Crime in the woods

Ellen Paul (epaul@dclink.com)
Fri, 05 Mar 1999 08:28:43 -0500 

Michael's reference to fearing crime in the woods is not unwarranted.  A
few years ago, birders were mugged up in Frederick County by a couple of
teenagers who took watches, wallets, and binocs.  Although that's the
only incident I've heard of around here, I can tell you that I don't
like to go out alone for fear of rape.  A few years ago, when I was
between my first career and the start of grad school, I had the luxury
of birding during the week and I really loved it, except that I rapidly
realized that no one knew where I was, I had no way of calling for help
(no cell phones back then), and there were definitely other people out
in the woods, although I rarely ran into another birder.  I'm not a
nervous nellie, I'm not paranoid about crime or rape, but it still
seemed like a rather risky thing to be doing.

In Venezuela, the ONLY fear we had was other people.  Of course, in
Venezuela, there was never anyone in the woods except other birders, and
they were rare, too.  But in places where we camped or in the little
towns where we stayed, there were reasons to be concerned.  For
instance, we went to El Palmar (Eastern Venezuela) to see the Harpy
Eagle nest in the Imataca Forest Reserve.  After a night in the
infamously crummy Hotel Taguapirre, listening to the gunshots of the
drunken revelers at the military post next door, we met our guide and
drove into the reserve.  After a glorious few hours in the forest,
including astonishingly magnificent views of the Harpy, we drove back
out to take the guide home.  Our car was swarmed with drunken people who
were celebrating Christmas at the river.  Our guide warned us not to
return that day, because they would steal our equipment and car.  In
Sta. Helena, we had to pay someone to watch the car if we wanted to go
off to El Pauji (accessible only by small plane).  In fact, on our first
day in Venezuela, while walking from the hotel that Venez Audubon sets
you up in to the bank to get some cash, we were accosted by two children
with broken bottles who wanted to take our binoculars.  Ah, yes,
Venezuela was so much fun!  (but GREAT birds and lots of them....)

Ellen



-- 
Ellen Paul           
Executive Director
The Ornithological Council
Mailto:epaul@dclink.com
Ornithological Council Website:  http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET
"Providing Scientific Information about Birds"