Travel Log to a WHSRN site: My Journey to Colombia’s Paz de Ariporo and Trinidad Savannas

On March 13, after a little over six hours of flying from Santiago, Chile, I landed at 12:55pm local time in Bogota, a fine drizzle showering the Colombian city. My colleagues and friends, Asociación Calidris researchers Yanira Cifuentes and Carlos Ruiz, waited for me in the airport’s Arrivals area. It felt so good to give them huge hugs—it didn’t seem real to be with them again. The next morning, we were joined by more members of the Calidris team, Fernando Castillo (Executive Director), Jessica Suarez (Communications Coordinator), and Carlos Congolino (Volunteer), and altogether we took the final stretch of our travels, a 45-minute flight to the city of Yopal, the capital city of Casanare.

Finally, we made our way to Yopal, where we began our intense itinerary. First, with the local community we celebrated the WHSRN designation of the Paz de Ariporo and Trinidad Savannas as a Site of Regional Importance (for its significance as habitat to 1.25 percent of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper population). Although the WHSRN Hemispheric Council had already voted unanimously to approve the site’s designation on February 27, 2020, the pandemic had prevented us from performing the ritual celebrations and recognition with the local community.

We traveled next to the city of Paz de Ariporo. There, we met with with Casanare Governor Salomón Sanabria, Mayoress Eunice Escobar Bernal, and Mayoress of Pore, Cristina Guarnizo. Besides appreciating the commitment to conservation expressed by the authorities, I cannot forget to give thanks for the succulent casanareño breakfast that we were served: rib broth known as mute, roasted pork, corn tungos, and of course, colombian coffee. After breakfast, we met with a technical team from the Paz de Ariporo Municipality, identifying themes of common interest and advancing the collaborative work at the WHSRN site. A nice cold jar of Guarapo (a sugar cane drink) quenched our thirst and brought a productive and hot morning to a close.

Having completed all of the different activities planned for the cities of Yopal and Paz de Ariporo, we began our journey into the deep savanna, entering the region known as the Llanos or the Colombian Orinoco. After more than eight hours of driving difficult roads, and with thanks to Don Omar–our guide and expert driver through the twists and turns of the challenging savanna–we reached our new headquarter: the Buenaventura Natural Reserve. This property, owned by Víctor Ramón Salazar and Lucy Amparo Duarte, is one of the 12 private Natural Reserves (Reservas Naturales de la Sociedad Civil) that make up the Important Bird Area “Reservas de la vereda Altagracia” (Altagracia Village Reserves) that form part of the WHSRN site.

Kicking off our agenda in the Llanos on March 18, we dedicated an entire day to visiting some of the families and reserves that contribute to the 61,657 hectares of the WHSRN site, where shorebirds live side by side with traditional cattle ranches. We visited Palmeras, San Cristóbal, and San Andrés fincas. The official drink of the journey was lemonade with panela (unrefined sugar). This was the preamble to days in the field working in partnership with ranchers (llaneros) and cabresteros to conserve migratory shorebirds. According to llanero culture, the cabrestero was the man who would guide the cattle and sing to them after an exhausting day of herding.

During two consecutive days of intense work, we shared the feelings of the local community and their cultural expressions, we fed on their knowledge (as well as some delicious local delicacies), we built the foundations for a community habitat management scheme as a form of local governance, we organized and fortified ourselves, we dreamed, we committed to conservation, and we celebrated. At the same time, an Asociación Calidris team was working hard in the field under an intense sun, using censuses to increase our knowledge of the habitats used by Buff-breasted Sandpiper. A flock of at least 600 were recorded in El Boral.

On the journey home, crossing once again that seemingly endless savanna, we stopped to celebrate the 55th birthday of Don Carlos Hernández, a renowned local singer-songwriter and owner of the El Rubí farm which, together with the Chaviripa property, makes up the Chaviripa-El Rubí Important Bird Area (IBA), itself part of the WHSRN site. There we marveled at the pristine nature of the “La Cristalina” lagoon and delighted at the delicate flavor of the chuzo-roasted veal (steak roast). The exciting return journey continued with the explosion of one of the tires on our vehicle, requiring a road rescue, followed by a meeting with the Trinidad Municipal Council and a morning interview on one of the most-listened-to radio stations in Casanare, Violeta Stereo FM.

After 10 exhilarating days in Colombia, as I sit on the airplane back to Santiago, vibrant memories fill my mind: a face-to-face meeting with an anaconda at the Buenaventura Reserve, the unforgettable Piranha soup that I sipped at 5:30am for my last breakfast in the Llanos, and the poetic couplets that the people of the community so affectionately dedicated to me. I remember that, during its northbound annual migration, the reason the Buff-breasted Sandpiper is able to depend on healthy habitats in the Paz de Ariporo and Trinidad Savannas is not just a question of luck. It is the product of several generations of delicate equilibrium sustained by local families, ranching activities, flooding grasslands, and the breathtaking biodiversity of the region. The challenge that lies ahead of us is to protect and maintain this legacy of balance so that current and future generations of “llaneros” are secure, and the Buff-breasted Sandpiper can continue its life cycle along the American Midcontinent Flyway.