Pilpintuwasi

Pilpintuwasi - With and For Nature

Hi, my name is Carsten. I'm from Germany. This is my report what I experienced in Pilpintuwasi Animal Orphanage and Butterfly Farm.

In Octobre 2008 I saw a documentary about the butterflies of the Peruvian Amazon on TV. Part of the documentary was about Gudrun Sperrer and her project for the conservation of the butterflies in Peru - Pilpintuwasi. As I'm very interested in nature and what nature creates I was exceedingly impressed by what Gudrun Sperrer built up in the Peruvianan Amazon. I decided to get in contact with her so I searched the web for her homepage. Through brisk email communication with her I intended to spend my annual holidays at Pilpintuwasi as a volunteer. But I don't want to tell you how I got there, I want to tell you what Pilpintuwasi is, what it offers and what it gives - and, of course, what you need to bring along. The first thing to say is that you will rarely find another place like that! Pilpintuwasi is feeling nature and all what belongs to it. Because Pilpintuwasi is not only caring for the conservation of the butterflies but also sheltering many other types of animals, such as different species of monkeys, a manatee, a tapir, a jaguar, an anteater, aligators, turtles and others. Alongside the animals Gudrun is sheltering, there are wild animals crossing her piece of land, such as birds, little mammals and huge masses of diverse insects (especially butterflies and dragonflies) and reptiles.

As I spent time as a volunteer at Pilpintuwasi there are a lot things to do:
I helped with covering the muddy tracks with sandbags (because of the rainseason),
I helped harvesting the Aguaje-fruit (food for the vegetarian animals of the farm),
I cleaned the pond of the manatee and the aligators from the molding water-hyacinths and water-grasses (really funny, paddling the canoe!),
I helped with planting new food plants for the various butterflies,
I worked fixing the rooves of the huts,
I helped pull down the volunteer-hut (which was too rotten to live in) and and and...
I also helped to guide the tourists that come to visit Pilpintuwasi.
But the most interesting work to do (at least for me) was caring for the monkeys in between all other works. I hadn't had such a great experience with monkeys ever in my life ! I just love the monkeys, Ali, Chavo, Toni, Junior, Nico, Pauli, Angie and Princessa, Argus and Igor, Luigi, Florian, Ingles...all of them, even if some of them don't have as loveable characters as others. The assumption is how you deal with them ! But even if there are some troublemakers along the monkeys, it is very interesting to get to know what kind of life they have at the farm - it is fun playing with them, it is wonderful cuddling and caressing them, and their addiction to curiosity is always amazing ! Also important to say is that most of the animals, especially the monkeys, are free to roam around and because of that they are used doing what they want. They are not like cats or dogs which you have in your house and with what you can do what and when you want. Respect what THEY want and pay attention on them, and they will be your friends. Of course, Pedro Bello, the jaguar, needs to be held in a cage even though he is used to humans, the manatee has its pond, and lukas, the tapir, has its own fenced terrain of around one and a half acres, but Gudrun is making sure the animals have enough space and natural living conditions. I have visited other tourist places to see jungle wildlife, but none of these were comparable to Gudrun's farm with respect of the living conditions of the animals etc. Even zoos in Europe or anywhere in the world don't have comparable conditions!

Pilpintuwasi is located near Iquitos next to a small village called Padre Cocha and easy reachable by watertaxi. In terms of accomodation there is a small and lovely hostal in Padre Cocha where I stayed during my visit (the volunteer-hut at Pilpintuwasi was too old as I described above). It is called Tambo and the owners, the siblings Antonio and Laura, are really hospitable and caring for their guests. I quartered for two weeks (what is the time minimum for a volunteer) and I was treated like a family member. They invited me for dinner almost every evening and for a cup of tea all the time. I also celebrated my birthday with them and got medication from them when I was a bit sick. All other inhabitants of Padre Cocha, and of course the workers from Pilpintuwasi, were friendly and interested in getting to know you.

But life is very simple over there. Don't expect Luxury! Electricity is running from 6 - 10 pm, no fridges and cooking devices are very simple as well. But living with the people, getting to know them, feeling the atmosphere of their community is definitely worth it. More than staying in a three or four star luxury hotel with no regard to culture and heaps of tourists!

To work with Gudrun you should not fear any kind of the work that is to be done. You are in the jungle, getting dirty is part of it. Meeting with snakes, spiders or any other kind of manky animals are the orders of the day. And yes, work is work, but working in the nature with nice people and animals is worth it. Also besides the work, Gudrun is a very friendly person, not stressing (if you do good! ), funny, always there for you and your concerns. I had many interesting, funny and relaxing conversations with her (and the monkeys!) regarding anything in the world.

Even if many people say this can't be vacation (for most of the people holidays means relaxing on a beach in the sun and letting the mind wonder - but where?), you just need to have the right attitude and it will be your best holiday ever. That and much more is what I experienced and I wouldn't want to miss it. I spent the most interesting, informative and real holiday at Pilpintuwasi.

If you want to know what it feels like don't hesitate, go to Pilpintuwasi to volunteer, you won't regret it - trust me.