Tag Archives: Nina Pardo

My life since this blog began

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It seems fitting, at the end of one year and on the eve of the next momentous one; the much heralded 2012, to grant myself the indulgence of glancing back over my shoulder to peek at the events in my personal life over the last year.

The Planet Whale Report

This miraculous phase of my life actually began somewhat earlier in July 2010 when I ended my previous career of performing, choreographing and teaching contemporary dance, to intuitively set off in new directions. I never expected to find myself behind a desk in an office but the day I walked into Planet Whale’s office to meet Ian Rowlands and Dylan Walker, everything just felt right.

Seven months later, having completed compiling and editing a first ever Global Directory of Cetacean Conservation Organisations for Planet Whale, my plans were laid. I began this website and blog in February 2011 having decided, in a flowing-with-the-river kind of way, on a course of action.

With no set outcome in mind, but simply trusting in a step-by-step approach that felt right even though I could not analytically pinpoint why, I approached three wonderful cetacean conservationists to enquire about assisting them in their endeavours and, while doing so, document their lives and work. Amazingly, they agreed.

In mid-April 2011, I embarked on this venture. There followed three and a half months of the most incredible experiences with Peggy Stap of Marine Life Studies in USA, Stefan Austermühle and Nina Pardo of Mundo Azul in Peru, and Laurie Murison of Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station in Canada. I was honoured to meet the most kind, generous, caring, passionate, pro-active people, be given a uniquely personal window into their world, and permitted to write in intimate detail about their lives and work. On top of this, I had beautiful, jaw-dropping encounters with whales, dolphins, birds and other ocean dwellers, which have enriched both my understanding of them and of how we humans affect their lives.

And what was the result of such a venture? Did it lead, as I hoped it would, towards a new career in writing? Did it open any new doors through which I could walk to find the next step on my path? Well yes, it did indeed lead to the next chapter in my life, albeit in a completely unforeseen way. It led to something which I was not expecting to find on this venture. It led to a meeting of heart, mind, soul, spirit and head. It led to my husband Bruno.

We met in Peru in June, both of us there under unusual circumstances and both of us pulled to an event at a bar in Lima by others; Bruno by a friend and me accompanying the conservationists I was working for. In the two weeks we shared in Lima we met every evening and took a weekend trip to the beautiful wonders of Peru’s mountains. And then I left for Canada; it could have ended there; it didn’t. We stayed in touch until August when Bruno flew to England to meet me as I returned from Canada. By the end of another two weeks we had decided that our future paths lay together. We married in England on 6th October, and since then have been in the process of relocating to California to begin our life there together.

It is a fairytale-like story which I would find hard to believe myself if I did not have the proof of waking up next to my wonderful husband every day. Nevertheless it is still mind-boggling for me to look back over the last year. In the last twelve months I have lived in or visited four countries, slept in over twenty beds, seen over ten species of whales and dolphins, and met countless life-affirming people. In the last ten months I have written: one first draft of Lilanthro’s Story; twenty five blog posts about three inspiring conservationists; nine articles for three websites; one article for Caduceus Magazine; and one first draft of a second magazine article in the pipeline for 2012. In the last seven months I have met, fallen in love with, got engaged to, married and moved countries with one man, (roughly in that order). In the last four months I have performed in two dance films. In the last three months I have laid plans to further my writing and develop a harmonising movement practice for adults. And in the last month Bruno and I have returned to England to celebrate Christmas, New Year and our marriage blessing.

And now it is New Year’s Eve; a gateway between one year and the next, when individually and collectively we look reflectively backwards, look expectantly forwards and gather together our energies for the next step. 2012 is a momentous year which some people are gladly awaiting, others fearfully so, and others seeing it as just another year. Who knows what 2012 will bring for Bruno and I, for the collective human race and for this sparklingly beautiful blue planet called Earth. Maybe not every year can feel as fate-filled, love-filled and action-filled as 2011, but Bruno and I are aligning ourselves with those who are welcoming the coming year and we have faith that it will bring all that it needs to bring and be exactly as it needs to be. We feel ourselves to be in the keeping of Destiny, God and Life, and trust whatever path they intend for us to tread. I believe this to be true for all of humanity and the world itself.

So, with that, Happy New Year one and all, and I wish us all a soul-awakening, spirit-nourishing, heart-expanding year ahead.

Stefan, Nina and Mundo Azul – today and tomorrow

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You may remember mention of Stefan’s work on the Ancon Port campaign from my ‘Mundo Azul – from then till now’ post. At the point of writing that post the outcome of the situation remained uncertain. However, a few days ago Stefan learned that the battle had been won. Nine months work on this landmark project has paid off and the bay has been declared untouchable by law. The Ancon campaign has set a precedent here in Peru; this is the first time ever that a successful campaign has been mounted against one of Peru’s wealthiest family owned business groups. Also for the first time, all stakeholders were united together. Peru society is generally extremely divided with a huge gap between upper, middle and lower classes. In the fight to protect Ancon, the wealthiest and poorest levels of the community sat in meetings together and acted as one.

“This project marks a difference. It represents a change in Peru that really matters. If the biggest family corporation can be stopped then so can anyone. This case shows that the old measures taken by these powerful organisations will not be accepted anymore. Bribery, buying people’s allegiance, threats, physical attacks, acting with no scruples… all these tactics no longer work. The country and its people cannot be bought with money. Democracy and people’s rights have to be respected.”

Stefan himself knows firsthand the unscrupulous tactics employed by these large organisations. His own life was threatened while carrying out the Ancon project, with additional veiled threats made towards his family.

Ancon represents a huge shift in focus for Mundo Azul. In the last two years Stefan has been asked three times to become involved in social conflict cases and it is likely that this aspect of the organisation’s work will continue to grow. There are currently 233 registered social conflicts ongoing in Peru, with 50% of these involving an environmental element. Communities are standing up and fighting large companies, wealthy family groups and governmental factions who attempt to take away the rights of the local people. Many of these disputes are occurring along the coast, with local communities being displaced for ports, industry and agricultural projects which are also impacting heavily on the natural environment. Stefan says, “You have to know which fights to pick. Sometimes it is the other way round. Sometimes there is an ethically good company wanting to work in harmony for the good of a local community, but factions within the community want to twist things for their own agenda. So you have to be able to discern.”

Social conflict work can be carried out with relatively small amounts of funding, but even these modest funds still have to come from somewhere. Stefan knows that this money will not come from the government, indeed the government is more likely to go against such politically uncomfortable work, and even cut off permits and sources of funding. Certainly the foreign NGO’s will not become involved. “American and European NGO’s will not get involved in anything political as this may disrupt their inflow of money from donors. They do not want to touch anything that involves government, uncovering uncomfortable truths or illegal trading. They operate with a non-conflict policy.” As far as Stefan is concerned, these policies are damaging to conservation, “They are not taking a stand for conservation, they shy away from what really needs to be done. They are not doing what we need to do to save the world. We have to come back to the 80′s when people were passionate and took a stand. We need that, especially in countries like Peru.”

For Stefan, the lack of funding from external sources to finance social conflict cases, heightens his drive to secure his own financial resources. His commercial venture with Nature Expeditions is “The way forward”.

Stefan’s hope for the future is that Nature Expeditions will run successfully and secure a good income that will support both his family and the work of Mundo Azul. With that financial security in place, he will be free to decide Mundo Azul’s agenda. His guess is that socially and politically oriented projects will eventually overtake the purely conservation oriented ones.

Stefan is proud of his achievements in the Ancon project. He senses a growing confidence in himself as a leader. “Ancon shows the power that one person can have. For a community to be united, there must be a leader to bind them together.” Stefan is starting to be looked on as a leader within the community, and this is something he wants to build on in the future. Ancon has given him a renewed determination to do what needs to be done. “Ancon is one of the greatest achievements of my life in conservation. David can take on Goliath and win!”

A part of Stefan would like a gentler life; to run Nature Expeditions and not be involved in any more struggle… But somehow, considering his makeup as a person, I do not believe, and neither does he, that this will happen. He does however certainly hope to have the option of deciding which fights to accept and which to decline.

And what of Nina? You may have noticed that she has not been very present in the last couple of posts… She has been extremely busy on a work project of her own in the last few weeks, securing an income for the family. But her hopes for the future are to be an equal partner within Mundo Azul, doing the work which she loves most, and for her family to have the freedom to spend more time together enjoying the happy and carefree moments in life.

And that is where I have to leave Nina, Stefan and Mundo Azul… At a point where they are celebrating one victory… While still facing the many challenges of everyday life as conservationists in Peru… With an uncertain and constantly changing future ahead of them…

I will leave you with Stefan’s words, “I will always be a conservationist, conservation has become me. I can never go back. I hope to get the needs of my family met, but beyond that I will continue to do what needs to be done. With passion, one person can change the world…”

Mundo Azul – eradicating dolphin killing in Peru

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The illegal trade in dolphin meat in Peru is, in Stefan’s opinion, a huge problem but one which could be overcome quickly and successfully with the appropriate resources.

Before 1996 it was relatively common to find dolphin meat on the menu throughout Peru. Nina and Olga’s successful campaign which led to the new law being introduced was a milestone in conservation. Seven dolphin species became the only animals in Peru to have a law dedicated purely to them. Once the law took effect, the legal trade in dolphin meat ended, but an illegal one sprang up in its place. This trade continues predominantly within less well off communities; dolphin meat is not a luxury commodity for the elite but a simple food source sold at local fish markets.

When Stefan and Nina first realised illegal dolphin killing was taking place, they decided that information gathering had to be the immediate course of action. They had no idea of the scope of the problem or whether it was a small or large scale operation. Stefan’s experience and skills in undercover investigation would now prove to be vital in their research process.

Nina and Stefan realised it would be impossible to document dolphin killing at sea. The marine coastguard knew the law and would be patrolling the coast. Therefore any fishermen hunting dolphins would be doing so covertly, probably under cover of darkness, and bringing their catch ashore hidden under tons of fish.

Once on land however, it was a different story. Although a law existed, the land police did not know about it. And even if they had known, they probably would not know how to recognise dolphin meat. So, at local markets the meat could be displayed and sold easily without any fear of arrest.

The ideal place to carry out research was at the point of sale; the fish markets themselves. However, fish markets exist in some of the poorer, more dangerous parts of coastal towns and, as a white person, Stefan could not go there. Instead, local Peruvians were trained and hired to undertake the work.

Mundo Azul carried out undercover investigative research in Lima and other towns up and down the coast, generally spending two weeks at each market. It was relatively easy to build up a picture of the frequency and scale of the problem because of the decay rate of dolphin meat. Dolphin meat only stays red for 24 hours, after this time it turns black. Stefan knew that if red meat was on sale every day at the fish market, then dolphins were being killed every day to provide it. Additionally they could estimate the number of dolphins from the amount of meat on display; for example at one port, they were able to estimate a catch of two dolphins per day.

One informant, who proved his reliability by notifying the marine coastguard of a catch of dolphins due to arrive in port, told Stefan, “every day, about three dolphins are caught“. Based on the informant’s information, an estimated 1,000 dolphins were being brought ashore in one port alone over the course of a year. The formal estimate which Mundo Azul placed on dolphin killing was 3,000 per year. However, this was, “A very conservative estimate”.  Stefan believes the actual figure to be much higher when the 50+ places to land catches up and down the coast are accounted for.

With the research complete and enough data collected to take action, their next step was to work with law officials. In collaboration with the Ecological Police based in Lima, they travelled with one policeman to fish markets in towns along the coast. Stefan then accompanied the officer and local police on an armed raid of the market. Mundo Azul, not the police, financed these operations. They paid travel, accommodation, petrol and food for both themselves and the policeman. In addition they paid a ‘wage’ for the officer. In Peru policemen have two or three jobs as their police pay is not sufficient. It was impossible to ask an officer to travel to another town for a few days without paying him as this would leave him with a loss of earnings. Mundo Azul therefore supplemented his income. The operations cost the organisation approximately US$500 per raid.

The raids were successful and provided the evidence required to enable local law enforcement to act. Additionally, film and photographic coverage from the raids and undercover work were used to highlight the issue in the media. During this time, Mundo Azul also carried out educational work with local police, prosecutors and other law officials to teach them about the dolphin law and its enforcement.

With a law to protect dolphins in place, successful prosecutions occurring and the gradual education of police, it would be understandable to assume that the illegal trade in dolphin meat would be quickly eradicated. However, it continues to this day. Why? Mundo Azul took the first important steps, but continuity was needed to see the process through to completion. The work of publicising the issue and dealing effectively with it along the entire Peruvian coast needed time. That continuity over an expanded timescale required finances, and adequate finances were something that Mundo Azul did not have.

Throughout the dolphin campaign in 2003-05, Stefan appealed to the international conservation world for support. But this appeal fell mainly on deaf ears. In addition, the other two marine conservation groups in Peru spoke out against Mundo Azul, claiming that the estimated number of dolphins being killed was exaggerated. These organisations’ claims were not substantiated by any data of their own, but they were none the less listened to by the world at large.

Small amounts of money were occasionally donated, but nothing on the scale required. Stefan became increasingly frustrated during this period and his frustration turned to anger. He was tired of feeling so powerless. He lost patience with the larger international NGO’s whom he had been appealing to for money.

“In Peru we have a law prohibiting dolphin killing and we have police and lawyers wanting to carry out the work of eradicating it. This is a battle which could be won. With a campaign here in Peru, international conservation organisations could have an amazing success story to tell their donors. If just one tenth of the money that is being spent on the continual campaign against Japan’s whaling was spent here, we would see the end of dolphin killing, completely. 25 years after starting to campaign against Japan, that battle is still going on, here it could be won in a year. But Peru is not ‘sexy’ enough, it is not a marketable campaign. Why fight a battle in Peru when you can fight Japan?”

Mundo Azul had no further funds to finance the work themselves and the campaign’s momentum dissipated. However, their work continues in other ways. In 2006 they initiated a first ever photo identification research project on dolphins. They are able to finance this project through the international volunteers who travel here to work with them. The research is showing that there are still huge numbers of dolphins in the waters around Peru which gives hope for the future. Furthermore, Stefan hopes that this research combined with their data from the undercover operations will one day gain the financial support needed to complete the eradication of illegal dolphin killing in Peru. And maybe if Nature Expeditions helps Peru gain a place on the world map of marine ecotourism, sending tourists home with tales of their wonderful dolphin experiences plus tales of the animals’ continued slaughter, Peru will become ‘sexy’ enough to be given that support by the world at large.

In Stefan’s own words he is a “Very opinionated person”. He has strong views on the conservation world in general, with a mixture of negative and positive experiences to draw on, including those described above. His views, both in relation to the issue of why conservation groups ignore the plight of Peru’s dolphins and in relation to other issues, will be the subject of my next, and penultimate, post on Stefan, Nina and Mundo Azul.

Nature Expeditions – opening Peru’s secret treasure chest

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Peru is known for its inland treasures, for its mountains and rainforests, ancient ruins and rich culture. Tourists flock here to visit the Inca city of Machu Pichu high up in the mountains and conservationists tell the world to protect Peru’s diverse rainforest. But there is an undiscovered treasure in Peru, or more accurately, in its oceans.

Stefan lives every day in amazement at the bounteous nature of the ocean and in disbelief at how invisible it is to the rest of the world. Peruvians, conservationists, tourists, international organisations… anyone and everyone has the general perception of the waters here as being, “Cold, green, with no visibility and just a load of anchovies!” This part of the Pacific is vaguely known to have a high biomass (meaning biological mass, i.e. a lot of anchovies), with 10% of the world’s fish catch coming from here. But what remains totally unrecognised is its astonishing biodiversity (meaning many different animals, i.e. not just anchovies!)

The richness of the Peruvian coastal waters is the result of two ocean currents. One is the Humboldt Current, which flows northwards along the Peruvian coast, bringing with it cool oxygen rich waters from Antarctica. The other is a strong upwelling close to the Peruvian coast which draws up nutrient rich water. These two currents combined cause a very high production of algae, creating the primary level in the food chain, and consequently forming the basis for an extraordinarily rich diversity of marine life. There is one big party going on here, and everyone is invited, be they a charismatic whale or a humble mollusc.

The figures which Stefan gives are, quite simply, staggering. Over 30 species of cetaceans either reside or migrate here to feed. That’s 37% of the total number of cetacean species in the world, and they hang out right in front of Peru’s coastline. There are 1,000 species of fish, 600 crustaceans and 1,400 molluscs. There are sea lions, fur seals and sea otters. There are 87 species of marine birds, 27 of which are albatrosses, shearwaters and petrels, and seven are gulls. These numbers can literally fly overhead without really sinking in, but Stefan painted a very clear picture when he described the Galapagos albatross.

“People travel from all round the world to see a Galapagos albatross on the Galapagos islands. But how much time does this bird spend there? It hatches… then it disappears… it comes back as an adult to breed for a few months… then it disappears. Where does it go? It goes to a place where it can find food and that place is here in the waters off Peru where it lives for 80-90% of its life!”

Bird lovers, divers and whale watchers flock to other well-known destinations to see cetaceans and birds, or go diving and kayaking. But Peru remains an unknown hotspot. The water here is dense, it is a “Floating soup of food”, but with no existing culture of marine tourism to promote it, no one knows of its rich beauty. Stefan’s pioneering marine ecotourism company Nature Expeditions is attempting to change this status quo.

When Stefan takes tourists out on trips with Nature Expeditions, they are at a loss for words. He has guided dolphin researchers from Europe, who often spend a whole week searching the Mediterranean to find just one pod of dolphins. In Peru they see three or four pods of dolphins on just one trip and their mouths hang open when Stefan tells them this is an everyday occurrence. More than 1,500 individual bottlenose dolphins reside along one short stretch of coastline south of Lima, which means there are a staggering six dolphins per kilometre.

He has guided kayak tour operators who have never in their life seen as many species of marine birds and animals as they see here on a two hour kayak trip. And he has watched tourists become emotional, even hysterical, at the experience of seeing dolphins swim up to the boat and look them in the eye.

On diving trips, Stefan smiles at divers who are amazed to see rocks covered in a carpet of life not just one animal deep, but two or three animals all sitting on top of each other! Stefan told me that he knows of one kelp forest diving spot in America where there are 40 dive operators all diving in the same area. In the kelp forests off Peru Nature Expeditions is the only operator in existence.

When Stefan takes tourists on trips to Parakas, to the south of Lima, they are blown away by the contrast there. To view the dead nothingness of desert meeting the alive richness of the ocean, and to watch dolphins leaping out of the water against a background of dramatic sand dunes, takes their breath away.

One of Stefan’s personal favourite nature experiences, which can be had a short boat ride from Lima, is swimming with sea lions. There are only five places in the world where you can swim with sea lions, and generally they have the added excitement of a potential shark attack thrown in. In Peru the sharks do not come close to sea lion colonies; there is just too much food for them elsewhere. As Stefan says, “Swimming with dolphins is not half as great as swimming with sea lions. Sea lions make contact with you, they come and very gently nibble at you to see what strange creature you are. They are funny, they play, they sneak up on you from behind and shoot away when you turn and look at them!”

In could be assumed that it is a blessing for Peru’s ocean to remain unknown to the world at large. After all, surely this means that it will not become spoilt. However, in Stefan’s words,

“That’s bull****! The ocean here is being overfished, contaminated and destroyed, and no one knows about it. Nobody sees the plastic bags and other waste floating in the waves. Because no one sees it, there is no one to shout out ‘Wait! What are you doing to this beautiful, ocean!’ Conservation only works when people are aware of the fact that beauty can disappear. When no one is aware, no one cares, and when no one cares, unscrupulous people are free to continue destroying.”

I asked Stefan what he hopes Mundo Azul and Nature Expeditions can achieve in the future. He replied, “Helping people to discover the beauty, so that they can care and take action to protect it.”

There is a huge potential in Peru for marine eco-tourism. At present Nature Expeditions is leading the way. Stefan is not worried about competitive companies being established because he knows there is room for them all. Indeed, the more successful Nature Expeditions and other companies become, the more known Peru’s ocean treasures become. Stefan hopes this would start the metaphorical snow ball rolling on its way to bringing him a much deserved income, providing incomes for other local people and, most importantly, gaining the worldwide recognition which the area needs to ensure its protection for the future.

But before we can carry on exploring Stefan’s hopes for the future, there are current issues still to address. Illegal dolphin killing is one example of how the oceans around Peru are not being looked after or noticed by the world at large. In my next post I will be writing about the work which Stefan, Nina and Mundo Azul have undertaken to end the trade, and what further measures are still needed to successfully bring it to a stop.

Mundo Azul – the wonder years

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I asked Stefan what the most memorable highlights were from his and Nina’s time with Mundo Azul, and his answer was immediate and definitive, “Our early years when we organised and took part in diving expeditions.” He went on to recount three such adventures.

When Nina and Stefan decided to dive in Lake Titicaca they did so for two reasons. The first was for the pure thrill of the dive itself. Lake Titicaca is huge, it can even be seen from space, but, more importantly, it is situated at an altitude of 3,800 metres and as such is one of the highest diving destinations on the planet. Stefan and Nina were young and they were excited by the thought of breaking records; Nina would be the first woman ever to dive here, and only a handful of men had done so before them. Their second reason was to conduct a pilot study of the Kaira frog. This frog is endemic to the lake, considered holy by local people, and is also an endangered species.

At the small town of Llachon, they met the community leader who was afraid that their presence would upset Mamacocha, the spirit of the lake. So before diving, they appeased her by making offerings. They also had to prepare their equipment. This may be a relatively easy thing to do at low altitude, but at high altitudes everything becomes a hundred times harder. Stefan remembers how carrying the dive tank a short distance would cause him to “Lie on my back on the ground, looking like a beetle, gasping for air!” Just putting on a dive suit was a struggle, let alone charging a dive tank which at normal altitude may take 20 minutes, but at this altitude took one and a half hours.

Stefan and Nina had a successful dive in Lake Titicaca, thankfully with no misadventures. As Stefan says, “At this altitude you do not want to have an accident. If you do it will probably be the last one you ever have!” They were able to gather data and photographs of the rather strange looking Kaira frog, and pave the way for a future return to the lake with a film crew in tow.

Stefan and Nina were also the first people ever to dive in the Peruvian rainforest. For two years they had wanted to carry out preliminary research in a rainforest area, but had not located a river with good enough visibility. Rivers in rain forests are generally brown and if you stick your head in one you are likely to only see about 1cm in front of you. Then they made contact with another NGO working in Yanacharga Chemillen National Park who told them that in the dry season, provided it did not rain at all, the rivers were clear.

The opportunity to dive there came in collaboration with a Belgian film crew. The area they headed to was a beautiful wilderness of hills, canyons and forest, and at a high enough altitude not to have to worry about the presence of piranhas or crocodiles. The journey there was adventure enough, with 24 people and all their equipment travelling up the Iscozasin river. It took a whole day to navigate upstream. This was in part due to the dry season which meant water levels were low, which in turn meant rapids. Whenever they reached a rapid, the people had to carry the equipment on foot to meet the boat further up the river; a process that was repeated many times over. The following day saw them walking all day long through the forest to reach their destination. Stefan remembers how surreal it looked to see people walking through a rainforest with dive tanks on their backs!

After additionally surviving three potentially deadly attacks by the shushupe snake, their efforts paid off. When they arrived at the river they found it to be crystal clear and wonderfully warm. It was “Like diving in an aquarium. The low water level meant that fish of all sizes were trapped in these small lakes by rapids on either side. They would just swim round and round us as we watched. It was a stunning sight!”

The film crew were able to document the area’s treasures to their heart’s content, and Stefan and Nina had the satisfaction of knowing they had seen a huge logistical operation through from the initial idea to a successful end result.

Stefan and Nina’s expedition to the Lake of the Condors has to be the most fantastical story of the three. The lake is situated at an altitude of 2,700 metres, in a cloud forest amidst steep mountains. The area is of archaeological interest with its unexcavated remains of the Chachapoya people, a culture which pre-dates the Incas. Indeed when the Incas first arrived here, the Chachaboyas rebelled against the fearsome warriors, bringing severe punishment upon themselves as a consequence.

Chachapoya way of life, and death, included mummifying the dead. The people constructed small buildings in which to place the mummies and, somehow, positioned them high up the vertical cliffs of surrounding mountains. Today, the area around the lake contains the mostly undiscovered remains of these people. It was also thought the lake itself contained hidden archaeological treasures and this was the reason for Stefan and Nina’s expedition. They were leading a team of German archaeologists intent on mapping Chachaboya remains within the lake. In addition, it gave Stefan and Nina a wonderful opportunity to conduct a first ever biological survey.

Stefan described the challenges which this expedition entailed. On leaving Leymebamba, the last village en route, the team of four divers plus film crew travelled by horse onwards into the forested mountains. It took 28 human carriers, 47 mules, plus the team on horseback to transport everything necessary for the dive. As Stefan said, “It was like an eighteenth century expedition, with a caravan of people and animals a kilometre long!” Food, tents, equipment, fuel… everything that they might possibly need had to be carried by human, horse or mule through the forest to their destination.

They arranged the expedition for the dry season, as navigating steep mountains on horseback in the rainy season would be asking for disaster! However, the weather, or the spirit of the lake, had its own intentions. It is believed by the local people that all the lagoons have spirits, and these spirits will act to defend themselves from intruders. The team had a 12 hour journey over a mountain of 3,600 metres and down into the valley beyond. This would be a difficult enough journey in good conditions, but on the morning of their departure the dry season gave way to heavy rains. It rained for the whole 12 hour journey, forcing the horses to cross mud which at times came up their stomachs, and it continued raining that night as they arrived and made camp. It proceeded to continue raining for the whole of the next day and night, while the team struggled to make trails from their camp to the lake and build a platform on the lake in preparation for their dive. That night, all was completed and they were due to dive the following day. But then the leader of their group of carriers and support personnel, announced, “The lake does not want us here. Tomorrow morning we will have to leave you!”

The team attempted to convince him otherwise. With his shaman’s knowledge he advised them that their only chance was to make an offering to the lake and calm her spirit. There was some secret laughter from the team of archaeologists, but the following morning they duly trudged an hour through thick mud under the worst rains yet to reach the edge of the lake. Each person carried a personal object to offer the spirit and, amidst much ritual and chewing of Coca leaves, the offerings were made.

The very moment that their offerings touched the surface of the lake, a ray of sun shone on the exact spot where the group stood. Within an hour the clouds lifted from the surface of the lake and disappeared. After two days and nights of torrential rain, the sun came out. There was no more quiet laughing from the team of archaeologists!

With the spirit of the lake appeased, the team were able to conduct their surveys. However, there was one last twist; after three days of diving, not a single sign of archaeological remains were found and neither was a single fish or other aquatic life. The Lake of the Condors was either very much dead or its spirit was keeping its treasures for itself!

Nina and Stefan consider themselves to be immensely fortunate to have experienced the wonders of diving in such extreme, untouched and beautiful places. Diving by its very nature offers a window into another world. Diving in these locations must have been like visiting another galaxy; what a remarkable thing to experience! The memories which they carry from those early years of Mundo Azul remain in their hearts to this very day.

They have of course experienced many other wonders of Peru… in particular the amazing diversity of life existing along the coast, which Mundo Azul works to protect and Nature Expeditions hopes to share with others. This bounteous marine environment will be the celebratory subject of my next post before moving on to the less joyous topic of illegal dolphin killing.

For a fuller flavour of Nina and Stefan’s expeditions  why not watch a short film about diving in Lake Titicaca and two films, part 1 and part 2, about diving in the Peruvian rainforest!

Mundo Azul – from then till now

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When Stefan and Nina moved to Peru together, the first obstacle to overcome was language. For the first year, while Stefan was learning Spanish, he worked as a travel guide for German tourists. After this time he and Nina approached different conservation groups in Peru to enquire about working with them on marine issues. They were surprised to learn that most of the organisations only focused on rainforest habitats. From the two small grass root NGO’s working on marine issues, they received a negative response and a feeling of competition.

“Well, we’ll have to start our own organisation then!” Stefan and Nina concluded one day. Being conservationists who are motivated by the problems facing all life in the oceans, they decided to  focus on general marine issues as opposed to purely dolphin related ones.

In 1999 Nina and Stefan formed Mundo Azul. The early years of the organisation were a wonderful adventure with incredible opportunities and expeditions. Because of their broad focus, and Stefan’s diving skills which very few people possess in Peru, they were able to attract funds from larger organisations to carry out underwater biodiversity research. The Nature Conservancy, for example, needed to acquire baseline information for marine protected areas. Stefan dived up and down the coastline carrying out research that was essential to proposing conservation measures for the area.

For about three years Mundo Azul was involved in setting up and taking part in the most amazing expeditions funded by larger NGO’s, photographers and film crews. Stefan and Nina were fortunate enough to explore some of the most beautiful and untouched parts of Peru. They were the first people to dive in the Lake of the Condors and the Peruvian rainforest, and Nina became the first woman to dive at high altitude in Lake Titicaca. This period provided some of the highlights of their time working together.

Stefan also continued to dive frequently along the coast of Peru. He was alarmed to come across many dead dolphins on these trips. He would find their bodies washed ashore on beaches, obviously slaughtered with their muscle meat taken. In 2002 the family went to the beach for Christmas. On their first day they marveled at two dolphins swimming gracefully in the surf close to shore. The following day they found two dead dolphins on the beach.

Dolphin killing had been illegal in Peru since Nina and Olga’s victory in 1996 so what was happening here? Stefan came to a decision, “Something has to be done about this.” There followed a huge undertaking by Mundo Azul to investigate and eliminate the illegal killing of dolphins taking place in Peru. I will detail this further in a future post, but to give an overview, the work included information gathering and undercover investigations, police raids, training of police and prosecutors, and appealing to the world at large to help end the illegal trade in dolphin meat.

However, despite all their efforts, they lacked the funds and resources to complete the task of eradicating dolphin killing. It continues to this day. By 2005, their funds had dried up. In Peru there is no state funding for conservation work and a severe lack of money from any source. NGO’s rely on funds coming from larger organisations based in foreign countries, from foreign volunteers and investors, and from their own ingenuity to find other ways of financing themselves.

In 2005, Stefan and Nina’s first child Aysha was born. Nina was working for Conservation International, one of the biggest conservation organisations in the world, but still her income was not enough to sustain the family in Peru, and the pressure was on Stefan to bring in enough money to support the family.

In what appeared to be a moment of good fortune, one of the biggest national NGO’s offered Stefan the role of Executive Director. Against Nina’s intuition and better judgement, Stefan accepted. His role was to re-float the NGO which had run into financial difficulties. He was responsible for making the difficult decisions which would enable it to survive. He cut their workforce by 50%, identified and eliminated corruption, and began to pay off their labour debts. He succeeded in turning the tide and was doing so well that his board of directors gave him a salary increase as an official well done. However, while investigating the organisation’s finances he discovered there was some unusual activity taking place. Thirty accounts existed for 12 projects, with money shifting between accounts and files being erased. To this day Stefan does not know exactly what was happening or who was responsible, because three weeks after being given a pat on the back he walked into his office to be told “We want you out of here in five minutes!” Stefan was fired, with the official reason given that he was making the organisation bankrupt and had raised his own salary.

In 2006 Mundo Azul received its last grant from an external organisation, Humane Society International, to organise seminars and a conference, with the aim of promoting whale and dolphin watching in Peru. After this conference there were no more funds to continue the work.

The last five years have been a fight to survive for Stefan, Nina and their family. They would have loved the freedom to focus purely on Mundo Azul and continue the campaign against illegal dolphin killing and other marine conservation initiatives, but this was simply a luxury the family could not afford. Instead Stefan has taken on any work available, including teaching and consulting for other organisations, and creating Lima’s first ever ecotourism company Nature Expeditions. Of course, Mundo Azul was not forgotten entirely. Indeed during this time the organisation began a unique research project implementing the first ever photo identification studies on bottlenose dolphins, financed by foreign volunteers and grants from local companies.

In mid 2009, Nina ended her job at Conservation International, after having worked for more than seven years on rainforest projects and some marine initiatives in alliance with Mundo Azul. The family’s economic situation became more uncertain. However, nine months ago, Stefan was hired to help on a social project. One of Peru’s biggest economic family groups wanted to develop an industrial port in one of the very few but beautiful bays in Peru; Ancon. Ancon is a fishing port and seaside resort, its development would have resulted in the destruction of the tourist and fishing industries, plus impacting negatively on the area’s ecosystem. 300 jobs would have been created, for which 5,000 jobs would have been lost. Stefan’s role was to campaign, lobby politicians and unite local stakeholders from all social levels. The campaign is still in process, but with growing public attention, united stakeholders, and support from politicians and other wealthy families, it is looking likely that the bay will be declared untouchable by law. This is the first time that a project by this particular family group has ever been brought to a grinding halt.

And that brings us up to the current day. Mundo Azul’s roots are in marine research, species protection and environmental education; it was never intended for the organisation to have a political or social agenda. However, Mundo Azul now works at the forefront of social conflicts, defending the rights of communities against large companies. This change of profile is a consequence of current issues in Peru, with proposed industrial projects, particularly on the coast, having social, political and environmental impacts. Even before Ancon, Stefan had been involved in two other socially oriented cases, but Ancon raised Mundo Azul’s profile considerably. The organisation now receives requests from all over the country to work on social and political projects.

This post has barely scratched the surface of the many facets of Mundo Azul’s work. In forthcoming posts, I hope to bring you stories of the beautiful moments from Nina and Stefan’s work together, the toughest moments in the fight against dolphin killing, plus Stefan’s views on the weaknesses of conservation in general. I also hope to share with you his dream for the future; one in which he does not have to worry about providing for his children, can profit from more pleasurable work and choose which fights, if any, he still wants to fight.

Next time… The wonders of diving in some of the most magical and extreme places on Earth…

Stefan and Nina – the completion of a love story

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This picture shows Stefan and Nina together, after their compelling love story found its completion, after they had fallen in love, seen pictures of each other for the first time, met for the first time, married in Germany and moved to Peru… All of which happened in that order and within the space of a just a few months. Here’s how it all unfolded…

Once Nina had booked her flight to Germany, she spoke to Stefan and told him she was going to visit him. His reply was a mixture of, “You don’t have to do that… but I am happy that you are.”

During the next month and a half before they were due to meet, Nina and Stefan talked and emailed frequently. In that time, Nina realised that she had fallen in love with Stefan. She did not know quite why or how, there was no rational explanation, but her intuition guided her and, as she told her incredulous friends, “It just feels true and aligned. I simply have no doubt.”

Just before Nina was due to leave for Germany, Olga contacted her to ask that she attend an important dolphin conference in Peru. Olga’s plea was “Do it for the dolphins!” Of course, Nina could not refuse such a request so she arranged to go to Peru before heading to Germany.

Just before she left, she and Stefan spoke on the phone. It was during this phone call that Nina felt compelled to say to Stefan, “I need to tell you something before I jump on the plane…” Stefan replied, “Well go ahead, tell me.”

“I don’t know if I can, I feel too shy…” And he replied, “No, no, don’t be shy, go ahead.”

“I need to tell you I love you…” Nina said. “I love you too,” Stefan replied before he even realised what he was saying.

With that their phone call finished and Nina flew to Peru. Stefan meanwhile was left worried and stunned. “What does this mean?” were his thoughts. He had been married once and at this point had just come through a divorce. He did not know what or how he felt about Nina’s words, or indeed his own. He had to find out more…

Stefan attempted to reach Nina by phone. But he had no number for her in Peru. It took him two days of contacting all their mutual contacts in different countries before he was able to reach her. When at last they spoke, he asked her, “What did you mean by what you said. Did you mean like a sister says to a brother, or a lover says to a lover?” Nina was scared that he may not like the answer but she said, “Like a lover says to a lover…”

Stefan’s instant response was, “I’m so happy, I’ll sell everything and come and live with you wherever you are!”

Out of nowhere, having never met and never seen a photo of one another, Stefan and Nina had declared their love for each other. Furthermore, they knew that if they wanted to live together in Peru they would have to marry. They agreed a plan. They would meet at the airport in Germany, Stefan would greet Nina with a kiss, and if that one kiss felt right, they would move to Peru and get married.

And so they met for the first time at the airport… And they kissed… And three days later Stefan phoned Nina’s mother to ask for Nina’s hand in marriage.

It was not all roses. Both families were understandably uncertain of the idea. There were some tears, some looking at maps to see where in the world Peru was, some offers of plane tickets to allow them to meet and get to know each other better before taking such a big step… But this did not alter their decision. Nina returned to Washington DC, but very soon flew back to Germany to get engaged…

Shortly after that Stefan and Nina were married at Sababurg castle in Germany. This same castle had once inspired the Brothers Grimm to write Sleeping Beauty; a fairytale where the Princess lay awaiting the kiss of her perfect Prince. It was a truly beautiful day, complete with a horse and carriage secretly arranged by Stefan. Within three months Stefan and Nina had moved to Peru to start their new life together and their wonderful story continues to this day. They have now been married for 13 years, have two children and are still very much still in love.

However, this wonderful story is also most definitely real life. And just as life can bring miraculous events to us all at certain times, to remind us of the beauty of life, it also brings us the challenges, the ups and downs, the stresses, and the every-day-ness of things. Stefan and Nina are very fortunate that they found one another; two compatible souls happening to meet in this big, wide world. But after their fairytale romance and wedding they, like everyone else, also had to return to a normal life. At least, as normal as a conservationists’ life can get anyway.

Stefan and Nina were married in 1998. Since then they have lived and worked in Peru. They formed the conservation organisation Mundo Azul in 1999, have dived in some of the most beautiful places on the planet, investigated illegal dolphin killing, started an Eco-tourism company and worked on challenging community projects. On a daily basis they had to face, and still have to face, the struggles, the victories, the losses and the sacrifices of being involved in such demanding work.

But that is the start of a whole new subject. So, more on their lives and work in Peru with Mundo Azul next time…

Nina Pardo – before she met Stefan

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This picture is Nina, not just because it is an actual photograph of her, but because it captures her essence. “I dance with the ocean, I listen to music and I am free.”

Nina grew up in Peru with her mum, grandparents and three older brothers; her “warriors”. Her father died when she was just a few days old, but although he was “already gone to another dimension, he was still present in our hearts and spirits”. Nina says she learnt from an early age to value what she could not physically touch, to cherish this life and to appreciate it as part of a multidimensional spiritual world. “We have this one chance to live this life, to love, to share and to do good deeds. When we leave here, we leave everything, and we may leave with no warning. Our deeds remain to be passed on to our loved ones and to those we impacted during our lives.”

Nina had a strong sense of family and its importance as a uniting force. If ever she felt weak she would remember the strength and unifying force of love, learned from her family, that transcends all boundaries. She also had a connection with animals from a young age. The family often went to her grandparents’ farm in northern Peru where she would adopt sheep, chickens and other animals. While still a teenager she became a vegetarian as a consequence of her relationship with the animals; no one told her about vegetarianism, it was simply a natural choice she made for herself.

Nina’s strongest guiding force in life has always been her intuition. She was a good student at school and enjoyed studying new things. At university she studied business administration and began working in the private sector. But at this time she felt a pull by her intuition; it told her she needed to “change the direction of my life”. Miraculously her chance came in the form of a letter from an old friend of her father’s.

Her father had been close friends with a Japanese man called Kazuo Nagai. From the age of 17 Nina had been in touch with him, exchanging letters and photographs. Aged 22, Nina wrote to him asking how she could learn more about meditation. And now, just when her intuition was telling her to go abroad, a letter arrived from him. In the letter Kazuo invited Nina to England and Japan to experience meditation and learn about new philosophies that would aid both her personal and professional life.

Nina learnt a great deal from that trip about people and the many different ways they look for spiritual development. This aligned with her own philosophy that “love is universal and it does not matter which religion a person chooses to find it. As long as a person finds what is right for them and follows their own purpose, then that is what matters”. In Japan she also began to learn about the killing of dolphins. She had already been dreaming about dolphins, now she began to get the feeling that she would one day have to do something to help them.

Nina returned to Peru where she began researching what to do next in life. Her options appeared to be either a job in business administration or applying for further study. But then one day her friend showed her a sticker which said, “Don’t eat dolphin meat, save the dolphins!” Immediately she told her friend that she had to find out in the next hour who had made that sticker…

She tracked down a woman called Olga Rey who was running a dolphin campaign. When they met, Nina remembers telling her “I would like to give you all my energy, passion and business knowledge, and work in partnership with you”.

So in 1994 Nina and Olga worked together on the campaign. At this time in Peru it was legal to kill and eat dolphins. People across all social classes ate dolphin meat, although it was given different names for higher and lower quality cuts of meat. Many people ate it without even knowing what animal it was, knowing only that they ate chancho marino or muchame. Nina and Olga’s campaign was intense. They worked with lawyers, the media, businesses, government, everyday people… everyone. They carried out market research, ran focus groups, generated publicity in newspapers, on television, on the street and the internet. They lobbied congressmen, publicised the issue to animal campaigners across the world, who in turn sent letters to the government. At the focus groups, they asked people questions about why they ate the meat, whether the flavour was good and whether they knew what animal it was from. They educated people showing them pictures of ‘Flipper’, whom everyone loved, and explaining that this was the same animal which they were eating.

The campaign was a “crusade for the life of dolphins”. In March 1996, their intense pressure prevailed; a new law was finally decreed making dolphin killing illegal. This was a monumental achievement by Nina, Olga and the many others who took part in this campaign.

Throughout this period, Nina had been in touch with a man in Germany called Stefan. He was one of a network of people she was contacting about the dolphin issue in Peru. From his intense, serious, heavily detailed emails she assumed he was probably in his mid-fifties, maybe 30 years older than her. Over the next couple of years they were in touch as colleagues and friends but never met.

Nina travelled to the USA to study for an MBA, (while still running a dolphin project back in Peru). She remembers being in her second year at university and having an amazing time, “having fun with friends, studying, going to conferences and courses, partying… being me and having the time of my life!” One day she received an email from Stefan; he was informing all his conservation colleagues that he was leaving the conservation world. Nina emailed back telling him he should rethink,“He was a wonderful conservationist with so much to give. He could not leave because of feeling defeated and betrayed. I felt he just had to continue”.

The next evening when Nina went with a friend to the computer lab in the university, knowing that a message from Stefan was waiting for her, she felt a strong presence. Suddenly she thumped both hands on the desk and said, “Only I can give him back the belief he has lost. He is a good soul and he has helped me so much. Now I must give back to him. I have to go to Germany!”

Her friend’s reaction was “Uh oh, when you have an idea to do something you always do it!” And she did. Without even consulting Stefan, she booked a plane ticket to go to Germany and help her friend, who she had never met, to re-find his belief in life.

The spark was bright… With it, the fire had been lit… A love affair of magical proportions was about to begin…

But more about that next time…

Stefan Austermühle – before he met Nina

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Stefan grew up in Germany. At the age of 15, he had a fascination for photography and nature. By 17-19 years old, he had his own black and white photographic laboratory and was exhibiting in galleries. He was also interested in history and worked as part of a youth group in a local museum. The museum’s director was a politician and this sparked an additional interest in politics; by the age of 21 Stefan became involved in the city parliament. Stefan remembers at this age being head strong, opinionated and rebellious towards authority. He says he was “bad in school”; if he thought a teacher was not teaching them well he would rebel. He says of his time between the ages of 17-22 that he was “looking at where my life was going, not consciously maybe, but trying out lots of different things including different religions, youth groups, photography, graphic design, history, politics…”

Stefan left school without high enough grades to go to university immediately; this meant he would have to wait a few years before he could apply. Two years of compulsory military service was looming. However, an ethical dislike for this option coupled, he admits honestly, with a greater desire to rebel against the wishes of his father, led to him successfully applying for civil service instead. This involved working in a hospital for two years, with his jobs including “carrying dead body bits in bags to the crematorium and cleaning the room with the dead people in it”. I guess you could say he did not get out of military service lightly.

After civil service, Stefan began learning a profession. He worked in the printing industry for three years… remember his interest in graphic design? But it was also during this time that events transpired to lead him away from art and towards conservation. He happened to go to a presentation one day. The presentation was given by a local Greenpeace supporter group and was about the ozone layer. Stefan remembers feeling very angry afterwards… not about the ozone layer but about what he considered to be a terrible presentation. He remembers thinking “This is such an important problem and I could have delivered it better than them!”

So he set out to do just that. He joined a local supporter group and within one month was one of four elected leaders, becoming a specialist in delivering presentations about whales. He took advantage of his auto-didactic learning style, teaching himself by reading everything he could and deepening his learning by teaching what he learnt. Maybe not surprisingly Stefan was also by this time an elected member of parliament for the Social Democratic party.

With three years experience with Greenpeace already under his belt, Stefan was now eligible to apply for university. He remembers thinking, “Conservation is far more interesting than graphic design!” So, not surprisingly, he applied to study biology. On their first day at the university students were given a tour of the site and as part of this tour were shown the monkey laboratory. The professor working there was conducting behavioural research. In nature, a group of monkeys will grow to a certain size and then split into two. But in this experiment the scientist was taking the dominant animals from two groups, putting them together and attempting to establish a new hierarchy. Stefan remembers his instinct telling him how “Ugly and not right” it felt, and how it was “Terrible, like a concentration camp”.

Stefan knew that simply complaining about it as a first year student would achieve nothing. He decided the best course of action would be to work in the laboratory, acquire the facts and find a way to improve the situation, ideally by closing the laboratory.

During his first two years at university Stefan assisted the professor in the lab, slowly gaining his trust. For the first year his main job was to “Clean the **** out of the cages”. At this time he was also working within the professional arm of Greenpeace, assisting on their fisheries campaign. He also met a man called Ilja Weiss, executive director of one of Germany’s biggest animal rights groups and the leading figure in the political animal rights movement in Germany. Stefan spoke to Ilja about the laboratory and the need for something to be done. Shortly after, Stefan was hired as the assistant executive director within the organisation. At the age of just 24 Stefan was now “Studying, working and involved in an undercover operation”.

After nearly two years working in the lab, Stefan had succeeded in gaining the professor’s trust. While the professor was in India on a conference for a month, Stefan was given the keys to allow him access to the office. During that month he made copies of every single document within the office, (his camera and photography studio suddenly became very useful). It was a huge risk, but once he had the copies he was able to look through them at his leisure. Stefan found two useful angles: the professor had violated health regulations by allowing a pregnant student to clean the cages of animals who were infected with diseases, so allowing the possibility of the disease being transferred to humans; he had also been privately selling monkeys to zoos and illegally not putting this through the university accounts. Stefan knew that the legal matter was what he needed to win over the powers that be; the fact of animal mistreatment would simply be the “Emotional salt in the wound”.

Stefan changed universities so that he could publish his findings as a witness. Initially, the Ministry of Health branded him a liar and attempted to discredit him in the press. But Stefan also knew how to use the press; he gave them his information one small piece at a time to maintain their interest in the story. It took four years, with an attempt at arresting Stefan in the process, before the case was resolved. Stefan succeeded; the laboratory was closed and the professor dismissed. As far as Stefan knows, this was the first and only time that a student has ever succeeded in closing a laboratory and forcing the dismissal of a university professor.

By this time Stefan was deeply involved in the political animal rights movement in Germany. He authored a picture book and written book about animal captivity. As both a biology student and activist, Stefan had access to a wealth of information on psychological suffering, animal behaviours, biological functioning etc. His books were the first in Germany on the subject of animals suffering in captivity in zoos. In 1994 Stefan was involved in campaigning against zoos and he formed his own NGO to end dolphin captivity. Out of the seven aquariums in Germany with captive dolphins, three were closed as a result of his work. Not surprisingly, his studies took longer than expected because of all the extra work he was carrying out.

When Stefan was 28 years old, there came a crisis. Ilja was in love with the President of his NGO and was planning to propose to her. However, he discovered there had been a misuse of funds. Ilja and Stefan knew they had no choice but to have a new president elected in her place, and Ilja would no longer propose to her. Unfortunately, she found out about their plans and rallied her supporters. She succeeded in having both Ilja and Stefan thrown out of the organisation and in discrediting them within the animal rights community.

For the previous ten years Stefan had been involved in the animal rights movement, undercover work, exposing bad practise, running an organisation, writing, lobbying… He had seen corruption, in-fighting and some of the worst traits of human nature. As he says, you have to have a “stubborn, dominant, focussed, unforgiving, fighting character with a strong conviction in your own abilities and judgement” to be involved in such work. But now, he’d had enough. He had been burned in the German press with his reputation damaged and he wanted nothing more than to leave the world of conservation and build a new life. To become a scuba diving instructor… become a travel journalist… move to a new country… live a ‘lighter’ life…

Then Stefan received an email from a woman in Peru called Nina Pardo which would prove to be the spark to ignite a new fire; one that would lead to an almost unbelievable romance and the start of the next chapter in both their lives.

But who is Nina Pardo? Find out more about her role in this unfolding story next time…