The group of participants on the trek were from an of an organiziation working in Nicaragua by the name of Global Vision International (www.gvi.co.uk)

Aaron, the Global Vision coordinator for Nicaragua contacted Green Pathways with the idea of creating a challenge that people could do to raise funds for the projects here in Nicaragua. As it happened we had just finished planning a volcano hike that was a little longer and included San Cristobal volcano. They only had four days thus we suggested a shortened version of this trip and it was a go.

The hike started at Telica volcano and ended with the mighty Momotombo volcano. During the hike 6 other peaks were conquered – Santa Clara, La Rota,  Cerro Negro, Ojo de Agua, Las Pilas and El Hoyo. All the participants did an amazingly and were rewarded everyday with amazing views and a unique insight in to Nicaragua and the volcanoes thanks to the Green Pathways guides that were there every step of the way.

This trip was a great success thanks to the amazing team of guides, drivers, logistics managers and of course our health and safety officer. Due to the big success of this trip,  it will become and annual event for GVI, which we can’t put words to how happy we are about it.

Here’s what a few of the participants had to say:

“From start to finish, our 4 day, 8 volcano Challenge to raise money for the GVI Phoenix project in Nicaragua, with Green Pathways, was a massive success. The local guides, logistics, food (which was outstanding) and overall management were second to none, an amazing feat and huge thanks goes to Phil and Gem for their professionalism and organisation. We have already penned in dates for another Challenge in November and are putting together dates for the years to come. It truly was THAT good, even the smallest attention to detail like a cold beer at the end of the day!”

Dom Williams (GVI Coordinator) UK

‘Hiking the eight volcanoes with Green Pathways was fantastic. From the minute we arrived, their team was welcoming, supportive and enthusiastic. The hiking was great, the views were spectacular and the food was endless. The local guides were incredibly incourageing and their abundant knowledge and incite gave a real perspective to the whole trip. It was, without a doubt, a unforgettable Nicaraguan experience. If you’re contemplating one of their tours don’t even hesitate!”

Rosie Riley UK

It was a huge decision to pick the right company for our Volcano Challenge to raise money for our education project in Nicaragua, Global Vision International Phoenix Project. The staff at Green Pathways Tours was enthusiastic and extremely supportive from the beginning and their environmentally friendly approach and variety of offerings caught my eye. We customized an eight volcano in four days challenge with Green Pathways to include fourteen participants. Logistically, the tour included food, camping each night, transportation, setting up water stations, local guides, briefings by staff and local guides, medical support, etc. To say Green Pathways did a great job would be an understatement. Every detail was covered and the staff and guides were always positive and incredibly helpful which encouraged each participant to push himself/herself. Summitting Volcan Momotombo on the last day and seeing the chain of volcanoes we had previously hiked over the previous three days was the perfect culmination to an amazing experience. We will be doing more challenges in the future and will no doubt be choosing Green Pathways Tours!!

Aaron (GVI) USA

Thanks to everyone who took part in this volcano challenge and we look forward to doing it again next year!

On the 14^th of April Green Pathways along with the Pure Earth Project, Bigfoot Hostel, Rise Up Surf and Bigfoot Surf School put on a sea turtle themed fun day in a local pre-school in the small community of Salinas Grandes Nicaragua.

This small community is located on the fringes of the Isla Juan Veando mangrove reserve. This reserve is an important nesting ground for endangered sea turtles such as the Leatherback and Hawksbill. In Nicaragua sea turtles eggs are considered a culinary delicacy and thus in most coastal regions these eggs are heavily poached. The idea behind the fun day was to show the kids a good time but also to raise awareness about the importance of sea turtles and how valuable their eggs are.

As a part of the activities we designed and constructed life size sea turtle costumes and gave short, informative and fun presentations on each of the sea turtle species found in the reserve. There was also face painting, piñatas, pin the tail on the turtle and it all ended with a song created by one of our volunteers.

At the end of the day each child went home with a package filled with games and fun educational materials.

Check out some  photos and  video from the day.

This year Green Pathways will be supporting sea turtle conservation in the Isla Juan Venado Reserve. For every tour and expedition we do we give a donation to this project. This project will be personally managed and coordinated by the founders of Green Pathways thus we can guarantee that all the funds are being used in the best way possible.

For more on Green Pathways check out the Green Pathways Website.

The dominating feature of the Cosiguina Reserve is the volcano itself.  It was once the tallest volcano in Central America, estimated at more than 3000 meters tall (nearly 1000 feet). On January 20, 1835, Coseguina erupted and Nicaragua first appeared in the Guinness Book of Records for this, the third most potent explosion in all of America. It is considered to be the most violent eruption in the Americans since colonization.  The sound wave reverberated its way to Colombia, Jamaica and Mexico, while it left Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras in stiflingly hot darkness for days.  It created the Islets of Cosiguina, which serve as reminders of the incident, along with the jagged remains of the volcano, now less than half its original stature.  There is a 2000 meter in diameter, rainwater filled crater lake at the top, which remains a rich blue-green hue due to continuing volcanic activity.

The reserve, declared in 1983, wraps around the remains of the volcanic cone and is a rare, dry tropical forest.  This special habitat is home to Nine Banded Armadillos, Three-Toed Sloths,  big cats (Jaguars, Mountain Lions, Pumas, Tiger Cats, Ocelots), Coatis (Ring-Tailed, White-Nosed), Spider Monkeys, Vampire Bats, Eastern Cottontails, Whitetail Deer, Weasels, Pacas and Squirrels.  Reptiles also abound and Iguanas (Black, Green), Whiptails (Barred, Deppe’s), American Crocodiles, Snakes (Rat Snake, Boa Constrictor), Brown Caimans and Mudpuddle Frogs can be found here.

However this reserve is truly a bird sanctuary and is home to one of the continent’s last sustainable populations of Scarlet Macaws.  These endangered huge, red parrots are stunningly beautiful and rare to find in the wild anywhere. They are social birds and are most commonly seen in groups, flying or perched in the tops of the tall deciduous trees in which they live.  Additionally, the Cosiguina reserve is one of the last refuges in Pacific Nicaragua for two highly endangered species, the Great Curassow and the Crested Guan. These birds are very rare and almost extinct in the Pacific region.

Other species found in the Coseguina Reserve are listed below:

-       Herons (Little Blue, Tiger, Green)

-       Kingbirds (Eastern, Western, Tropical)

-       Vultures (Black, Turkey)

-       Hawks (Roadside, Gray, Short-Tailed, Red-Tailed, Broad-Winged, Harris’)

-       Doves (White-Winged, Ruddy Ground, Mourning)

-       Parakeets (Orange-Chinned, Orange-Fronted, Green)

-       Owls (Nocturnal Barn, Pacific Screech, Spectacled,)

-       Wrens (Rufous-Naped, Stripe-Breasted)

-       Orioles (Orange, Altamira)

-       Ducks (Long-Legged Tree, Black-Bellied Whistling)

-       Egrets (Great, Cattle)

-       Parrots (Yellow-Crowned, White-Fronted)

-       Motmots (Blue-Crowned, Tody)

-       Blackbirds (Red-Winged, Common)

Other Species of Interest:  Spotted Sandpipers, Lesser Ground Cuckoos, Cinnamon Hummingbirds, Golden-Fronted Woodpeckers, Scissor-Tailed Flycatchers, Barn Swallows, Yellow Warblers, Blue-Gray Tanagers, Great Antshrikes, Laughing Gulls, Brown Pelicans, Thicket Tinamous, Wood Storks, Laughing Falcons, American Kestrels, Spot-Bellied Bobwhites, Red-Billed Pigeons, Green-Breasted Mangos, Citreoline Trogons, Ringed Kingfishers, Golden-Fronted Woodpeckers, Long-Tailed Manikins, Great Kiskadees, Great-Tailed Grackles, Jaribu Storks and Pinnated Bitterns.

From January to March every year Green Pathways runs a two day trip where we visit the incredible Cosigüina volcano and then head out in search of the mighty Humpback Whale that migrate to warm waters to breed.

The 2011 whale watching season  was a true success as on every trip we encountered whales and more often than not the whales came incredibly close to the boat. Our last trip was on the 15^th of March 2011 and was magical as a mother and calf swam straight up to the boat and hung out with us for over an hour.

Green Pathways would like to thank everyone who joined us this year. We are excited about the next whale watching season as we hope to take more people on this spectacular journey!

The dominating feature of the Cosiguina Reserve is the volcano itself.  It was once the tallest volcano in Central America, estimated at more than 3000 meters tall (nearly 1000 feet). On January 20, 1835, Cosguina erupted and Nicaragua first appeared in the Guinness Book of Records for this, the third most potent explosion in all of America. It is considered to be the most violent eruption in the Americans since colonization.  The sound wave reverberated its way to Colombia, Jamaica and Mexico, while it left Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras in stiflingly hot darkness for days.  It created the Islets of Cosiguina, which serve as reminders of the incident, along with the jagged remains of the volcano, now less than half its original stature.  There is a 2000 meter in diameter, rainwater filled crater lake at the top, which remains a rich blue-green hue due to continuing volcanic activity.

The reserve, declared in 1983, wraps around the remains of the volcanic cone and is a rare, dry tropical forest.  This special habitat is home to Nine Banded Armadillos, Three-Toed Sloths,  big cats (Jaguars, Mountain Lions, Pumas, Tiger Cats, Ocelots), Coatis (Ring-Tailed, White-Nosed), Spider Monkeys, Vampire Bats, Eastern Cottontails, Whitetail Deer, Weasels, Pacas and Squirrels.  Reptiles also abound and Iguanas (Black, Green), Whiptails (Barred, Deppe’s), American Crocodiles, Snakes (Rat Snake, Boa Constrictor), Brown Caimans and Mudpuddle Frogs can be found here.

However this reserve is truly a bird sanctuary and is home to one of the continent’s last sustainable populations of Scarlet Macaws.  These endangered huge, red parrots are stunningly beautiful and rare to find in the wild anywhere. They are social birds and are most commonly seen in groups, flying or perched in the tops of the tall deciduous trees in which they live.  Additionally, the Cosiguina reserve is one of the last refuges in Pacific Nicaragua for two highly endangered species, the Great Curassow and the Crested Guan. These birds are very rare and almost extinct in the Pacific region.

Other species found in the Cosiguina Reserve are listed below:

-       Herons (Little Blue, Tiger, Green)

-       Kingbirds (Eastern, Western, Tropical)

-       Vultures (Black, Turkey)

-       Hawks (Roadside, Gray, Short-Tailed, Red-Tailed, Broad-Winged, Harris’)

-       Doves (White-Winged, Ruddy Ground, Mourning)

-       Parakeets (Orange-Chinned, Orange-Fronted, Green)

-       Owls (Nocturnal Barn, Pacific Screech, Spectacled,)

-       Wrens (Rufous-Naped, Stripe-Breasted)

-       Orioles (Orange, Altamira)

-       Ducks (Long-Legged Tree, Black-Bellied Whistling)

-       Egrets (Great, Cattle)

-       Parrots (Yellow-Crowned, White-Fronted)

-       Motmots (Blue-Crowned, Tody)

-       Blackbirds (Red-Winged, Common)

Other Species of Interest:  Spotted Sandpipers, Lesser Ground Cuckoos, Cinnamon Hummingbirds, Golden-Fronted Woodpeckers, Scissor-Tailed Flycatchers, Barn Swallows, Yellow Warblers, Blue-Gray Tanagers, Great Antshrikes, Laughing Gulls, Brown Pelicans, Thicket Tinamous, Wood Storks, Laughing Falcons, American Kestrels, Spot-Bellied Bobwhites, Red-Billed Pigeons, Green-Breasted Mangos, Citreoline Trogons, Ringed Kingfishers, Golden-Fronted Woodpeckers, Long-Tailed Manikins, Great Kiskadees, Great-Tailed Grackles, Jaribu Storks and Pinnated Bitterns.

Gulf of Fonseca

• Fonseca Bay was discovered in 1522 by Gil Gonzalez de Avila, and named after his patron, Archbishop Juan Fonseca.
• Shared by three nations, each represented by a volcano: Nicaragua (Volcan Coseguina), El Salvador (Volcan Conchagua) and Honduras (Volcan Amapala)
• Covers approximately 3,200 km²  and has a 261 km coastline, 47 of which are in Nicaragua
• The gulf is part of the ‘Pacific Central American Coastal Large Marine Ecosystem’ (LME) which extends along the Pacific Coast of Central America, from Cabo Corrientes in Mexico to the equator.
• The extensive mangrove wetlands which border the Gulf of Fonseca are the largest remaining mangrove stand in the Americas.
  • Red mangrove is the most common species, occupying mostly the areas permanently inundated by the tides near the border of the mangrove stand closest to the sea.
  • Black mangrove is the second most abundant species and is found around the rivers.
  • White mangrove is the third most dominant and then botoncillo. They are both found further inland, in areas less frequently inundated by the tide.
  • The dominance of one species over another correlates with the frequency of inundations, water quality, and levels of salinity.

Humpback Whales

Scientific Name: Megaptera novaeangliae

-       Life expectancy: 45-50 years

Endangered Status:

• ESA Endangered (Under the Environmental Species Act of 1973) – A species is considered endangered if it is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.
• Estimated population: 10,000 – 15,000 Humpbacks in the world

Description:

• Females are larger than males and reach up to 60 feet in length.  Males are on average 52 feet long.
• They weigh 25-50 tons
• The four-chambered heart of the average humpback whale weighs about 430 pounds or about as much as three adult human beings.

Coloration:

• Primarily dark blue-black, with varying amounts of white on their belly and pectoral fins.
• The pattern and coloration of a whale’s fluke (triangular section of a whale’s tail) is like a human fingerprint and is the best way to identify individual whales
  • There is a distinct indentation in between the two flukes and as the whale dives, it arches its back (hence the name ‘humpback’), leaving the flukes clearly visible above the water.
  • Conspicuous pectoral fins (side flippers), which can be up to 15 feet in length.  These huge fins provide maneuverability for both forward and backward moving.
  • Characteristically knobby heads because they are covered in barnacles and raised lumps called tubercles, each with a bristle.
  • They have two blowholes on the back and the spout of water they excrete can appear bushy.
    • Humpbacks breathe air at the surface through these two blowholes.
    • They spout (breathe) 1-2 times per minute while at rest and 4-8 times per minute after a deep dive.
    • Their blow is a double stream of spray that rises 10-13 feet (3.1-4 meters) above the surface of the water.

Behavior:

• They are known for the mysterious singing of solitary males (some say it is part of a male’s courtship of a female whale)
  • The songs are occasionally similar within populations, each whale’s song evolves from season to season
  • They only sing complex songs in warm water (perhaps for mating purposes) and in colder water, their songs are rougher – scrapes and groans (perhaps used to locate krill and plankton)
  • Their songs have the largest range of frequencies used by any whale (ranging from 20 – 9,000 Hertz)
  • They are the most acrobatic of whales and are often seen leaping, breaching (aka lunging or cresting) , spyhopping (when they stick their head out of the water for up to 30 seconds to take a look around) or lob-tailing (slapping the water with their flippers or flukes).
    • Humpbacks perform a breach by swimming very quickly just under the surface (parallel to the surface) and then suddenly jerk upwards at full speed.
    • When breaching, the whale clears the water at an angle of about 30° to the horizon and around 90% of the body clears the water before the whale turns to land on its back or side
    • To achieve 90% clearance, the whale needs to swim at least 29 km/hour.
    • The longest sustained series of breaches by a whale was a Humpback who completed 130 leaps in less than 90 minutes
    • There are various suggestions about why whales lob-tail:
      • Non-vocal communication
      • Sign of aggression
      • Hunting technique (the loud slap frightens the fish into tight schools, which makes them an easier target on which to feed)
      • They have a unique hunting technique utilizing what is called a “bubble net”.
        • The whales essentially herd their prey into clusters and use a “bubble net” to trap larger numbers more effectively.
        • The hunting members of a pod form a circle 10-100 feet (3.1-31 meters) across and about 50 feet (15 meters) under the water and emit a continuous stream of air
        • The wall of bubble which forms will trap the krill, plankton and small fish in the center and form them to slowly rise to the surface in a concentrated mass
        • The whales then swim in a cylindrical pattern towards the surface through their net of bubbles and gorge on their prey trapped within this confined space.

Diet:

• They eat tiny crustaceans (krill), plankton and small fish
• They are baleen whales, which means that they filter feed.
  • They have large, sieve-like plates of baleen (made of a material similar to human hair or nails, which regrows as it gets worn down by the whale’s tongue) hanging down inside their mouths, which filters the planktonic organisms [aquatic organisms that drift with water movements; may be either phytoplankton (plants), or zooplankton (animals)] that they eat
  • The average whale has 330 pairs of these dark gray baleen plates.  Each plate is 25 inches long (0.6  meters) and 13.5 inches (34 cm) wide.
  • They open their mouths widely and the 12-36 throat grooves on the underside of their mouth expand, enabling them to take in large quantities of water and with it, the fish and plankton
  • The water, full of fish and plankton, enters the whale’s mouth through a gap in the front baleen plates
  • The fish and plankton gets caught on the baleen plates and the water gets filtered out the sides of the whale’s mouth
  • One whale can eat up to 3,000 pounds of food per day

Migration:

• A Humpback’s annual migration takes them thousands of kilometers between their summer feeding grounds in polar waters and their winter breeding grounds in the tropics
  • They mate and calve in tropical waters during the winter and then travel to cold polar waters during the summer to feed.
  • Humpbacks migrate 3-9 mph (4.8-14 kph) and have incredible endurance.
  • They swim over 3,100 miles (5000 km) during each seasonal migration, with little to no rest along the way
    • During migrations, they cover over 1,000 miles per month
    • There are 3 separate populations of humpbacks – those living in the North Pacific Ocean, those in the North Atlantic Ocean, and those in the oceans of the Southern Hemisphere.
    • Whales feeding south of Cape Horn make the longest known migration to their winter breeding grounds in the warm waters of Costa Rica
    • Summer Months:

o            Whales spend summer months in high latitude , highly productive locations (The Gulf of Alaska in the Pacific and the Gulf of Maine in the Atlantic)

o            They spend the majority of their time building up fat stores (blubber), which they will live off of in the winter months.  The calves will feed on their mother’s rich milk.

• Winter Months:
  • Whales live off of their blubber stores and while traveling and breeding during the winter months, whales eat significantly less or not at all
  • Calves are born after a 10-12 month gestation period and are often seen with their mothers in the winter breeding grounds
  • The calves will accompany their mothers on the return migration to their polar summer feeding grounds
  • Studies have consistently shown that individual whales return to the same feeding and breeding grounds every year

Threats:

• Humpbacks have historically been a major target in the whaling industry because of their coastal migration routes
• It has been estimated that over 100,000 Humpbacks were slaughtered in the southern hemisphere alone between 1900-1940.
• Although they are protected from whaling today, they are very vulnerable to changes in their marine ecosystem
  • Pollution is a large threat because it so greatly affects the fish stock as well as the availability of planktonic organisms on which they depend
  • Climate change will greatly affect them as they depend on the primary productivity (food) available along their extremely long migrations
    • Increased water temperature, altered wind patterns will have hugely detrimental effects on their food sources and thus, the whales

Conservation

• Humpbacks received full protection in 1966 and have since been a species of interest in the public eye
  • Whale watching tours are popular throughout the world from Alaska to Hawaii, Japan, New Zealand and Central America
  • The Gulf of Fonseca is their safe haven for breeding and provides great opportunities for us to see whales up and down the coast near the gulf
  • They are the most studied species of all the large whales, but there is still a lot of mystery surrounding certain aspects of their behaviour and population dynamics
    • The exact reason for their singing, why they lob-tail etc.
    • We need to protect these animals so that these mysteries can be uncovered

This whale watching season has been a true success as on every trip we encountered whales. Our last trip was on the 15^th of March 2011 and was truly incredible as a mother and calf swam straight up to the boat and hung out with us for over an hour.

We are excited about the 2012 whale watching season!

KAYAKING RIO SAN JUAN

After five days we reached the town of San Juan De Nicaragua. This town was once one of the most important cities in Nicaragua. However today it has been left with a somewhat abandoned feeling.  After an overnight rest in San Juan we journeyed up the Rio Indio in to the heart of the Indio Maiz Reserve! This journey alone was worth the entire trip as we spotted large groups of scarlet and Great Green Macaws, The Ornate hawk eagle, anteaters, white face monkeys, caimans plus countless other birdlife and wildlife. Our destination on the river was a place called El Canto De  Gallo where the Rama family of Margarita live.

This amazing family live on the banks of the Rio Indio, on the edge of the dense rainforest. They survive by fishing, hunting and some small-scale subsistence agriculture. In this region, although inhabited it is forbidden to deforest, practice cattle farming or large scale agriculture. The Rama Indians have an intrinsic knowledge and respect of the jungle like no other indigenous peoples in Nicaragua we know. Margarita is the head of the house and is married to Ana and they have six children. They live in one hut with one wall, yet it felt more like a home than some houses in the city. We were blessed with the pleasure of sharing it with them. We ate together, talk story together and walked the jungle together. To give you an idea of how abundant the bird life is in the area, we spotted over 60 species of birds in less than two hours  right behind Margarita’s house. Take a look at this video for a better perspective of what it is like.

WHY IS THE RIO INDIO AND MIGHTY RIVERS AND JUNGLES TRIP SPECIAL?

In summary our latest Mighty Rivers and Jungles Adventure was a truly an unforgettable experience. We encountered countless wildlife, wondered through virgin rainforest and shared experiences with amazing people. Thank you so much to Malcolm and Helen Tilbe for joining us.  We look forward to taking more people on this incredible journey to ” the places where very few tourists go” !

For more information on this trip and how you can take part check out  MIGHTY RIVERS AND JUNGLES

“Rainforest Alliance works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land use practices, business practices and consumer behavior” (Watch the Rainforest Alliance Mission – Mission RA )

Rainforest Alliance is an international NGO working towards a ‘responsible legacy”, minimizing negative impacts and transforming them into benefits.

Rainforest Alliance works in many areas:

Sustainable Agriculture

Sustainable Forestry

Sustainable Tourism

Mitigating Climate change

Environmental Education

Connecting conservationists

“We believe that the best way to keep forests standing is by ensuring that businesses and communities to profit by ensuring that ecosystems are protected, and that workers are well-trained and enjoy safe conditions, proper sanitation, health care and housing. Once farms, forestry operations and tourism businesses meet certain environmental and social standards, we link them up to the global marketplace where demand for sustainable goods and services is on the rise.”

Tourism

“Sustainable Tourism is the only long-term way to advance a country.”

For local businesses to share in economical benefits lifeguarding cultures and landscapes of a country.

Rainforest Alliance strives to improve how tourism operations are managed by offering technical training to increase a businesses visibility on following sustainable practices. They help to develop tools for businesses to adopt best practices individual to each enterprise.

Businesses have to comply with a set of requirements to become verified with Rainforest Alliance by achieving this they offer help in international marketing. This credibility strengthens and supports such practices.

Greenpathways

Greenpathways (http://www.greenpathways.com) was created by a group of naturalists and travelers from various walks of life and different corners of the globe. Our vision is to create unique tours and expeditions in Nicaragua that are exciting and connect people first hand with the diverse natural environment and rich culture of Nicaragua.

The collaboration

Greenpathways began over a year ago and within 8 months we had achieved all the requirements to become verified by Rainforest Alliance. Our team set out with the goal to become as sustainable as possible and to demonstrate and inspire environmental stewardship.

Rainforest Alliance had decided on holding their annual conference in Central America this year so Greenpathways offered Nicaragua as a perfect option and we won. This March Greenpathways hosted the annual conference and was excited to be surrounded by so many passionate and inspiring people. The annual conference looked at the mission of Rainforest Alliance and what changes can be made to improve the business. What else can they do to make a change and how will Rainforest Alliance continue to strive over the next 5 years.

Greenpathways welcomed 105 employees of Rainforest Alliance from all over the world and we were proud to show those who had never visited Nicaragua what it has to offer.

As part of the 4 day conference the attendees visited Finca Las Flores (http://www.cafelasflores.com) and volcano Mombacho biological centre. Café Las Flores is a Rainforest Alliance certified coffee. Café Las Flores is carefully cultivated under the protective forest canopy in the rich volcanic soils of the Mombacho Volcano. This shade grown, bird friendly coffee is selectively hand picked and processed on sun-dried patios.

Greenpathways has walked away from this experience with more passion and desire to make a change in Nicaragua and continue the support of sustainable tourism, forestry and agriculture here. We will continue to support The Pure Earth Project in its aim of reforestation, forest conservation and social development.

Thank you

Greenpathways wants to take this chance to thank our small team of Maria Esmeralda, Juan, Marginne, Janigsia, Erlon and Chinto in helping us achieve our goals. Every member of Greenpathways is so important and valid. This year is going to see big changes and we can’t wait to show them to the world.

Gemma Cope  and Phillip Southan

Founders Of Greenpathways Nicaragua

www.greenpathways.com

Did you know that coffee is… One of the most popular beverages in the world, second only to tea.

The most traded commodity in the world after oil and illegal drugs. So why should we care what coffee we are buying and where it is coming from????

History of Coffee

The stimulating effects of coffee was first discovered by farmers in North Eastern Ethiopia, then during the mid 15th century cultivation of coffee began to expand in the Arab world from where it soon spread to Italy, Indonesia and the Americas during the 17th and 18th century. Coffee is now grown in over 70 countries.

Coffee is an evergreen tropical shrub that only flourishes within a couple of thousand of miles of the equator. Genus name; Cafea Family name; Rubiaceae Arabica and Robusta are the two most highly grown coffees. Arabica being the most highly regarded and mainly cultivated in Latin America, South East Asia and parts of Africa. Robusta or Liberica are used for low quality and instant coffees due to their increased caffeine content and higher yield. Three quarters of the world produce Arabica.

Coffee Crisis

OVERSUPPLY?? More coffee is being produced than consumers want to drink. Prices received by farmers have dropped to their lowest levels in decades. Millions of farmers are suffering. Forced from poverty to extreme poverty, resulting in massive suffering in many areas. In countries such as NICARAGUA thousands of children have starved as a result of the crisis (according to the United Nations World Food Programme) The crisis has caused farmers to look at ways of producing the highest yields of coffee possible therefore shifting from ‘shade grown coffee’ to ‘sun coffee’. Coffee was originally grown under the shade of trees, thus providing habitat for many animals and insects.

In 1980’s there was a major shift towards ‘sun coffee’, rows of coffee planted in full sun with no canopy cover. Berries ripen quicker and bushes produce higher yields, but the bushes only last for 10 to 15 years as opposed to 50 or more years of a shaded grown plant. This required clearing of large areas of forest and increased use of fertilizers and pesticides therefore causing damaging environmental effects such as pesticide pollution, habitat destruction and soil and water degradation.

Big Business

Farmers receiving as little as 2% from a jar of coffee, with retailers and producers receiving the majority of the profit. Greater than the powers of the supermarkets, a handful of giant roasters and packagers are strangling the market. Here are some the key players. Nestle (producers of Nescafe) Kraft (owned by tobacco giant Phillip Morris and behind Kenco, Maxwell House and Carte Noire) Sara Lee Corp (Douwe Egberts) Proctor and Gamble (mainly sell in the US market) These companies buy their raw products from the cheapest seller with the aim of maximizing shareholder value. Due to increased customer awareness consumer pressure has seen a gradual movement towards fair trade beans, with 3 of the 4 big companies launching at least one coffee made from Fairtrade.

Fairtrade Coffee

Fairtrade works on the strategy of poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Fairtrade works with those who have been economically disadvantaged or marginalized by the conventional trading system. Fairtrade coffee is sourced according to ethical trading principles. Setting a minimum price guarantee ensuring farmers and organizations receive a price which covers the cost of sustainable production for their products. Also offering a premium of when the market price is higher than the fairtrade minimum, the buyer must pay market price. A jar of fairtrade coffee is only marginally more expensive than the conventional trade equivalent yet the farmers are receiving three times the international price for Arabica coffee and thus able to live a better life.

Coffee in Nicaragua

Production of coffee in Nicaragua began in the mid eighteen hundreds, offering an engine for Nicaragua’s national economic development and providing an economic backbone to thousands of rural communities. Nicaragua’s rich volcanic soils and humid tropical rainforest produce floral aromas, bright acidity and a distinctive flavored coffee. Coffee supports nearly 50,000 families that own and operate small farms. 95% of Nicaraguan coffee is shade grown under native and exotic trees. Covering an area of approximately 108,000 hectares. Offering an important hold due to the high rates of deforestation in Nicaragua. Many local fairtrade cooperatives using fairtrade premiums are now able to reinvest into their cooperative and community with better control of quality, education scholarships, higher wages, lower production costs, and as one farmer from PRODOCORP coffee stated “ produce quality coffee, improve quality of life, it’s the responsibility of everyone”.

So back to the original question!! So why should we care what coffee we are buying and where it is coming from????

As a consumer we all have a choice and need to begin taking responsibility within the market. So when you are standing in the supermarket and looking at what coffee to buy take a second to think of the people producing your coffee and the advantages of spending an extra dollar or pound can make to them working and living in the developing country. Each person can make a difference!!!

“ A man goes to the beach and sees it is covered with starfish that have washed up in the tide. A little boy is walking along picking them up and throwing them back into the water. ‘What are you doing, son?’ the man asks. ‘You see how many starfish there are? You’ll never make a difference.’ The boy paused thoughtfully, and picked up another starfish and threw it into the ocean. ‘It sure made a difference to that one.’ He said

Have a look at the link below and see where and what Fairtrade products you can buy in your local supermarket.

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/products/retail_products/product_browse.aspx?comps=COFFEE

There are only a handful of marine species in the world that can inhabit either saltwater or fresh water and one of those species is a shark. Additionally that same shark species is one of the three that consistently attacks humans and prefers to lurk in the very shallow waters near shore. The bull shark, Carcharhinus leucas, is an adaptable and capable predator, even though they are considerably smaller than the other two “killer sharks”; the Great White and Tiger sharks. Bull sharks measure seven to ten feet in length and weigh anywhere from 400-500 pounds, while the Great White shark can exceed 15 feet in length and can weigh in at over one ton. However, their slightly abbreviated stature does not diminish their lethality. They have an indiscriminate palate and will eat anything from other sharks to dolphins and porpoises. They are blind and rely on an extremely strong sense of smell and will either nudge the prey first before attacking or perform the more deadly rush attack where they attempt to inflict enough damage to immediately subdue their target. Both successful tactics are aided by disproportionally large jaws and teeth, making the Bull shark’s bite shredding and deadly.

Where are they?

Bull sharks inhabit variably temperate waters throughout the world, from southern Massachusetts to the Gulf of Mexico. Though they prefer tropical and subtropical oceans, Bull sharks have been found in the Ganges, the Amazon and even the Mississippi River north of New Orleans. Their common size and physical characteristics have lead numerous civilizations to believe that the Bull shark is a local species. When found in the Ganges river, the people of India dubbed it the Ganges shark. In Africa they are called the Zambezi shark, while in Australia, they are the Shovelnose, Slipway Grey, and Swan River shark. The people inhabiting the shores of Lake Nicaragua thought they had found another species of freshwater shark, until it was proven that the sharks residing in the lake where in fact, Bull sharks.

Bull sharks in Lake Nicaragua

These Bull sharks, generally known as Caribbean Bull sharks, swim up the San Juan river, navigating the river’s rapids to complete their journey from the Caribbean Ocean. They have an extremely high tolerance for fresh water that enables them to adapt as they transition from the salty Caribbean to the freshwater of the San Juan river. Though this tolerance causes many to call them a true freshwater species, they are not because they are unable to breed in freshwater environments, like Lake Nicaragua, and migrate back to the Caribbean Ocean. However, their freshwater tolerance is incredible and shark research carried out on the Caribbean Bull sharks in Lake Nicaragua shed some light on how they and some other species can wander between marine and freshwater.

How do they do it?

All sharks can modify salt in their bloodstreams to sink or float, but Bull sharks are the only ones that flush out these salts in very large amounts by urinating as they swim into freshwater, enabling their systems to find equilibrium. Excreting these salts at the levels they can lowers their bodily sodium and chloride by up to 33%, making their bodies adapted to very different ecosystems.

Additionally, the body mass of all sharks has a higher salinity than the surrounding water, so through osmosis, they absorb a great deal of water. Sharks typically excrete this excess water through urination. However, a Caribbean Bull shark body living in the freshwater of Lake Nicaragua has to endure a much greater degree of difference in terms of salinity, or lack thereof, in it’s habitat.  To survive, the Caribbean Bull shark will absorb massive amounts of water and produce up to 20 times more urine than a shark living in saltwater. Their kidneys regulate this water excretion, thus living in fresh Lake Nicaragua would seem to put a massive strain on a shark’s kidneys. However, scientists were unable to detect any liver damage or detrimental bodily effects on the Caribbean Bull sharks in Lake Nicaragua.

Why aren’t there more now?

Their adaptability has made the Caribbean Bull shark a persistent survivor, but their ferocity has made them an unwelcome resident. For some time, the Cocibolca, the people who settled around Lake Nicaragua, didn’t learn how to swim for fear of being eaten by the sharks. During that time, the peoples’ fear preserved shark populations and Caribbean Bull sharks flourished from the San Juan river all the way north to Granada. However, they were always hunted and by the time the 20th century had begun, their monetary worth had skyrocketed. The shark fins were thought to be a world class “restorative” and Chinese traders would pay as much as $70 per kilogram. Markets developed for the shark liver and skin, although the meat was too perishable and was often thrown away.

In 1969, during the Somoza dynasty, the family built a shark-fin processing plant in Granada. Thousands of sharks were caught and killed, with some estimates exceeding 20,000 deaths during the plant’s ten years of operation. The shark population sharply declined and as this decline coincided with the revolution, the plant closed in 1979 and never reopened. Like the plant, the Caribbean Bull shark population has never recovered and they are rarely seen in the lake. Though reports trickle in from the San Juan river area, the shark population is considered to be virtually wiped out.

Any hope for Caribbean Bull shark recovery?

The shark has no natural predators and with no more hunting, there is hope that the population will recover. On a global scale the Bull shark is currently listed as “Near Threatened” by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), however, the Caribbean Bull shark population is considered significantly closer to extinction.  Additionally, there are no current specific management or conservation programs in place, so too much of this incredible species’ fate has been left to chance.

What can you do?

Freshwater ecosystems are particularly sensitive to pollution, the major threat to the remaining sharks in Lake Nicaragua. Nicaragua has petitioned UNESCO to declare Lake Nicaragua a World Heritage site. However this request has not yet been granted and the lake is in dire need of clean up and protection.

· To learn more the Caribbean Bull Shark and it’s habitats, check out: http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/39372/0

If you want to help, do anything you can to alleviate threats to all sharks and their aquatic ecosystems. If you eat seafood, buy only varieties that are ecologically sound and harvested sustainably. Try to educate your friends and family and spread the idea of being a conscious consumer. Tell them about the bull shark and look into and support shark conservation in your area.  Your efforts will bring about change, however small, so do what you can wherever you are.

· To learn about how Green Pathways is bringing about positive change in Nicaragua through sustainable eco-tourism, please visit to: www.greenpathways.com

One might assume that Nicaragua’s national sport to be soccer, but he would be incorrect. The people of Nicaragua are hugely devoted instead to baseball. It’s more of a national obsession than just a past time and time has deeply engrained this sport into Nicaraguan culture.

Baseball’s beginning

In the late 1800s, the Nicaraguan Atlantic Coast was occupied by the British, and cricket was the most popular sport. This all changed when an American businessman living in Bluefields, Albert Addlesberg, helped to convince two of the biggest cricket clubs in the area to swap cricket for baseball. Necessary equipment was imported from New Orleans and the first recorded series in Nicaragua took place in 1887. Two Bluefields teams, the “Four Roses” and “Southern”, faced off for the seven game series title. Four years later in 1891, baseball had spread to the Pacific coast and the first “official” games were played in Managua between Managua and Granada. Managua won the first national championship tournament in 1915 beating clubs from Masaya, Leon, Chinandega and Granada.

Baseball today

Every town has some semblance of a baseball field and kids can be seen all over the country maintaining this sport’s popularity. In Pearl Lagoon, children play catch along the dusty roads and improvise scrimmages with stick-bats and no mitts in an uneven, shady field. In Nicaragua’s bustling colonial city of Granada, kids dodge tourists and cyclists as they play full fledged games on the cobbled walkways of central park.

Nicaragua’s professional league

The 2009-2010 season is the fifth of the Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League (Liga Nicaragüense de Beisbol Profesional or LNBP). The LNBP unfortunately did not have a 2008-2009 season, due to financial problems of the Chinandega and Masaya teams. This season however, is promising. The league this year includes three of the teams from the 2007-2008 season – the Bóer of Managua, Tigres of Chinandega, and Leones from Leon. The Masaya team, the Fieras del San Fernando, has been replaced by Orientales de Granada. Bóer is the defending champion.

· For schedules, check out www.lpnb.net

Catch some Leonese baseball

The love of baseball is definitely alive and well in Leon. Come visit to catch a weekend game where baseball is watched a little differently. Team’s cheerleaders and pep bands keep the crowd involved and ensure a constantly high noise level. Catch a game in one of Leon’s sports bars for a quieter venue.

If you’re more interested in Nicaragua’s natural side, check out the variety of eco-tours on offer with Green Pathways at www.greenpathways.com