“Project Tambopata 1” Tourism Development and the Status of Neotropical Lowland Wildlife in Tambopata, South-eastern Peru: Recommendations for Tourism and Conservation. Authors: Christopher A. Kirkby Tiffany M. Doan Huw Lloyd Arturo Cornejo Farfán Wilfredo Arizábal Arriaga Arturo Palomino Marín March 2000 TReeS-RAMOS Tambopata Reserve Society – Research and Monitoring Studies Contents I Glossary of Abbreviations 3 II Acknowledgements 4 1.0 General Introduction 5 2.0 Study Area 7 3.0 Mammals Introduction 14 Methods 15 Analysis 19 Results 22 Discussion 41 Trail-use Carrying Capacity 58 Conclusions 61 4.0 Herpetofauna Introduction 63 Methods 64 Analysis 66 Results 67 Discussion 73 Conclusions 76 5.0 Birds Introduction 77 Methods 82 Results 85 Species Accounts 106 Conclusions 118 6.0 Tourist Questionnaire 122 7.0 Recommendations 128 Appendix 1: Indicator Species for Forest Habitats 136 Appendix 2: Avifauna Species Lists 137 Appendix 3: Correspondence Details 147 References 148 2 I. Glossary of Abbreviations BSNP Bahuaja Sonene National Park CAPH Cusco Amazónico Pueblo Hotel DFA Discriminant Function Analysis ECO EcoAmazonía Lodge EI Explorers’ Inn EIA Environmental Impact Assessment INRENA National Institute of Natural Resources MITINCI Ministry of Tourism, Commerce and Industry MBR Manu Biosphere Reserve PCA Principle Component Analysis RAMOS Research & Monitoring Studies Unit SACHA Sachavacayoc Centre and Sachavaca Inn TCCI Trail-use Carrying Capacity Indicators TCRZ Tambopata Candamo Reserved Zone TPL Tambopata Jungle Lodge TRC Tambopata Research Center TReeS Tambopata Reserve Society TRZ Tambopata Reserve Zone VCP Variable Circular Plot VDLT Variable Distance Line Transect VES Visual Encounter Survey 3 II. Acknowledgements Financial support, in the form of research grants, was provided by the Grand Circle Foundation (USA), The Lindeth Charitable Trust (UK), The Albert Reckitt Trust (UK), The Anglo-Peruvian Society (UK) and the Tambopata Reserve Society (UK). Institutional endorsement for the initial research proposal was provided by the Royal Geographical Society (UK) and Conservation International (PERU). Permission to undertake fieldwork in the Tambopata Candamo Reserved Zone was granted by the Director of the National Institute of Natural Resources (INRENA) - Permit numbers: 100-96 and 38-98. Further thanks are also extended to Jacqueline Ramírez, Director of the TCRZ/BSNP, for her guidance in preparing the initial brief for the proposal, and the INRENA park guards for their support and friendship. We thank the following people (and institutions) for the provision of facilities, logistical support and background information of the study sites: Joe Koechlin, Anibal Clavijo and Pepe Purisaca (Cusco Amazónico Pueblo Hotel); Max and Mirta Gunther (Explorers’ Inn); Juan Toledo (EcoAmazonía Lodge); Mr. Pendavis, Antonio Mesones, Piet van Ipenberg, Freddy and Chicuta (Newton College, Sachavacayoc Centre); Orlando James (Sachavaca Inn); Eduardo Nycander, Kurt Holle, Mario Napravnik, Pepe Moscoso, Pepe Rojas, Aldo Villanueva and Vanessa Frias (Tambopata Research Center); Tom Hendrickson and Uriel de la Vega (Tambopata Jungle Lodge). We are greatly indebted to our part-time field co-ordinators: Aleyda Curo Miranda, John Hazelmayer, Michael Langford (who also supplied us with excellent photographic images), Alexis Nuñez, José Ochoa Cámara, Juan Carlos Oyola Ponce and James Watling; as well as our numerous field assistants who were invaluable throughout the project: John Achicahuala, Silvia Arevalo Wu, Andrew Ashton, Margaret Bartee, Erika Bjorkland, Claire Boobyer, Carlos Ceballos, Shaun Coyle, Paul Chambers, Phillipa Chapman, Neil Cox, Jolene Csakany, Rosemerie Cuéllar, Kirsty Forbes, Sandra Felipa Luna, Cristina Farfán, William Farfán, Gabriela Garces, Emma Goldberg, Richard Griffiths, Anna Rose Hope, Kim Harding, Jane Horniblow, Sharrelle Hart, David Huaman, Vicky Huaman, Jeff Kidston, Bill Kemball, Tim Kent, Alex Latta, Rosalyn Leonard, Juan Jose Lopez, Maggie Lattin, Eduardo Mejia, Edwin Masias, Katia Molina, Rudolf von May, David Mansell-Moullin, Wilfredo Mendoza, Kate Newman, Mayuko Nakata, Edilberto Orosco, Frank Rheindt, Anna Rivas, Ivan Samuels, Kate Smith, Matt Sheaffer, Margarita Soto, Sergi Casals Garcia, Kercia Schroeder, Liz Tucker, Claire Tucker, Andrés Vera, Tim Vines, Matt Waldram, Stella Watts, Liz Webb (who also served as our field-doctor for a time), Whitney Webber, and Joanne Winston. We must also mention: our camp cooks Juan Carlos Ochoa (a.k.a. Peaches) and Zenon, for their memorable concoctions!; Barry Walker for lending mist-nets, as well as Armando Valdez and Matt Denton for their advise regarding rare birds; Alexander and Alexander Ltd. (Southampton - UK), for insurance services; Barclays Bank (Cornmarket, Oxford - UK), for banking services; the many tour guides whom we got to know, for their general enthusiasm and spirit; the Huinga family, for their hospitality on numerous occasions; Victor Velásquez Zea (Fauna - INRENA), for inviting us to share our knowledge with local teachers; our boat driver, Victor Begázo Sandoval, and his family, for putting up with us all; and finally to Lance and Belinda Peck (GoneWild Productions), the photographers who kindly provided the images for the front cover. 4 1.0 General Introduction Wildlife and exotic landscapes are important tourist attractions throughout the world, and particularly so in developing countries which still contain large tracts of relatively undisturbed wilderness. In 1990 developing countries attracted 50 million tourists who left revenues of 55 billion US dollars in the process (WTO 1991). Furthermore, there is a growing tendency towards visiting protected areas in these countries (Ceballos-Lascurain 1996). Tourism has the potential to provide much needed economic benefit to a region, however this industry can also pose a serious threat to the cultural and natural environment affecting the lives of local people (Conservation International 1999) and the very wildlife, habitats and protected areas that are the basis of the attraction (Pigram 1980, Boyle & Samson 1985, Boo 1990, Groom 1990, Wallace 1993, Staib & Schenck 1994, Hidinger 1996, Yoon 1997). The environmental consequences of badly planned tourism are many, and vary from erosion, water, air and soil pollution, introduction of alien species and diseases, disruption and destruction of feeding and breeding habitats, redistribution of wild populations, and so forth. Environmental problems such as these can lead to long-term impacts on local habitats and wildlife and can put the very future of local tourist industries at stake by reducing the attractiveness of a destination (Mieczkowski 1995, Mihalic 2000). Amazonian rainforests have seen a greater than average growth in tourist numbers over the last 15 years. There exists a significant degree of uncertainty regarding the magnitude of tourism related impacts on Amazonian wildlife, due in part to the relatively recent attraction of this environment and the scarcity of thorough long- term investigations. Rainforest tourism in the Peruvian Amazon, and particularly in the Department of Madre de Dios, is characterised to a great extent by large static lodge- based operations or tented camps with their associated clearings, infrastructure, trail networks, guides, motorised river boats, etc. Such operations are currently a growing phenomenon. There is little or no information related to the effects of lodges on rainforest wildlife and an urgent need exists 1) to investigate the local impacts of this type of operation on wildlife, 2) to identify adequate management practices in order to prevent or alleviate impacts when they are found, and 3) to divulge this information to lodge administrators, tourists, global operators, and local people as well as the government authorities responsible for tourism and natural resource management. Visitors to Madre de Dios are drawn, on the whole, to two protected areas, the Tambopata Candamo Reserved Zone (TCRZ, Figure 2.1) and the Manu Biosphere Reserve (MBR). In 1998 these areas attracted approximately 14,000 and 2,500 tourists, respectively. The average annual growth rate in tourists to Madre de Dios over the last 5 years has been approximately 22% with the vast majority of this growth occurring in the TCRZ (Figure 2.2). In this report we present the findings of “Project Tambopata”, a tourism impact study undertaken from January 1997 to November 1998 at five lodges associated with the TCRZ. These were: Cusco Amazónico Pueblo Hotel (CAPH), Explorers’ Inn (EI), EcoAmazonía Lodge (ECO), Sachavacayoc Centre (and Sachavaca Inn) (SACHA) and the Tambopata Research Center (TRC). We investigated four faunal groups: mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds. Many species within these groups are frequently considered important natural tourist attractions in their own right and so the information herein is of direct interest to lodge administrators and tour companies servicing the area. 5 The project was co-ordinated by the Research and Monitoring Studies Unit (RAMOS) of the Tambopata Reserve Society (TReeS). TReeS is an Non-governmental Organisation and UK Charity (No. 298054) that has been active in Tambopata since 1986 (see Appendix 3 for correspondence details). The classic experimental procedure for environmental impact assessments (EIA) involving wild populations requires the measurement and analysis of abundance before and after a supposed impact variable commences, both in the area of influence of the variable (treatment)