Panama - Cerro de Campo

This morning we got up after spending the night in Cerro de Campo. After an exotic breakfast we started loading two trucks from STRI (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute) full of our gear. We had to pull tarps over everything due to the rainy season weather here in Panama. Everything is getting wet in this rain.

Riding to the trail head.
We loaded up and drove off to meet up with the pack horses that would take our gear and provisions on our hike into the jungle. A six hour hike, at that! The camp for the pack horses was shrouded in misty fog, just another way to stay wet down here!


We will set out for Cerro Brewster soon, and our ultimate goal of collecting frogs starting Monday morning. I’m not sure if I explained the collection process, so here’s a quick version. The collections will take place from dusk (right after sundown) to dawn. We will wear our rain gear and be equipped with headlamps to help us find the elusive frogs in the dark. As I have said before, it’s a frustration to be able to hear the frogs all around you, but not see any of them. This will be an intense search in the wet darkness…wish us luck. Once we find a frog we will swab it to prevent its getting the chytrid fungus, check its species type and gender, and add it to the rescue collection. Sounds simple, but add variables like a thick rainforest, tropical rain and steep slippery slopes of Panamanian mountains and you have a challenge. But we are up to that challenge. We will soon be out of communication range to check in with you and our CMZoo colleagues, but they have a list of what is scheduled for us in the next few days, so keep checking back for information on this historic trip on this blog. We’ve also sent many photos that they will share with you in the next few days. As soon as we are back in range of cell service, we’ll be in touch.