Countryside Management Association News

Well, the IRF Congress has continued with lots of interesting talks and workshops. Unusually for a conference, they’ve organised it so we get into discussion groups after a panel of speakers to identify issues the IRF can focus on and further questions, which is a nice idea.

There was a really interesting video from Rangers in Australia, focussing on the damage caused by the last massive bush fires there. It was made in memory of the Rangers, and other people, who died and was both moving and fascinating. Equally interesting was a talk on Volcano National Park in Hawaii, which showed how the lava damaged the site, then how vegetation managed to grow again. There are loads of sessions I could mention, but will leave it at just those two.

Thursday 5th Nov. saw us all going on field visits, generally with a 6.30 a.m. start (not a normal time to be awake as far as I’m concerned). The buses were slightly longer than our 17 seater minibuses, but held about 28 people, if you’d care to imagine that in 30 degrees of heat and high humidity..........phew!!!

Our transport for the last section of the route was in a 4x4 because of the rough terrain. As they didn’t have enough vehicles, we generally squeezed in where we could, with 8 of us in the back of a pick-up and 2 on the roof rack of a Land Cruiser. We forded several rivers and were told that once the rainy season started the people living on the far side of it would be cut off until the water receded again.

Organisation of the event happened in the loosest sense of the word, but as far as I know everyone got there and back again. My visit was advertised as being horse riding, but ended up being a walk in a rainforest for 3 ½ hours. It was a fantastic environment to visit, but very challenging with the heat and humidity. The noise was unbelievable from the insects and birds, but with some beautiful flowers around. We visited a lovely waterfall, and then walked to the top of it to get a great view down the valley. The walk continued up, including an almost vertical wooden ladder attached to the rock with rusting wire (didn’t realise that until I climbed past it. Mind you, it held for bigger people than me). We eventually made it down for lunch at 3.30 p.m. which was badly needed. There were plenty of offers of cocao leaves to chew along the way however.

We reached the hotel again at 9 p.m., having had to reverse the journey in 4x4s and buses, and sank gratefully into the swimming pool, followed by a very late dinner. And if you ever want to try the Atkins diet, South America is certainly a good place to do it (if you fancy 26oz steaks for lunch).

That’s it for now - but one last report to come.

Adios,

Janice.