Hello ,
In this newsletter: Apart from Covid 19 in Peru update, I am also posting more about our upcoming conservation and ecotourism project on Satipo road and a few personal reflections.
The situation in Peru!
Remember my last newsletter. I claimed it would be good to come to Peru and bird in relative isolation while the rest of the world was going nuts.
I was wrong! I am the first to admit. It was not a good time to travel, because there were too many incertainties then, and of course the reality now is that it is impossible to travel at all. Peru has locked down completely. As well as many other countries.
Today March 24 is Day 9 of 15 days of lockdown. Since the last email on March 13, the number of infected has increased to 416 infected compared to just 28 people then. Almost a twenty-fold in little over a week. 7 people have died.
I find it somewhat comforting that the Peruvian people are taking the threat very seriously and are complying to the state of emergency and the social distancing. President Vizcarra has an approval rate of 85%.
We are only allowed to go out to buy groceries, medicine, go to the bank etc. Additionally there are restrictions on opening hours. Needless to say. All restaurants, cinemas, shopping malls, and any small shop that is not vital are all closed.
I will not speculate what will happen when the state of emergency is supposed to lift on March 30, but I imagine we will still have a lot travel restrictions enforced.
My concern for the whole eco tourism industry, not only our own situation, remains. It is not only the industry, but if this continues for several months, local people in many areas will start to exploit the natural resources out of necessity. That will compromise many conservation projects that depend on ecotourism.
I urge you to plan for that birding trip, as soon as the situation allows, to support local companies around the world. Last year I put together a web-directory of such bird tour operators. The operators are previous antendees at the British Birdfair, but who could not take part in 2019, due to enforcement of protectionist EU rules. Check out
Virtual BirdFair.
If possible, we shall try to make a listing of confirmed trips from different operators around the world for the remainder of 2020 within the coming weeks.
Stay tuned!
How a small tour company in Peru shall survive Covid-19.
It will still be some time after the state of emergency is lifted, that our staff will have any tours to attend to. How many more months will everyone be without work? One month, two months, three months or more? We shall need other strategies to survive this.
I tried to think of something we can do instead, while riding out the storm. We need people to book tours for later in the year to keep us going, but people are relutctant to do so in this time of incertainty. It is understandable.
To make it easier I am changing our booking policies for new bookings in response to the situation so you to take a decission and book a tour with us.
- Deposit is 25% rather than 30%.
- The full value of the deposit can be used for another Kolibri Expeditions/7 Wonders Birding trip within 3 years should there still be travel restrictions when your trip is due, or if you need to cancel for any reason.
- Full payment one month prior to departure, rather than two months.
We can not do any refunds, but we do recognize the full value of your deposit for any future trip. Our cashflow the coming months will not be good. We always recommend that you have a good travel insurance in place should you be able to travel for any reason.
Satipo road Birding Lodge project.
Another way to keep us busy is to start one of many projects I have long had in the back of the mind. This is a great time to continue the eco-tourism project with the community on Satipo road. Once travel restrictions within Peru are lifted, our guide Juan Julca will stay with the community, build feeders, and improve the community hostel. (He worked as a carpenter before becoming a bird guide). We shall make many support trips to the area and people from abroad can volunteer to help
out with the feeders, construction and give Juan opportunities to improve his English.
Check out
this blogpost about the Satipo road project. It is a very solid project that will benefit the community and create an amazing resource for birders. It is also a good carbon capture project as it prevents deforestation and allows already cleared areas recover with secondary growth.
We need support to get this off the ground. Many small contributions can finance Juan's presence in the area and buy the necessary material for improvements.
Since, I can't open a GoFundMe page in Peru, I am looking for individuals who volunteer to open GoFundMe pages in different countries, languages and currencies. I will promote all GoFundMe pages for the Satipo road through this newsletter and my Social Media Channels, and so can everyone else as well. We shall build a network. It will be a very cool way to interact with many supporters.
The birding on Satipo road is second to none, so it is about time it gets a proper lodge and resources for bird photography, and so much better to do this with the community.
There is also another way to contribute, which is not a cry for a handout. Rather than donating money, one can simply put down a deposit for a tour to Satipo road within the next 3 years - the exact date we can decide later. This will keep us afloat, allow us to invest in the improvements and at the same time reasure a stream of nature lovers visiting Satipo road the years to come. Deposit $100-$500. The
blog post tells you how.
Things I am doing in quarantine
I am certainly not getting bored. I am catching up on getting the itineraries up for
7 Wonders Birding (Uganda, Rio/Iguazu Cambodia and part of Australia), and I have read a couple of books and watched some series on Netflix. I will do a follow-up blogpost on
GunnarEngblom.com with what I am watching and reading and will let you know when it is published in my next newsletter update.
Two weeks before the Peru lockdown I had got started with my marathon training again, and was doing very well with 85km the first week and 66km the second week, but I was progressing a bit too fast, and after the lockdown last Sunday, I have only managed a 1.5 km run to the market to shop vegetable and fruit.
Lima Marathon on May 17 has been cancelled and I am instead focusing on Berlin Marathon on Sep 27. Hopefully, the world is back by then..and I can resume training.
Frankly, I was a bit scare also to overtrain and get my defences down, so the weeklong rest has made more prepared if I would have the bad luck to get infected with the virus. I am 59, turning 60 in July and in good shape for my age.
I shall start a strength training routine today. So at least to keep me fit when I am able to resume training. I will mention this also in the blogpost on my personal blog.
How is Covid 19 affecting you? What are you doing to fight boredom in confinement? What are you watching and reading? How do you keep sane? Hit me back with an email.
Saludos
Gunnar
