Merlin and Daniel Hargreaves, co-founder of Trinibats, have teamed up to co-lead two weeks of bat workshops at the Cocobolo Nature Reserve in Panama. The reserve is over 1,000 acres located about halfway between the Pacific and the Caribbean on the narrow Isthmus of Panama, about 35 miles wide.
Our days have basically gone according to the itinerary:
Day 1. Our group had a rendezvous at our hotel Riande Aeropuerto in Panama City the first night. Some of us purchased rubber boots at Novey or the Discovery Center, then we met at the poolside bar for drinks and dinner.
Day 2. The next morning we departed by minibus to Las Margaritas where we transferred to a few 4WD vehicles via primitive roads, fording several rivers to our destination in the heart of the tropical rainforest. Cocobolo Nature Reserve is located near Las Zahinas village in Chepo District, Panama, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) northeast of Panama City.
Upon arrival at Cocobolo, we found our individual tents, with air mattresses, underneath thatched cottages raised from the ground called “ranchitos”. The field station has two bathrooms with composting toilets (home to resident bats!), and cold showers. The onsite kitchen provides our meals and the main hall is our regular meeting and eating place. We have access to onsite wifi and solar panels enabling us to keep our equipment charged.
In the afternoon we prepared for the bat survey work, organized teams, equipment, and netting sites.
Day 3. After a short presentation by Michael Roy, the Founder of Cocobola, we all went on a two-hour hike, searching for new netting sites. In the evening we split into teams so that everybody has the opportunity to do netting, radio tracking, photography and processing.
Wifi is slow, so many more pics to come of all the fun we’re having!