The life in Navarra of a Sherlock Holmes wild
Nature
Fernando Gómez Velasco, a Segovian living in Egüés, founded the Forest Tracking Service in 2010. He chased the alleged Pisuerga crocodile, hallucinated with the Orinoco crocodile and in his 2022 agenda a search for the Yeti in Kyrgyzstan appears in August
Posted on 01/03/2022 at 06:00
The attic of your house exudes magic. The wooden floor supports the weight of the 2,000 books classified by subject that fill the shelves. Botany, mycology, anthropology, tracking, ecosystems, climatology, medicine, natural history... Some of these specimens look very old, just like the world globe that sits on the table next to a lamp. There are also animal footprints molded in resin or paintings of Mapuche Indians. They are his trophies and his memories. The room is very nice. It is the office of Fernando Gómez Velasco, a 39-year-old tracker for the Forest Tracking Service (Serafo). No tracker of those that have become fashionable this year with the virus.
“The traces tell a story”, explains the director of Serafo. In that story lies the essence of this trade. The trail serves to get to know the animal and its routines. What do they eat, what do they drink, where do they go, what problems can they cause? "The trail is followed for different purposes: hunting, investigating, photographing, filming...", he points out. “It's about recreating a scene. It consists of playing a detective in nature”, adds Gómez.
The first tracking that this Segovian resident of Egüés carried out was when he was young, when he was going down the street and saw an eagle owl feather inside a car. He detected "an indication." Gomez wanted to find the exact specimen that had lost that feather. “I asked the owner of the car to see where he had taken it to go track the animal. He told me: 'But how are you going to find it if it's a huge ravine,' he says. Against all odds, the young tracker went and found it. Your first challenge. “I went to the site, found the perches, and followed the owl for years. I have seen him copulate, I have photographed him, I have seen his chicks...", he adds. At that moment he realized that starting from a trail he could find a specific animal.
At that time I was just a hobbyist. He loved nature, like his family, but he wasn't into tracking. For nine years he held a position as a forest firefighter. "I tried to work in bases with a lot of wildlife, for example in Daroca, Zaragoza," he explains. In addition, between 2007 and 2009, just before "taking the step", he belonged to the Military Emergency Unit.
BY PROFESSIONAL, TRACKER
At first glance, this profession may raise doubts. tracker of what It is not very well known what they do, how they work or in which projects they participate. The profitability of the trade is also questioned. "People called me crazy for wanting to dedicate myself to tracking in Spain," explains Gómez. This “hits more” in Africa, America or Australia. Egüés doesn't sound exotic until you see the serigraphed campervan vehicle with the Serafo acronym and see that the thing is serious. Undoubtedly, the dilemma generated by his environment motivated him more and on "March 5, 2010" he created Serafo. Remember the date exactly. Ten years later, he has visited more than thirty countries on several occasions. All kinds of species have passed through his hands. Until now, the specimen that has surprised him the most has been the Orinoco crocodile in Colombia.
As in any business, customers mark success. Gómez receives orders from companies or institutions that need his help. For example, a travel agency. He goes to the place, tracks animals and designs a future commercial trip to exotic areas. It also tracks when there is suspicion of the presence of a new species. The institution contacts him to find the animal. Also with invasive species or escaped specimens. This Segovian tracker was behind the steps of the alleged Pisuerga crocodile. As you can see, there are many ways of working. Among them, preparing rangers -soldiers or forest guards- to fight against poaching or teaching ecotourism guides. The elaboration of books or the production of documentaries are added to the list.
Finding data on the job of tracker in Spain is complicated, there are almost none. "Devoting ourselves professionally to tracking animals and humans in all specialties at an international level is only done by two of us," Gómez acknowledges. “I do it as a freelance”, he qualifies. The other person works as an official in national parks. “Tracing is used a lot, but most combine it with other jobs,” he adds. Fernando Gómez does everything, dedicates time to conservation, education, dissemination, protection and training.
Once he receives the assignment, he begins preparations and studies. The 2,000 ordered books may seem pretty, but they serve to document for work, not to add an interesting touch to the office. Gómez has to go to the environment knowing almost everything about the animals, the climate and characteristics of the terrain in "normal state". "You also have to know how to detect when there is an alteration in the environment," he says. "Depending on the type of markings that the birds emit, I have to know that something is happening," he explains, imitating the sound of starlings when they see predators.
This alteration can also be initiated by the tracker upon arrival in space. You have to try not to make an impact. "I have to be careful. It influences my movement, the vibrations that I cause in the floor or the smell. Even the excitement, I can't be too excited. One thing calls for another." To keep all these parameters in order, Gomez has a "starting ritual." Get out of the vehicle, observe the terrain, detect the pace of the environment, analyze parameters such as the position of the sun or the direction of the wind and take a look. "It's important because you arrive from home, from the car with the music... you have to have a high level of concentration," he explains. Once adapted to the medium, it begins.
THE PRACTICE
Let's say it tracks in the Peruvian Amazon. Specifically in the Matsés National Reserve. His goal is to find green anacondas for fifteen days with a partner and natives. They have 420,000 hectares to search, the Taconera de Pamplona has nine. Therefore, they reduce the perimeter to one point. To the Yavari River, a 1,200 kilometer long tributary of the Amazon. From this they focus the search on the Gálvez river. Gómez has experienced this in his own flesh for a little over a month. "We were in virgin places that had not been trodden before," he explains. Those days he slept in towns, in abandoned malocas, typical homes of indigenous peoples in these regions, and in camps set up with tents in the middle of the jungle. He ate rice, plantains, tropical fruits, and sugar cane that a Matsés cook made. He also hunted and fished. “We covered about eighty kilometers. Inside the jungle, you lose track of time,” he adds.
This expedition was carried out with the Jaguar Matsés Connection association. "We seek to have more information on the species of the place and exchange tracking techniques with the natives." Silence prevails during the search. Communication with peers is with the look and gestures. “In Peru we also communicated by imitating the spider monkey. It was the form used by the natives”, he says reproducing the squeal. Depending on the sound they made, they indicated the detection of a trace, the proximity of an animal or the presence of the specimen. For the second day they found a green anaconda. “Locating giant anacondas in their natural habitat was one of my dreams,” he confesses. Fernando Gómez and Denis Reina, a Matsés, set out to search in a very specific area where there were records of large specimens.
“We did a speculative search, he was in front and he saw her,” she recalls. For this type of search it is necessary to know the terrain and the characteristics of the animal. According to Gómez, "reptiles are animals that can leave traces at some point and not at others, so a hypothesis must be created." “It's ten in the morning, it's hot and it's a big snake that needs to bask in the sun. In addition, it has to protect itself from predators”, he exemplifies. From this scene, the trackers get an idea of where he might be and take action. There he was, right in an area protected by logs with an exit to escape. What they believed. Apart from speculative tracking, there is visual tracking, which consists of following the animal while you see it, and systematic tracking, a mixture of the other two.
“Watching her was a rush. I felt amazement, admiration and respect, ”she confesses. "They can tell you about it or see it in a movie, but being there is amazing," he recalls. Upon reaching the point, the trackers doubted the situation in which the specimen was found. “I was very calm in the middle of the molting process,” she explains. Finding one of their targets so quickly allowed the team to focus on other animals such as jaguars, harpies, monkeys or jaguarundis. "We locate species to later design the trip, give value to the region and preserve local customs," he says.
TRACK HERE
Fernando was not attracted to Navarra and when he arrived he was surprised. He came because his wife is a worker at the Forestry School. "I am more and more surprised," he admits. “Navarra lacks a wolf and a bear to be more spectacular. We would have everything”, he opines about species that sometimes register entries into the foral territory. According to him, "the Andia area is a wonderful place for the entrance of wolves and Roncal for bears." Tracking in Navarra is carried out above all in the Ribera. “The Bardenas are full of life. I wanted to show the wildlife that exists in apparently empty places”, he points out. An example is Corella, tierra salvaje, a book written together with Enrique Pérez, a local rural ranger. "Despite being a highly anthropized area [transformation exerted by humans on the environment] it has a lot of wildlife," he says. They are currently working on another issue focused on the surroundings of the Bardenas Reales titled Arguedas, doors to the Bardenas Reales. Traces that tell stories. Four hundred pages and 2,000 photographs. He is also making a documentary with a Navarrese production company and in recent months he has been tracking the Lezaun beech forest for the Tierras de Iranzu tourism agency. “They have designed routes and I have completed them by tracking. In spring I will train their guides so that during the tours they explain information about the animals of the area”.
And from Lezaun to the world. The first appointment in February, for pangolins in Uganda with the Biodiversity Alliance agency. In April to the Sikhote-Alin mountain range in Russia. This trip will serve to help the conservation of the Siberian tiger and to collaborate with Original Nature. Next stop, Sumatra. The target will be the Sumatran tiger. From the Indian Ocean to the Central Balkans to give a tracking course in the European zone. In July he returns to the Amazon as a tracker guide, in August he can return to Uganda or visit Zambia, there he has doubts. Finally the one that attracts the most attention. He packs his bags and goes to Kyrgyzstan for Bigfoot, Bigfoot, the Yeti. “It is an expedition in August for fifteen days. Some footprints have turned up. I'm there if I go, I don't go...”, he laughs. This is the life of Fernando Gómez, the trail he is leaving is clear and with what he leaves he writes his story.
Support tools during the search
In crawling the five senses are the most important, the work is completed with material:
IDFernando Gómez Velasco was born in Segovia on August 15, 1982. His fondness for nature came from his parents. In 2004, at the age of 22, he entered the school for forestry foremen in Coca and realized that he loves the countryside when one day an eagle owl pellet was brought to class. Later, from 2007 to 2009, he worked at the U.M.E. as a forest firefighter. In 2010 he left everything and founded SERAFO to dedicate himself professionally to tracking.
LABELS
Comments
We recommend that before commenting, you read the participation rules of Diario de Navarra
Ketogenic Diet: How to use Ketosis to Lose Weight, Increase Mental Focus, & F... https://t.co/XwtvAykhNO via @amazon
— Aubrey Francis Tue Aug 23 04:16:09 +0000 2016
CLOSE
SEE PHOTO CAPTION
