Nicaragua Real Estate - Los Congos

It is the start of the green season here in Nicaragua and Los Congos is making it's yearly transformation into a lush landscape. Many readers know of our staff's efforts to protect and conserve our private nature preserve which covers over 500 acres of pristine property. Our efforts are beginning to show within Los Congos and also the surrounding area.

Working closely with the MARENA delegates from the Granada Region (MARENA is the Environmental Protection and Park Service agency in Nicaragua) we began establishing firm rules of conduct within our private nature preserve over 10 months ago. These regulations were officially put into effect around 8 months ago. Some of the regulations include no hunting, no fires, no molesting of any plants or trees and also no throwing of trash.

We are happy to report that our efforts are certainly paying off! Our guards / park rangers in training are making daily and weekly reports of animal sightings, removal of violators and the results of weekly inspections. Trash removal and the education of local residents on trash policy is also becoming very obvious and our area of Laguna de Apoyo is the cleanest by far.

Some of the highlights of our efforts are in the sightings of many baby animals which were not seen last year at this time. To date we have spotted and recorded at least 25 baby green iguanas (a Nicaraguan delicacy and favorite target of hunters) in areas where there were previously none. In addition we have spotted 3 does with fawns in tow - deer are rare in this area of Nicaragua and Los Congos has a small population which until recently was threatened by hunters who used fire to "run" the deer into valleys to be taken down. This is incredible information for us and we are very happy about these recent findings!

On at least 2 occasions our night rangers have seen the Nicaraguan equivalent of a bobcat and also pre-hensile tailed porcupines. There is a not yet confirmed sighting of a group of 6 coatimundis, an animal thought to be gone from this area many years ago. Coatimundis are like playful raccoons with longer tails and noses - they are often sighted in Belize and Guatemala.

We are proud to see our efforts taking effect so quickly and we have many years of reclamation and preservation work ahead of us. Our reforestation efforts begin this weekend with the hiring of world renowned organic farmer and permaculture expert, Christopher Shanks. Mr. Shanks is coming online to begin planning our orchards and massive reforestation efforts. We are proud to have him on board - you can find out more about Chris at www.projectbonafide.com - this is his project on the island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua, good stuff.

We will posting additional updates and photos as they come in so please check back often.

Take care.

Posted by J. Finch of Laguna, SA

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Animal Life is Thriving at Los Congos!

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