October 10 2008: Mamberamo River, Papua, Indonesia - Greenpeace Esperanza Expedition (sitios de interés)

The Mamberamo River

From our blog:

Passing over some of the jagged foothills, all draped in heavy foliage, we hit the Mamberamo River which snaked, fat and brown, to the coast. Around one of the bends we found a logging camp where felled trees were being loaded on to a barge to ship downriver. Small areas nearby had been cleared of trees and while it was nothing like the large operation Bustar saw on Tuesday, it was a depressing reminder that loggers are starting to move into this area.

We circled the camp a few times to take some pictures, flew out low over the river and then on to the Mamberamo Foja protected area where warm updrafts brought a damp, peaty, mushroom smell from beneath the canopy. It’s here that, in 2005, a team of scientists discovered several new species and looking down at the wealth of life rushing by beneath me, it’s almost certain that other plants and animals new to science are waiting to be discovered. If the chainsaws and oil palms don’t get there first.

The Mamberamo River, the largest river in Papua, runs through areas of dense rainforest.
© Greenpeace/Rante

© 2008 Greenpeace