Uploads from Keithernesto, with geodata

Penti and the Ceiba tree

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:34:18 -0700

Penti, the chief of the Bameno Huaorani on the right. Four metre blowpipe in the centre. Towering above them a revered 40 metre Kapoc tree. See also www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12937408 and www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0105s3r/Newsnight_07_04_2011/

Dark Tiputini I view large on black

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:40:13 -0800

Keithernesto posted a photo:

Night in Amazonia, Searching for Snakes and Alligators

Knowing Look

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 06:53:39 -0800

Keithernesto posted a photo:

These Huoarani have seen many foreigners and Ecuadorians from beyond their land. In order to campaign to keep their land they have engaged with the outside world. The man on right has worked in tourist town of Banos and says he has a girlfriend from New York

Blowpipe

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 06:48:58 -0800

Keithernesto posted a photo:

Made from two halves of wood lashed together, the blow pipe is about three metres long and takes a week to craft. Darts using curare poison suffocate prey. The spherical gourd has opening in bottom for kapoc wadding wrapped round bottom of dart to make sure the puff of air doesnt leak out. I'm told the Houarani have never used bows and arrows

Warriors

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 06:21:48 -0800

Keithernesto posted a photo:

They hunt their enemies as well as animals.

Fuel for life

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 06:25:59 -0800

Keithernesto posted a photo:

The old leaders say missionaries shamed the Houarani into craving clothes, and the oil men opened roads into their land, giving gifts of shotguns and motors to hook them on modernity.

Uh oh

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 06:18:14 -0800

Keithernesto posted a photo:

I sensed a potential competitor when I lent my camera and was careful to stress that a 5 year unionised course would be necessary before he could set up shop.

Baby

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:17:23 -0700

Keithernesto posted a photo:

Juvenile Boa Constrictor. It's about 50cm long on branch overhanging the River Tiputini

Plaza San Francisco, Quito

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 15:56:39 -0700

Keithernesto posted a photo:

Blowpipes versus Drill pipes

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 14:24:12 -0800

Keithernesto posted a photo:

Our report on Ecuador's appeal for the international community to give $3.6 billion so that Ecuador can afford not to extract oil from beneath the rainforest goes out on Thursday April 7. On Newsnight BBC2 and Crossing Continents Radio 4. Reporter Linda Pressly, Producer Emil Petrie, Camera Keith Morris, Editor Gordon Watt

Bameno Airstrip

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 06:57:46 -0800

Keithernesto posted a photo:

Huaorani warriors wave goodbye to relatives flying out on plane we came in on. No empty seat is wasted. The village is an hour by plane or 3 days by river from the nearest town

Greeting Song

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 06:53:27 -0800

Keithernesto posted a photo:

Penti (far left) is chief. He speaks spanish and has been to the UN. He wants oil companies to stay out of Huaorani land and hopes eco tourism could provide substitute income. Two jaguar teeth hang from his necklace

Gourmet parrot

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 06:43:12 -0800

Keithernesto posted a photo:

Survivor of a hunting expedition now kept as pet. Attacked our producer, stealing his croissant, lovingly smuggled from Quito.

Daborto

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 06:45:37 -0800

Keithernesto posted a photo:

Penti's wife. Cultivates manioc and bananas. Very outspoken against encroachment on the Huoarani ways.

Ceiba pentandra

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 06:22:36 -0800

Keithernesto posted a photo:

Kapoc or silk cotton tree. Described as "emergent" ie it breaks through forest canopy and towers above other trees. Penti took us here to show us the majesty of nature and it's centrality to the Huaorani way of life

Food of the forest

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 06:25:43 -0800

Keithernesto posted a photo:

Wild boar skull. The Huaorani are warriors and hunters. Monkeys, tapir, capybara all fill the pot

Undark dark

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 06:17:37 -0800

Keithernesto posted a photo:

We only stayed one night.. and it never got completely dark.. instead a strange milky light. Surprisingly few mosquitoes

To Coca

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 06:16:17 -0800

Keithernesto posted a photo:

We flew on to Coca, an oil town further south and stepping off point for the long journey to the Tiputini Biodiversity Station in the Yasuni National Park. Claimed by some to have the greatest biodiversity on the planet and it's beneath there that the contested oil lies. There will be a set of photos on Tiputini in a few days time

Quemperi

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 06:19:53 -0800

Keithernesto posted a photo:

The Shaman. He visits the sick people in their own cabins, using herbs to cure sickness. Many Huaorani die from snake bikes (including Penti's mother). Quemperi rarely uses the powerful drug ayahuasca saying it is dangerous and it's not needed for the jaguar spirit to inhabit him in a trance. He describes seeing a plane for the first time: missionaries circling overhead, shouting words of peace and dropping gifts in sacks.

nobody@flickr.com (Keithernesto) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 14:36:57 -0800

Keithernesto posted a photo: