Agriculture specialist helps natives of Guyana
An Agricultural Specialist from Somerset who normally advises farmers in the South West of England has been putting his extensive knowledge of agriculture to good use as part of an expedition to South Guyana, where he helped a group of native people who are struggling to survive in the modern world.
Simon House from Newhaven Farm, South Barrow near Yeovil, works as a Seed Specialist with Nickerson Direct, a company which has been advising farmers throughout the UK for the last 60 years and supplies the seed used to produce a wide range of agricultural crops.
The Lincolnshire-based business allowed Simon to take up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity as the only agricultural specialist on an expedition organised by The Scientific Exploration Society (SES). Formed by Colonel John Blashford-Snell OBE, the UK-based charity initiates a worldwide programme of scientific expeditions.
"I love travelling and have a passion for wildlife, so last year when I read an article about the expedition to Guyana, the third-smallest independent state on the South American mainland, I applied to join it. When the organisers offered me a place I could not turn down the opportunity to visit one of the remotest parts of the world with the greatest biological diversity," explains Simon, who retained his enthusiasm for the region despite being bitten by an Anaconda during his four-weeks in the rain forest.
"My employers were very helpful in allowing me to participate in this invaluable project to help the Wai Wai, a native people who are known as the ’Children Of The Forest’ and inhabit an area of tropical rain forest just north of the Amazon, near the Brazilian border. They have nothing in terms of the modern conveniences we take for granted because their settlement is very isolated, being two weeks from the nearest shop and almost a month’s walk from the next Wai Wai village.
As the only person on the expedition with agricultural knowledge, my role was to advise them how to make the most efficient use of the land that they have available. The combination of light, thin soil and an annual rainfall of four metres make it very challenging to produce enough food and part of my task was to help them move away from their traditional, and destructive, ’slash and burn’ method of establishing crops to more sustainable methods."
Simon joined the team of 12 people at Georgetown, Guyana’s capital. The team spent three gruelling days on four-wheel-drive Bedford trucks, which are the only vehicles that can move in the difficult terrain. Most of the group then trekked across the jungle, but Simon and an Australian member of the team went 290 miles up the rivers in a dug-out canoe carrying some supplies and caught up with the rest of the team six days later. Although the Wai Wai have cleared a short airstrip close to the village it is rarely used because it is a very expensive way of bringing in essential supplies. The Wai Wai therefore asked SES to locate and survey a 40-mile trail from the nearest road-head to see if it is possible to make a track to allow tractors to bring in supplies, although this will be a difficult challenge across rivers as well as hilly, dense jungle.
Simon’s other task on the expedition was to catalogue the wildlife of the region, which includes jaguar, puma, caiman, monkeys, bird life, reptiles and fish.
Although language was not a barrier, as some Wai Wai speak a little English, all team members had to be fit, self-sufficient and compatible to survive in this hot, humid, malarial atmosphere. Once they reached their destination the team spent a month sleeping under nets in hammocks, eating some dried food, fish from the rivers, caiman (alligators), agouti (large rodents) and fruit from the forest. Despite the physical hardship it was an experience that Simon would not have wanted to have missed, one which left him with an indelible impression on his mind. He states:
"Despite their isolation the Wai Wai cannot escape the intrusion of the modern world. Only 200 of their people remain in this region, which is larger than Wales. Their survival is under considerable threat for a number of reasons, mainly because 12 to 14-year-old children are obliged to attend school in Georgetown and once they experience the modern, easier way of life most do not return home to what is a very difficult and physically challenging existence.
This further threatens the Wai Wai’s future at a time when their presence in this protected area of unspoiled virgin rain forest is becoming increasingly important to prevent an influx of illegal loggers, poachers and diamond miners from Brazil.
"Surveying the area to enable a track to be established in this remote area at some time in the future will hopefully allow the Wai Wai to sustain their village with supplies and help them to patrol their borders."
