January 2
Hello everyone!
¡Feliz año nuevo! I arrived back in El Salvador hours before the end of 2023, committed to exploring more of this little Central American country which I currently call home. My first stop was to see other creatures who are also not native…
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| Jaguar |
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| A right royal turkey, according to local lingo! |
Zoos are a conflicting idea for many people. To some, they are penning and isolating animals in alien locations far from home and blunting their natural skills. To others, they are ways of protecting endangered animals and allowing people who may not be able to see them in their natural habitat to get close to them and perhaps inspire them for the future. I understand both perspectives, though I would prefer to see animals in their natural habitat.
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| Leopards: not found in the wild in the Americas |
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| There were a few species of monkey in the reserve |
Where I was going was a site called FURESA. The name takes the first two letters from Fundación Refugio Salvaje, which translates as Wildlife Refuge Foundation. I’m not sure why I expected that to be different from a zoo. It isn’t.
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It advertises itself as an adventure zone, with ziplining and
the option to camp overnight in the park. I emailed about
this - they said it's not happening at the moment. |
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| One of the 23 enclosures - this was for a lion |
FURESA is situated quite close to Santa Tecla, with the traffic-laden drive taking a little under an hour each way. The setting itself is lovely, full of greenery even in the dry season. I got lucky with the entrance fee: $5 per person in January, which would otherwise be $15.
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| About 25 km from my house |
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| In the distance - in rainy season - would be a waterfall |
Within the grounds, they look after 31 different species, with the total number of creatures being about 100. Some, like the birds below, are from the region.
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| Scarlet macaws are said to be the most intelligent birds in the world |
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I think this is a blue-throated macaw -
there are only about 400 left in the wild |
One that used to be from the area, but is now nationally extinct, is the jaguar. They do have one in the park. When I walked up to the enclosure where it was sitting, it was staring aimlessly into the distance…then briefly locked its eyes on me. In the wild, I would have been lunch.
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| Jaguars are usually solitary creatures |
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| A jaguar's babies are blind at birth |
Other inhabitants, such as the brown bear, are from much further afield. Not sure whether they appreciate the warmer climate…
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In autumn, a wild brown bear will eat up to
90 pounds (over 40 kg) of food every day |
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| Bears often scratch trees and walls to mark territory |
I’ve been spoilt by the incredible wildlife I’ve witnessed from living in sub-Saharan Africa for six years. I can appreciate how awesome it must be for a young Salvadoran to see a lion that close for the first time, albeit behind a fence. The lions themselves looked a bit…sad…
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| A lion's tongue has sharp rasps which can scrape meat off bones |
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Lions are the only cats which roar together - unfortunately, this
one was on its own and in no mood to make noise |
Whilst I’ve seen most African wildlife in its local arena, I had less luck when trying to find tigers when I was in India almost 13 years ago. It’s not surprising - even though they’re rebounding, their number in the wild is perilously low. I got a couple of glimpses of three different Bengal Tigers here at FURESA. I seemed to do well at just missing getting good pictures and videos of them moving around. Even from a distance, they seemed huge and intimidating.
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| White Bengal Tigers are very rare: about 1 in 10,000 |
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| No two tigers have an identical stripe pattern |
An animal which tries to intimidate in a markedly different fashion is the peacock. The name of this animal in Spanish is brilliant: pavo real. Pavo is turkey. Real is royal. Therefore, what you see below is…a royal turkey! They were certainly strutting round like royalty, thinking that they owned the place. I’m sure the tigers would have put a stop to that…
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I'm OK with this one getting out of its
enclosure and walking around. A jaguar? Less so... |
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| When fanning, the feathers apparently emit a noise too low for humans to hear |
Or the black panther. This was in the first enclosure, not that I saw it the first time. Mainly because I was looking for a jaguar, which is an entirely different colour, in this section…called the ‘jaguar’ section. The jaguar, you may have inferred from earlier, was in a different section. Naturally. Anyway, I popped back before leaving as I saw a few people crowded together at the very top. Even after following their eyes, I didn’t see the sleek black fur until it moved.
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| Can you see it? |
FURESA is an interesting place. It says it is non-profit, with all money from visitors (those who do a ziplining tour add more to the pot) going towards the care of these animals from far-flung lands. How they ended up in El Salvador is my big question, and one which doesn’t have an answer.
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| A type of horned owl keeping watch |
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| Tapirs can use their long snout like an elephant uses its trunk |
I hadn’t been to a proper zoo in a long time, possibly since a school trip in Prague in 2015. FURESA did seem to have more space than zoos I remember going to and the animals looked healthy. Visiting this ‘wildlife reserve’ was a fairly random way of starting 2024 in El Salvador, and one which leaves me with more questions than answers. Why is a peacock a ‘royal turkey’, for example…
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| Fox in Spanish is 'zorro'. Missing a mask... |
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| I think this is a yellow knobbed curassow - its 'hair' is incredible! |
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| Beautiful setting for a strange place |
Love you all,
Matt
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