La Senda Verde - The Green Path

We spent two weeks at this beautiful Animal Sanctuary and Eco Resort, not too far from La Paz, Bolivia, working to take care of all of the different animals. I think photos speak louder here than words do, we had a truly amazing experience at a truly amazing place. Most of the animals at La Senda Verde have been rescued from the black market, or from family homes, many of them being mistreated and the majority malnourished. La Senda Verde, despite the majority of the animals being turned over to them by the government  receives no funding at all, except from tourists, volunteers and some international donations (*hint hint nudge nudge*), definitely a magical place that we will keep supporting when we return home.

There were 6 amazonian parrots in this aviary, two big green parrots and four of these blue fronted parrots with such beautiful colours on their wings. They had learnt to laugh like cockies learn to say 'hello', it was beautiful to sit and have a laugh with these guys!  

One of the new baby Capuchin monkeys in quarantine, where the monkeys spend up to 3 months before heading to the main area. This little guy, Chango, is super humanized and just wants to cuddle in your shirt and nap, and who could resist those beautiful eyes? Their faces are full of expression.

Joy.

Terror. This was the other new baby in quarantine, terrified of humans but craving the attention of other monkeys, unfortunately the only adult monkeys in quarantine were male and would only put up with him for about 10 minutes...

Meet Mr. Bean, my favourite animal at La Senda Verde, a little crazy 'white eyed' parrot, I'm sure if he was human he would be diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. As a result of being kept in a small cage without stimulation he started to pluck out his own feathers, which, like biting your fingernails, is almost impossible to stop once you start. Each time he pulls a feather out he squawks loudly and if he is sitting on your shoulder bites you as though it was your fault... Crazy little dude.

The macaws are terrifying! They are very territorial and don't like people being around at all. I would hate to be bitten by one, I have scars on my fingers from the smaller parrots, I think this guy would rip your fingers off!!! There were a couple of macaws who were friendly, but on the most part,  I can't see why anyone would want one as a pet... though they are beautiful to look at and to see them fly is just amazing. The macaws are all free to fly around as they please, but most of them like to hang out on top of the other bird cages, to attack any unsuspecting human who dares to try to clean or feed the other birds!

One of the baby howler monkeys...

And Rosie, the Monkey Mum... In the wild the howler monkeys live with their mother until they are around 2 years old, though in captivity a howler monkey won't take care of a baby that isn't its own. Rosie spends 24 hours a day looking after the 3 baby howler monkeys, yes, she ever sleeps with them suckling on her ears!

One of the beautiful, cheeky Spider monkeys. These guys aren't so territorial as the Capuchin monkeys, apparently they aren't quite as smart either, but I highly doubt that after our hot chocolate was stolen from our room one morning while we were still lying in bed!

And a little tiny Squirrel monkey! These little guys are great to watch play, though they are pretty vicious!

Sam the Toucan! The most amazing bird, so smart and curious.

One of the many many tortoises! In total there are over 130 turtles and tortoises at La Senda Verde, so many of them have deformed shells from living in conditions that aren't right, turtles without water and tortoises without land, dry conditions rather than humid and so on.

The Trolls..

An unlikely pair! A little red headed parrot and a macaw, mates for life! Once a macaw finds its mate they are together for life, just so happens this macaws mate is a little different.

Willy and Martin Cuatro having a chat...

Willy trying to catch a fly!

Wilson... he is just like a teddy bear!

This chica is a Koati, a very strange animal I had never heard of before, I think she things she is a dog, but she steals food from the birds and looooves a good pat behind the ears. She is kind of half cat half raccoon...

Grooming time! You can see the macaw at the top of the photos has slightly pink cheeks. When they get angry their cheeks turn bright red, then you know to get out of the way!

The Capuchin monkeys are the smartest monkeys, with the biggest body to brain ratio, an ability to use tools, share equally and with politics within their groups that rival the Australian Government!

Their hands are amazing. The Spider monkeys only have 4 fingers on their hands and 5 on their feet, as it is easier to swing through the trees without a thumb.

An unbelievable experience...