Monitoring parrots and macaws in the Peruvian Amazon
Frequently Asked Questions about volunteering
How does the permit process work?
Anyone who wishes to conduct research in Peru in a protected area needs a research permit from the head office of INRENA (Peruvian institute for natural resources), in Lima. Once a year the principal investigators of the macaw project have to submit a proposal to INRENA outlining the activities that will be taking place. At the moment the person in INRENA who does this is Carmen Jaime. Together with the proposal we need to submit a list of all the people who will be working on the project, together with each person's (i.e. volunteer's) curriculim vitae, a supporting letter from a work or school, and letter of intent. Templates for the latter two letters are provided with the accepted volunteer information. Donald usually does this in December, Alan around June or July. Volunteers who apply to be on the project before these periods are included on the original permits. Anyone who does not send in their documents will be added onto the permit via what is known as an "Adenda". We can only take out 4 adendas per year, so we try and do one every 3 months or so. At the moment, Carolina Caillaux in Lima is dealing with INRENA, handing in the paperwork etc. Original documents and signatures are needed, so those letters and the CV need to be posted to her.
Once the permit has been issued, the next stage of the process commences. What is important for getting into the Tambopata National Reserve is a permission to travel, known as "Registro de Transito". This needs to be issued by the local INRENA office in Puerto Maldonado. This office is very fussy, and only qualified people are allowed to ask for a "Registro de Transito". We normally have a member of the Rainforest Expeditions staff, at the moment Yesmi Hualla, in charge of getting this. Once you have a copy of this, you are allowed to travel upriver. For getting to Tambopata Research Centre you need 3 copies - as you need to leave a copy at each of the control posts that are stationed on the river on the way up. One control post is before Refugio Amazonas, and the other is before Tambopata Research Centre.
The permit process is normally always subject to delays that you may want to bear in mind. These are: letters getting lost on their way to Lima (you may want to send 2 copies separately); waiting for sufficient participants to make it worth the costs of taking out an adenda; waiting for INRENA to sign an adenda (this can take weeks or more if the paperwork is not in order); getting Puerto Maldonado office to issue the Registro de Transito.
Why do I have to pay to volunteer?
Essentially, volunteering as part of the project is free. The project take care of permit costs, cover the costs of all staff, website hosting, and we do a lot of work to maintain training material, and also deal with all correspondence and various aspects of project management. However, our budget does not extend to being able to pay for all aspects of participation. As such you only need to pay for food and accommodation and other services provided by Rainforest Expeditions and costs for such are very reasonable. In fact, there is probably no cheaper long term monitoring project in the region.
What is the average team size?
Although the number of assistants and volunteers average about 10 throughout the year, and up to 15 towards the end of the year, as we are working at 3 sites, normal team size is 2-4 people.
Will I have to work alone?
There are 2 tasks where monitoring is done alone: Monitoring of the clay lick, and monitoring of group sizes from towers or overlook. These are both safe environments, and we do not leave people to work by themselves until they are confident of their surroundings and the tasks they are required to perform. Walking tasks can be conducted alone if participants are confident enough to do this, but this is not obligatory. There should always be clear communication and division of tasks so that the field leader knows where team members are. Safety should always be a top priority in all tasks.