Monday, October 16, 2000.  Did Carlsbad Caverns today. Drove there by the scenic route past Guadalupe Mountains National Park just ahead of a thunderstorm. I walked down into the caverns -- paved but very steep -- and then toured the Big Room. An amazing place. Probably even more amazing is how they built the paths that allow non-spelunkers to tour the caverns.

I hung out at the cavern until dusk to watch the famous bats fly out. As the small crowd waited, a large storm cloud approached. Which would arrive first, the bats or the rain? Big drops started to fall. Some people left. The rain stopped. Then suddenly we saw the bats ... all three dozen of them. That was it. A handful of hearty bats who had not yet left for Mexico and were willing to brave the rain. Drove to the city of Carlsbad in the dark as lightning lit up the clouds. 

Links

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Images 

El Captain (The peak directly behind is actually the highest in Texas.)

Cactus and Sky

Evening sky at Carlsbad Caverns

Tuesday, October 17, 2000.  A leisurely drive today from Carlsbad to Alamogordo by way of Artesia and Cloudcroft. In Artesia I inadvertently parked my car right in front of Heritage Walkway, a plaza tucked between two buildings. What a find! Murals depicting the life of the town have been refurbished to complement the whimsical fountains of tile and ceramic. A narrow canal connecting the fountains curves around the plaza, sometimes disappearing under the pavement. Not yet in any guidebooks.

Wednesday, October 18, 2000.  The reason I stayed in Alamogordo instead of continuing on to Las Cruces was so I could drop in at the Coulston Foundation, the primate research facility that houses the former Air Force chimps, among others. Coulston has a very bad reputation among those who are trying to protect chimpanzees. I won't go into it here, but much has been written about them in the news and on the Save the Chimps web page.

I showed up without an appointment and asked to speak to someone about records on older chimps who were or had been at the foundation. To my surprise, I was led to a conference room and had an opportunity to meet with someone. I did not come away with any information about specific chimpanzees, but the conversation about records kept on animals used in research was useful.

The rest of the day was devoted to driving and enjoying the scenery. The mountains west of Alamogordo are dramatic. I encountered more mountain driving as I approached Tucson.

Thursday, 19 October through Sunday, 22 October, 2000.  So much time spent in sessions at the ChimpanZoo Conference and talking to other attendees, I have not had any opportunity to kick back in my luxury accommodations or to update this log.

Thursday and Friday were filled with presentations about primate research and primate conservation issues. Saturday we went to Biosphere 2, for a Roots & Shoots Festival. You remember Biosphere 2 -- the self-contained and supposedly self-sustaining set of biomes where a group of scientists lived for two years. Roots & Shoots is a Jane Goodall organization that gets kids involved in conservation.

Jane has attended a lot of the conference. She spoke to us about the bushmeat trade, which could cause the great apes and other endangered animals to become extinct within a decade. There are so many difficult issues involving primate conservation and conservation in general, but in spite of the severity of the situation, Jane somehow inspires people to hope -- and to action.

ChimpanZoo is a small conference. Fifty to seventy-five attendees max. Jane is clearly the alpha primate and it is interesting to watch how people act when she is in the room.