Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Deleted. The links are dead.

Good pictures - how is the Amazon basin doing - are they still cutting it all down?

There is a lot of legislation and talk which is supposed to deter illegal logging and encourage sustainable use of the resource... but enforcement and providing the cash to get projects are another thing.

At the current rate of decline, I think The Amazon will last longer than I do, but only just. I would rather be dead than live in a world that allows it to disappear anyway.

I see that a fair number of people have looked at this post. I would be interested to read comments (favourite picure) and answer any questions.

I have never been to the Amazon, but I am struck with the similarity to Borneo (spent 12 years there in 3 different postings) - not only in the vegetation which would be expected in the rain forest but also in the look of the people. As for the pot of orchids - are you sure it's your picture and not one of mine!!! Much of Borneo is/was a riverine culture. Did longhouses develop in the Amazon?

There is a good article on longhouses here.

http://www.socioambiental.org/pib/epien ... locas.shtm

Unfortunately, the Indian way of life has been under attack since missionaries first started into the jungle. Now, many native communities are disintegrating as people migrate into the cities looking for "a better life" and many end up living in the unsalubrious and drug ridden favelas.

I went to an orchid farm, near the museum where I took the picture of the pot of orchids. They were being grown on waist high benches about 50m long and 2 meters wide, inside poly-tunnels. The substrate was charcoal and coconut fibre kept moist with a slow drip feed system. They just cut off the blooms and ship them out for decorations.

It's quite hard to find orchids in the wild around Manaus. They tend to get poached and frequently you only see a hacked bit of bark on a tree where one used to be growing.

Thanks Tim, I've just googled for Borneo longhouses and this is not bad : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longhouse#Borneo_Longhouse

I don't think they are quite the same, but just as in the Amazon they are being depopulated with the drift to the cities - also the encroachment of the oil palm plantations. Still I have work to do this afternoon and I must NOT get onto any hobbyhorses!