Biodiversity Expedition to the Cloud Forests and Coral Reefs of Honduras
August 2004

(The numbers in brackets refer to the photos below the text. Click on an image to bring up a larger version in a new window.)

Twenty biology students and two staff members spent two weeks in Honduras this summer helping with baseline biodiversity studies of the relatively unstudied tropical forests and reefs of this remarkable Central American Country.

On arrival our first stop was the town of Cofraida where, after donning suitable yet still fashionable gear (1), a two-hour pick up truck journey (2,3) saw us arrive at the Cloud Forest town of Buenos Aires (4,5). This town was the base for half our first week and saw us helping with various university studies of reptiles, birds, bats and invertebrates (6-12). The local people were extremely friendly and welcomed us to stay in their homes (13) but had no qualms about thrashing us 5-0 at football, despite Glyn's best efforts (14).

The rest of the first week was spent deep in the Cloud Forest of the Cusuco National Park (15,16). This was reached on foot after a three hour trek passing through Operation Wallacea's base camp (17,18) down an ever steepening track, which left us in no doubt that we were in the jungle (19-21). This brought us to the jungle camp of Guanales named after an unusual species of palm tree growing in the area (22). Eating, sleeping and showering in this camp were jungle style (23-26). Here too we engaged in studies of invertebrates, small mammals, howler monkeys (27) and perhaps most spectacularly the forest trees themselves (28-37). Chris and Jade helped sample one 20m x 20m quadrat with 35 trees, 33 of which were different species - that is biodiversity!

Week two and it was time for our Dive Training in the Caribbean, off the Northern coast of Honduras in the Marine Reserve of Cayos Cochinos (38-43). Once again we were welcomed by extremely friendly locals (44,45) before our dive training began in earnest (46-49). Once again the local fauna was breathtaking and King's students got actively involved in the study of island land fauna such as the Pink Boa Constrictor (50,51) here shown being micro-chipped by an American researcher after Mark Dalton of the upper sixth had captured it. Other land fauna included Spiny Tailed Iguanas (52), Shore Crabs (53,54) and hermit crabs (55). As our dive training progressed we could begin to appreciate the incredible life on the reef (56.57).

We left Cayos Cochinos as the sun rose over the Caribbean (58) a fitting finale to an unforgettable adventure. We had a fabulous time and thank Operation Wallacea for their help in making this trip possible.

T Keeley

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