by Christine Bahlinger of the University of Vermont
Early on in our stay at Golden Stream Field Station we got our first taste of what it would be like to learn from the Ya’axché rangers accompanying us into the rainforest. For our maiden voyage into the jungle, Ranger Rosendo led us on the trails across the road from Golden Stream to partake in Ya’axché’s “Ranger for a Day” program. Throughout the hike Rosendo told us about some of the plants and animal tracks we were seeing and about the relationships that people have with this land. The forest we were hiking in had been pasture and farmland before Ya’axché bought it. Now after the work Ya’axché has put in to reforest the area, it is densely vegetated, and an untrained eye would not recognize its past.
Although the terrain was relatively flat, everyone got sweaty from hiking in such a humid climate. We were brand new to the rainforest. The vegetation was much denser than what we had been experiencing at Golden Stream Field Station, and the farther we went the less sunlight reached the ground. Part of the trail followed the Golden Stream, whose gorgeous, milky blue-green waters we caught glimpses of through the trees. Needless to say, it was beautiful to be encompassed by so much plant life.
Rosendo pointed out collared peccary tracks in the soft mud of the trail. To me, the markings were barely perceptible, but he was able to see them, and tell us how he could distinguish the collared peccary tracks from those of the white lipped peccary. He told us the collared peccary tracks are the smaller of the two and the white lipped peccaries have wider spaced hoof toe prints. As we hiked, he showed us agouti, puma, and tapir tracks. This was the first time our group was seeing evidence of some of these animals. We had seen several agoutis bopping around at Golden Stream, but it was exciting to see the prints of an animal as elusive as the puma. It had likely been walking the same path as us earlier that morning. Tapirs also seem to be elusive despite their large size. Seeing our first tapir tracks was interesting because the prints are so distinctive. The tapir left large, deep prints with three rounded toes right in the middle of the trail. Jungle mammals frequently travel on trails established by humans. Just like people, they like to take the path of least resistance.
There were many trees that Rosendo stopped at to tell us about. He showed us a Ya’axché tree growing along the trail. The tree is the namesake of Ya’axché Conservation Trust and it is considered sacred in Maya culture. The Maya people believe the tree connects heaven and the underworld. It was believed that souls could use the tree to travel between the levels of the afterlife. The Mopan Maya word for Ya’axché is Ceiba, and in English it is known as the tree of cotton. The wood is soft, and it is used to make dugout canoes. The grand Ya’axché tree grows tall, and it is not difficult to see how it has gained so much cultural importance.
The denser the vegetation the darker the rainforest became. Further along the trail there were massive palm trees that shaded out the sun. Rosendo told us that they were cohune palms and that people harvest the huge leaves to make roofs. He also paused to tell us about the gumbo-limbo tree. In Belize it is known as the tourist tree because its flakey red peeling bark is reminiscent of the tourists that come to the country and get sunburnt. The distinctive bark makes the tourist tree easy to identify, and its name shows the good humor of Belizeans.
At some point we came across a nine-banded armadillo path. It was less than a foot wide and the soil was flattened from the little feet of armadillos. The armadillo trail intersected our trail, one side moving towards the river, and the other disappearing into the trees. Rosendo said that once he followed an armadillo path out of curiosity. He told us that the path he followed eventually split into two. He went one way and got to another split then another. He had followed the trail for a while but ended up turning back before finding anything. It amazes me how extensive the trails of the humble armadillo can be. Even the armadillo knows how to make its own way in the seemingly ambiguous jungle. Each species has its place within the ecosystem, and we students are curious about what they are, and how they interact with each other.
One feels blind to walk through an ecosystem in which you know nearly nothing of the life forms surrounding you. This was the first time we had some light shined on the species of the rainforest. I am glad that Rosendo shared with us some of what he knows so that we were better able to see and understand our surroundings.