The Wetlands

A quarter of a century ago most of the lowland pasture area around the Lodge was covered with Tabebuia cassinoides, interlaced with large tree ferns, all of which live in swampy conditions. Epiphytic plants including philodendrons, orchids and bromeliads were very common, but these wetlands were drained, the trees cut for their wood and then yams were planted for five years continuously which used up the great stores of organic material. When the land had dried, all the tree stumps were burnt and tractors were brought in to farm the land and eventually turn it into cattle pasture.


The Sao Jose Farm in 2002 before restoration work had begun and after the land had been turned to pasture. The Sao Jose Villa on the hill is now our Guapi Assu Bird Lodge.	The same scene in 2008, just three years after the wetlands were restored. You can just see the Lodge in the background.

It has long been an ambition of our Project Manager, Nicholas Locke, to restore this barren pasture to its original state and the purchase in 2003 of the Sao Jose Farm made this dream possible. In 2004 a rather poorly planned attempt was made to flood a large area by building a dam parallel with the road, but this proved short-lived as the winter rains were too great for the spillway and the dam was breached. However the lessons were learned and in 2005 a larger area in front of the Lodge was flooded after extensive clay retention walls and a concrete spillway were constructed. The resulting 12 hectare wetland has matured quickly and is now home to caiman, capybara and a wide variety of wetland bird species as well as fish and amphibians.


Heavy machinery was required to build and landscape the wetlands.	The construction of the concrete spillway - designed to stop the dam walls breaching after heavy rainfall.


The wetland in May 2005 showing the clay retention walls.	The same scene in July 2005 after flooding.

Fortunately a few remnant patches of tabebuia forest survived along the river and ditch edges outside the reserve, and these have been used to source cuttings which were planted in holes filled with compost around the edges of the newly flooded wetlands. The survival rate of these cuttings has been rather disappointing, perhaps because they were planted in water that was too deep, but some have survived and others have been replaced. It will be many years before some of the orchids and bromeliads can be reintroduced but a start has been made to restore this extremely rare and special habitat.