Through the years the hilltop had been cut, burned, picked over for valuable trees, and raided for tasty or beautiful birds and mammals. Until recently it was only a refuge for the unwanted and the overlooked, a pathetic monument to the once great Atlantic Rainforest. The track suddenly ended and we climbed into the woods. I grasped a tree trunk for support, my hand easily encircled it, bent it -- it was too young and too weak to resist. Ahead of me were several Brazilians, researchers and guides leading the rest of our group. The Brazilians were also young. Among them I noticed a woman, pretty and dark. She had a friendly smile, but I quickly noticed the intensity in her eyes and I sensed too that she was proud of this place. Proud? Proud of what? Tragedy or triumph? I scanned the faces of the others of our host and they too seemed to share in this sense of purpose. One of them carried a radio receiver with which he had located the objective of our visit, a small troop of Golden Lion Tamarins, said to be the most endangered primate on the planet. Our objective soon became an experience, and the experience fell just short of a miracle. This was a new troop recently imported to this hilltop. They came from a zoo in the United States, one of the many zoos in Brazil and throughout the world participating in the Golden Lion Tamarin conservation project. Never having lived in the wild, the animals are unable to completely fend for themselves, so the project staff give them supplementary food and a safe place to spend the night, an ice box hanging in a tree. From experience, the project workers know that the tamarins will begin to learn the ways of their ancestral home and multiply. Indeed, we are treated to the antics of two youngsters now, almost close enough to ouch! We learned that many farmers have allowed troops of animals to be transplanted to their woodlots, like this one. There is also a government preserve, larger, more pristine, but it is not large enough, more forest must be reclaimed, regrown, and preserved. More people must be educated and share in the experience.
Back in Rio I gaze at the magnificent statue of the Christ that overlooks the city and I wonder if these beautiful creatures and their forest will be sacrificed. Tragedy or triumph? I'm not sure yet, but I know that I met some good people on the side of life today.
