I am Wilderness

Voices and stories from our planet's last truly wild places.

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Happy World Oceans Day!

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The curiquingue - or carunculated caracara Phalcoboenus carunculatus live only in the high altitude paramo grasslands of Ecuador and southern Colombia.  This one was photographed high on the Guagua Pichincha volcano, with the city of Quito as a backdrop.  In the Andes, wilderness often thrives as a consequence of altitude, with vast wild places such as these volcanic heights co-occurring in direct line of sight with sprawling urban landscapes. The beautiful curiquingue is well represented in local folklore and celebrated through song and dance. Check out this festive presentation of the Andean folkloric song 'curiquingue': http://buff.ly/29sEBrQ

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From north to south, spanning a continent, the massive Andes serve as barriers to development, protecting some of most expansive wild areas in the world.  Like an archipelago of humanity, Inter-Andean valleys pocket the mountain range from Venezuela in the north to Chile in the South.  These valleys support vibrant human activities, from lush farmland to sprawling city-scapes.  Like islands in the sea, these valleys are embedded in wilderness, rising up on all sides, and - here in Ecuador - rolling out to the east into the vast Amazon Basin.  Further south, this eastern wilderness transitions from Amazonia into the dry Chaco and finally to Patagonia. 

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[i-am-wilderness]

Cayambe is the highest point in the world crossed by the Equator and the only place on the Equator with snow cover.  At 4,690 metres (15,387 ft), this Holocene Compound Volcano is the grand centerpiece of Ecuador’s Cayambe-Coca Ecological Reserve.  Stretching some 4,031.03 km2 (996,090 acres), Cayambe-Coca forms a contiguous wilderness from the uppermost peaks of the Andes east to the Amazon basin.  A wild patchwork of páramo grassland, lakes, ice pack, cloud forest and lowland tropical rainforest, the Reserve protects Andean condors, spectacled bears, mountain tapir, cougar and a dizzying array of birds, reptiles and amphibians.   The indigenous Kichwa and Cofán people also call this wilderness home.

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[i-am-wilderness]

The watershed of the Amazon basin begins in the high Andes.  In Ecuador, the continental divide is adorned by a string of massive, glacier-capped stratovolcanoes.  One of the most impressive of these giants is Cotopaxi, which at 5,897 m (19,347 ft) is the Earth’s highest active volcano.  Steeped in lore and considered a sacred mountain by local Andean peoples, Cotopaxi has erupted more than 50 times since 1738.   There has not been a major eruption since 1904, but minor eruptions have occurred as recently as January 2016.   A major eruption in the future a concern for Quito, Ecuador’s capital city, due to its close proximity to the volcano.  Past major eruptions have produced pyroclastic flows, melting the icecap and forming massive lahars - or volcanic mudflows - that destroyed local towns and traveled more than 100km to both the Pacific Ocean and Amazon basin.

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[i-am-wilderness]

Only 11% of Iceland is actually covered in ice, but this frozen expanse is as vast as all of the glacial ice on mainland Europe combined.  In total, Iceland has 269 glaciers, ranging from expansive ice caps to tiny ice streams.   The majority of Iceland’s ice can be found in the country’s wild and sparsely populated southeastern region.

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[i-am-wilderness]

Iceland’s population of 323,002 people live almost entirely along the island’s coastal margins, leaving the vast interior highlands a wild, rugged place.  Much of this wilderness is covered in ice cap, volcanic desert and solitary glacial peaks - like Snaefell - pictured here - which at 1833m is the highest point on Iceland that is not buried in ice. 

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[i-am-wilderness]

One of the most iconic animals of the African landscape, Etosha National Park in Namibia is home to both plains zebra Equus quagga (seen here) and mountain zebra Equus zebra.  Despite their universal appeal and singular capacity to draw in tourists, the Park has had a complicated history with these animals.  One game warden appointed in the 1951 believed the grasslands to be over-grazed and responded by constructing a bone meal plant to cull and process zebra and wildebeests.   The plant was quickly closed after widespread objection, but the cull began again in 1980 when an intense drought impacted the Park.  During this drought, 2235 mountain zebras and 450 plains zebras were captured, culled or sold.   Today both species of zebra thrive in the park and are among the most easily observed wildlife species to inhabit this vast protected area.

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[i-am-wilderness]

Spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) have a reputation as loathsome scavengers, but in fact are accomplished hunters.  While they are known to also steal meals from lions (their main competitor), the reverse is equally true.  However, in Namibia’s Etosha National Park, spotted hyenas (also called laughing hyenas) are unable to steal from lions and conversely are unable to keep lions from stealing from them.  Why?  Because with small clan sizes and large territories, Etosha’s hyenas are simply outnumbered by lions.   In fact, 71% of hyena mortality in Etosha is due to lions.   Living alongside such a grave threat, hyenas have evolved adaptations to help avoid lion attacks.  One of these adaptations, called “mobbing” involves groups of hyenas that initiate aggressive encounters with lions in the absence of food.  They simply want to induce the lion to leave the area of their communal dens.

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[i-am-wilderness]

The elephants of Etosha are the tallest in the world and adapted to desert life.  However, their tusks are much shorter than typical African elephants due to local deficiencies in certain minerals.

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By 1881, extensive hunting for ivory resulted in the extermination of elephants from present day Etosha National Park.  Due to the area’s protected status, vagrant elephants began returning in the early 20th century, but a resident population did not return until the 1950s, when boreholes were dug to attract elephants into the Park and away from neighboring farms. The effort was successful and today as many as 2,500 elephants roam Etosha.  They are frequently observed at the Park’s abundant watering holes.

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“I love the animals, but I’m used to it. What I like is all the people these animals bring.  I meet new people from around the world every day.  They keep us busy.  It is a very good experience.”

- Kauna Station Manager, Olifantsrus Camp Etosha National Park

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[i-am-wilderness]

Founded in 1907, Etosha National Park covers 22,270 square kilometres (8,600 sq mi) of arid Kalahari wilderness and is the gem for wildlife viewing in Namibia.  Etosha means “great white place” and is named for the massive Etosha salt pan, which covers about 25% of the park.  Formed 10 million years ago, the pan was was once a lake, but is now a bone dry depression, except for a short time each year during the rainy season when it supports a thin layer of water and teems with flamingos and other waterfowl.   The Park is best known for its abundant wildlife including 114 mammal species, 340 bird species, 110 reptile species and 16 amphibians. 

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While impalas are quite common across eastern and southern Africa, the sub-population of black-faced impala (Aepyceros melampus ssp. petersi) are found only in the northwest Namibia and southern Angola.  Larger and darker than typical impalas, there may now be fewer than 1,000 adult individuals of this vulnerable antelope left in its original range.  To aid with their survival, they were introduced into Namibia’s Etosha National Park in the 1970s.  Today as many as 1,500 black-faced impala thrive in the Park’s mopane and acacia woodlands and are a favorite of visitors from around the world.

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Wild lions are under intense threat.  Populations have dropped from around 500,000 animals in 1950 to possibly as low as 20,000 today. Between 600-800 of these lions make their home in Namibia, with almost all of them in the northwest and northeast of the country.  While this may sound like a small number, it is considered “healthy” for a desert population.  One of the great strongholds for these kingly felines is Etosha National Park, an extension of the greater Kalahari ecosystem.  The Etosha population is assumed to be one of only a few FIV-free (Feline Immuno-deficiency Virus) populations in Africa, making them critical for conservation and re-introduction efforts to other areas.  Follow the work of the Africat Foundation to learn more and to support the survival of these magnificent guardians of African wilderness.

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[i-am-wilderness]

The Spitzkoppe rises 700 m (2,300 ft) straight up from the floor of Namib Desert below.  Referred to as the “Matterhorn of Africa”, this isolated mountain (or “inselberg”) is composed of granite dating more than 120 million years old and is decorated with San bushman art dating back thousands.  This type of rock formation is also called a bornhardt and is characterized by dome-shaped, steep-sided, bald rock.  Rio de Janeiro’s Sugarloaf Mountain is another example of a bornhardt. 

21°49'24.4"S 15°10'09.2"E

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Happy World Giraffe Day!