt. They must be able to make themselves invisible. Robin has lots of bird books, but not 'Birds of Bolivia', if it exists. We also saw a sample of his beetle collection through the microscope. He is the only entomologist working in Bolivia on longhorn beetles, he said.
Our advice is that if you merely like watching birds and are not trying to see every rare bird, give this place a wide miss. For us it was way overpriced and disappointing. (The accommodation in cabins was OK though the 2 single beds pushed together parted company during the night, and the shower was not piping hot. Breakfast was just bread and jam and coffee, no fruit or eggs). Robin was entirely unsympathetic to Barb's problem with the ticks. 'Should have brought gumboots', he said. We think he should have supplied gumboots, he charges enough.
If you are a serious ornithologist and want to see rarities, make sure you ask what time of year to go, or they will be somewhere else. And if you have a bad reaction to insect bites, don't go when there is dry grass or you will spend hours picking off the ticks, which can get into some very personal places.
