BOTTOM LINE:
Tour of Caiman Farm
Hike in forest
BACK STORY:
This morning after another delightful breakfast in a sun filtered room with a river view, we met up with Jose to walk down the estancia road to the caiman farm. The caiman farm (stinky) is one of the many businesses mentioned that the owners have on the property.
The caiman farm is one of the money makers on the ranch. Fifty percent of the caimans raised on the ranch are let go back into the wild. The other fifty percent are killed and the hides are sold for leather.
Local farms and ranchers of the Ibera Wetland areas have been educated about the over hunting of the caimans in the wild. The caimans were near extinction because of the hunting. The skins in the past were likely traded for a bottle of booze which did not help the locals or the caiman population.
Through education, the locals now find a nest and alert caiman farms to their location. The locals are paid per egg in the nest. The eggs are harvested and very carefully repacked in the same nest material for transport back to the caiman farms.
At the farms the eggs are then repacked into flats of wet straw and put into an incubation room until they hatch. In the wild the baby caimans begin "chirping" in their shell and the mother caiman has to open the shells to let the babies out.
In the artificial incubation environment, gloved workers help to peel back the shells to expose the baby caiman. The caimans are tagged as to their nest and family order. They are then introduced to concrete enclosures as a nested family where they have circulating water and wooden pallets to rest on.
The caimans are fed once daily a mixture of mashed protein, chicken blood and nutrients for healthy growth. They stay in the enclosures for one year before they are either released into the wild or used for their skin. They growth of the caiman in that year really reflects the "survival of the fittest" theory. Although the caimans in a given enclosure were all from the same mother and hatched at the same time, some of the caimans have grown to be very large where others are very small.
It was also interesting to see how the instincts of the caimans began playing a major role in their survival from day one. The babies that had been hatched earlier in the morning were "wild" and made a hissing sound and ran away from any movement that they perceived to be aggressive. There aren't any "touchy-feeling" moments with these critters...no domestication!
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| Babies introduced to water |
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| one year old |
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| albino caiman |
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| caiman claws |
There had been a 30% survival rate in the wild for caimans. That figure had been decreasing as hunting had increased. Raising caimans on a farm has dramatically increased and improved the success of survival in the wild to about 90%.
Although I didn't like the idea of skins being part of the equation, I understood the greater picture and the fact that the illegal poaching has nearly been eradicated.
We had planned to do a hike in the forest in the afternoon, but after seeing the snake from the horse the day before I bowed out to the outing...Bruce followed. We then discussed with Jose the possibility of taking a 40 minute ride to his family property to see his development. We agreed to meet after lunch for that outing.
The skies had begun to turn darker and the wind had kicked up. My heart wasn't into the trip and luckily Bruce's wasn't either, so we declined. Jose was relieved. Thankfully we didn't go as a huge storm blew in and didn't let up until two days later!
We had been invited to join with Jose and three new guests in a typical Argentina bbq for dinner. We accepted and met in the dining area at 8:30pm.
The storm was fairly violent with thunder and lightening which added a little excitement in meeting our new friends. There was a travel agent from Buenos Aires (raised in Ireland) who was visiting the estancia for business reasons. Then there was a ten year old boy with his mother from Portugal, but were British.
The traditional bbq started with what appeared to be french fries but were actually a different root vegetable which seemed more starchy in flavor to the potato. Next platters of grilled chorizo, blood pudding and sweet breads were brought out. I looked across the table at Bruce with a sick expression as we vowed to at least have "one bite" of each offering.
Being raised by a father who had survived the great depression, organ meets were among the cheapest available and often served at our family table. Liver and onions, sweetbreads, heart and one time tongue all adorned our plates. Complaining or refusal were not options...instead being thankful for what was served along with "cleaning your plate" were expected. All rules were off at this bbq, however.
I just have a hard time eating sausages. They are often filled with fat, chopped remains of a butchered animal and unhealthy additives. I was in a foreign country where who knows what may have been added. Although it was a delicacy for the people of Argentina, it took a lot of deep breaths to get the fork to my mouth with a grin of appreciation on my face! I love trying new things, but the "Negro Pudding" (black or blood pudding) was a squishy, soft sausage encased in some form of skin. I quickly swallowed my bite and smiled.
Thinking that I had passed the test and I could consider that the dinner was over, a huge plate of rib meat arrived in the hands of the servers! All I could think of was "what kind of cardiac disease exists in the country?" The people love their beef and lots of it.
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