Rapid Ecological Assessment Sarstoon
Temash National Park, Toledo District, Belize
Scenes from the REA Surveys
Trainee Parataxonomist
Juakin Cucul, Valentin Makin, Alberto Salam in a large
Bullettree (Bucidabuceras) in the swampforest
south of Conejo village.
The lower reaches of the Conejo Creek
bordered with swamp forest (May 4, 2003). The creek
at this stage is brackish, but during the rainy season
the water is fresh. The creek ends in the Temash Lagoon
which in its turn drains into the Temash River.
The 2 mile long accessroad
from Conejo village to the boat landing at the Conejo
Creek still has impressive forest along it. The road
at this stage is already within the National Park boundaries
but slash-and-burn agriculture is still being practiced
here at a large scale.
An interesting snake found along the Conejo
farm road is Scaphionodontophis annulatus. This
small snake mimics a coralsnake but it quite harmless.
Between the Sarstoon and Temash Rivers
are extensive Swamp forests. Partly these swamp forests
are dominated by the palm Manicaria saccifera,
locally called "Comfra". This palm is not
found elsewhere in Belize and therefore constitutes
an unique element for the Sarstoon Temash National Park.
The palm can grow quite large, in the foreground for
scale is REA leader Jan
Meerman. But the palm can actually grow taller than
this.
Many areas within the park are only
accessible by boat. Here we are crossing the Bay of
Honduras between Barranco Village and the Temash River
in a large canoe (dorey) made out of a single Cotton
Tree (Ceiba pentandra). It was during this
trip that a whole new
ecosystem for Belize was dicovered. In the
picture are Parataxonomist trainees Egbert Valencio,
Tricia Mariano and Ornithologist Peter Herrera. In
the background a thunderstorm is brewing.
An important component of the REA are
vegetation transects. Here are Egbert Valencio and Tricia
Mariano setting out a 200 m long transect through a
swamp forest near the Temash River.