Written by Asa Poole, 2023-24 Latitudes Student
Settling into Jungle Life
When I first stepped off the bus I was greeted by a friendly old man named Donnie. I loaded my bags into the back of his truck and jumped in. He started driving down a beautiful path through the jungle lined with giant ferns, and coconut trees. After a few amazing minutes we arrived at my new home, an awesome property with one central main house surrounded by several smaller cabanas right on the edge of the lagoon, where you can see a lot of fish, stingrays, and even manatees!
After settling in and meeting the amazing and hilarious people that I would be spending the next several months with I was given a tour of the animals, 3 manatees, 23 howler monkeys, 18 spider monkeys, 1 white-tailed deer, along with several small mammals including raccoons, coatis, a margay, and last but definitely not least, the one and only, Crumb the mouse! I was given several howler monkeys and the sanctuary capuchin to work with. I take care of Pachuco, Lupita, and Leah the sanctuary howler monkeys, Archie, Aneri, and Rosie the rehab howler monkeys, and Nikki the sanctuary capuchin.
Every monkey has its own challenges but Rosie is a special case. She’s a baby howler monkey which already means that she will need more attention than the adults but after roughly a month into my stay here she ended up getting VERY sick. We started doing nearly 24-hour sit-ins with her for just under 3 weeks. Her condition kept worsening to the point where we thought she was going to pass away, but because Paul, the owner of Wildtracks, was away for a very important meeting, we didn’t have a car available to drive her to the veterinarian. However, Jess, the amazing intern here, decided that we couldn’t wait any longer and paid for a 4-and-a-half-hour-long cab ride to take Rosie to the vet where we found out that she was suffering from a severe respiratory infection. This wasn’t Rosie’s first respiratory infection though, she’s had 4 before this one. Respiratory infections are fairly common in baby howler monkeys but because this was her 5th one, her immune system has been severely weakened over time. But once she was given antibiotics her health slowly started improving. Today, thankfully, Rosie has made a full recovery and is back to her playful goofy self.
Outside of direct care for the animals, I was also trained to collect brows (the plants that every monkey eats)for every monkey. Every morning I wake up at 5:30 to begin walking around the property collecting a plant that we call “Haloob“ along with a few other plants and set them out in piles specific to each monkey. While gathering the morning brows can be tough because of the early start, nothing beats standing at the edge of the lagoon and staring out at the water as the gorgeous sun starts to peak over the horizon showering the entire sky in a beautifully warm orange light.
I’ve enjoyed this specific job so much that I thought the perfect thing to not only remember but also celebrate my time here would be to get a tattoo of the Haloob plant. Luckily there happens to be an amazing tattoo artist here in the village so I went in and got a beautiful Haloob plant wrapping around my calf! It was my first tattoo and I love it!
Other than gathering plants in the morning and getting tattoos my days here a fairly chill. I feed the monkeys 4 times a day, gather brows 2-3 times throughout the day, and complete my daily bleaching schedule (this is essentially just cleaning different things for the monkeys/manatees or cleaning certain rooms). When I’m not working I’m usually chilling in the hammocks or hanging out in town singing karaoke with the group!
Challenges Along the Way
The most challenging thing about my time here has been the fact that the work is 7 days a week. There aren’t really days off which has been difficult to adjust to. After the first month here you get 4 days off, however when I was supposed to take my 4 days off the day before we ended up getting a new baby manatee that we were told had pneumonia. Due to this, we had to go on a full 24-hour watch for 3 and a half days. Meaning that there had to be at least 2 people with the manatee monitoring every breath he took and watching his behavior for every minute of those 3 and a half days. I completely understood why I wasn’t able to take the days off that I had scheduled but it did hurt going from the thought that I would have 4 days of doing nothing to knowing that I would essentially have 4 days off of doing the most intense work that I have done on the entire semester. I did eventually end up getting my days off a few weeks later. I spent my first 2 days off exploring a nearby town and my last 2 days I essentially laid in my hammock the entire time. It would be nice to have a few more days off but our work days here usually have several breaks and being able to work with animals is a dream come true so I don’t mind pushing myself a bit!
Highlights of the Journey
The most significant highlight from my time here in Belize was getting to spend 2 and a half weeks with the adorable baby howler Rosie! The circumstances that allowed me to be there with her were horrible but the experience of cuddling Rosie while she slept in my arms was something that I won’t forget for as long as I live.
Another major highlight was the first time we went to the cenote. A cenote is a body of groundwater that has been exposed by either a cave collapsing or a sinkhole opening. The cenote here is what’s known as an ancient cenote meaning that instead of having big walls or cliffs surrounding it, it is more like an oasis or lagoon tucked deep in the jungle. When I first walked to the edge, I was amazed by its beauty. It’s essentially a large lake with crystal clear water, surrounded on all sides by massive trees and jungle ferns! We all dove in swam out to the middle, and swam in silence for roughly 5 minutes as we watched hundreds of birds fly over us and land in what I can only assume to be their nesting tree. After this, we swam over to a large tree and climbed it to get an overview of the area as the sunset. The sun cast a golden light on the trees while the crystal clear water reflected the burnt orange sky in a moment that I consider to be the single most beautiful thing I’ve ever witnessed!
Growth and Learning
Since I’ve been in Belize I’ve learned many new things, but there are 2 that I think are the most representative of my time here. First is the skill to not only distinguish between but also collect the different types of trees and plants that the monkeys eat. I’ve learned how to use a tool called a brows pole to collect from trees that are absurdly tall, and I’ve learned the exact location and how to differentiate between 11 different species of tree/shrub. The second skill is the ability to harvest and open a coconut without the use of any tools. I was taught how to do this by a cameraman of the largest news channel in Belize. They were there doing a segment on Wildtracks and while he was gathering B-roll he saw me sitting on the ground, struggling to open a coconut. He walked over and showed me the exact spot to hit the coconut on the ground that would allow me to pry it open! Ever since then I’ve been collecting coconuts and practicing. All of the other volunteers love it because after I open a coconut for practice, I move on to the next and give them the delicious reward inside!
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