“Linorio was such a pioneer. He showed us how to safeguard the jungles. He’s a tiny man, but with a huge permanent smile, even when his mouth is closed.”
She told Jonathan that Linorio had been born and raised in the Peruvian Amazon jungle. As a young man he’d moved to a remote part of the area to work as a wood logger.
“Linorio, his wife and his little daughter set off. They found a beautiful spot, high on the river bank, which would be above the maximum flood line. The rivers could rise anything up to 10 meters during the wet season. They were hours by boat from the nearest town.
“The only other person in the area was an old man, and together the two of them logged the magnificent trees. There was a wealth of valuable timber. The jungle and river provided food to eat and plants for medicines, and they could sow a few fast-growing crops in the fertile soils of the river banks when the water subsided during the drier season.
“They would cut the huge trees, float the rafts of wood down the river to the lumber mills and sell their precious goods. It took a day and a half to get there. They were there two years, alone, before friends from town started to join them. Their second child was born there, miles from anywhere.”
Viktor continued the story. “Linorio had been there about four years by the time I joined him in the tiny community. It was a hard life, but we did well and made money. We built houses, had children and even set up a basic school.
“Most of us were wood loggers. Some were hunters and killed animals such as monkeys, alligators and turtles, both to eat and to sell. And of course, there were fish. I was the boat driver, mostly. They called me ‘The Captain’! I knew those rivers like the back of my hand, even when they cut new courses and changed their banks. Sometimes trees would fall in the water and block the way, so I had to know what was under the water as well as above it.
“We collected the turtles’ eggs too. They sold well and were easy to transport. Damn near used up all the eggs though. We didn’t know it at the time, but we took so many of their eggs we nearly killed all the turtles.
“Then, about 10 years after I arrived, everything changed. The government included our area in the huge national reserve. Commercial logging of timber was banned, and wildlife was protected. We could still use the natural resources for our own purposes. Subsistence, they called it. But we couldn’t sell anything. About half the community returned to town. Those that were left had to rethink what to do. We wanted to stay but we had to make a complete change of direction.
“And change we did. We went from being wood loggers to caring for and protecting the forests. We changed from hunters to conservationists and started breeding programs to increase the wildlife. We had to live in harmony with our surroundings instead of using them.
“It was a dramatic change, and a fast one. ‘A leap of faith’ is what Linorio always said we’d taken. We learned new ways and how to organize ourselves. We took only our quota and helped the animals we had once hunted. Regulations enforced by the authorities were nothing compared to those the community set. Anyone found breaking the regulations was banished from the village for two years. We looked after our own, looked after our neighbors and cared for the future of our jungle.
“25 years passed, and we were doing OK. Trees were growing old again and animal populations were increasing. There were many more sightings of the animals we had driven into the deeper jungle, especially Molly’s beloved jaguars.”
Molly saw Viktor had started to falter, and she took over the story.