I've just got back from the Gola Rainforest National Park (GRNP) in Sierra Leone, where I had the exciting job of introducing an intrepid young explorer to the GRNP team and partners. Will Millard is planning to travel down the Mano-Moro rivers on the international border between Sierra Leone and Liberia on nothing but an inflatable raft. From the moment he found out he'd be going on the trip whilst sheltering from the…

Head over to the Saving Species blog and join Simon Wotton from our Conservation Science team as he searches for the endangered malimbe in Gola Rainforest National Park. This elusive bird was thought to have disappeared from Gola, but was rediscovered there in 2007 after 30 years of no records.  

Since I’ve started working with the Rainforests team here at RSPB HQ, my shopping habits have changed. I spend twice as long buying birthday cards as I’m searching the backs for the FSC logo, I’ll buy Rainforest Alliance coffee and tea wherever I can, but there’s one tricky customer that’s almost impossible to spot – palm oil. I do what I can:

• our local supermarket labels for sustainable…

Warring giraffes, prehistoric-looking shoebills and brave agama lizards hunting insects on sleeping lions have all helped make the BBC's new series, Africa, compulsive watching. This week's show, Congo, is all Africa's rainforests and if the amazing wildlife and incredible footage isn't reason enough to make you tune in, there's one more reason to watch - one of the stars of tonight's show is the Gola Rainforest National…

Guest blogger: Heather Ducharme, Senior Policy Officer

A team of UK researchers (including one of RSPB’s own!) has just published a thought-provoking study for those trying of us save tropical forests and other biodiversity-rich tropical habitats.

Noting that most agricultural expansion is one of the biggest threats to these habitats, the paper in PLOS ONE by Ben Phalan and others looked at tropical agricultural…

I'm not a big fan of going to the dentist so imagine my dismay when the first thing in my diary for 2 January was a dreaded appointment. Not the way I'd choose to start the new year!

One thing my dentist is always trying to convince me of is the importance of flossing to maintain healthy gums. I have to admit that I've tried, but really can't get on with the whole thing, but maybe I should be following the example…

Here’s an early Christmas present for you all from the camera traps hidden deep within the Gola Rainforest National Park – a rare glimpse of the elusive chimpanzees that call this magical place home.

It’s thought that the forest is home to around 300 chimps and the fact that these two have been caught on camera suggests that they’re doing well within the park boundaries. As Christmas presents go, that’s…

I have the best office on earth. Lush green rainforest, filled with life – no grey walls, no cubicles, no artifical white lights. The only downside of working here is ironically one of its best attributes – the sheer size of it. I can imagine it takes most people no more than 5 minutes to get from one side of their office to the other. For me, it can take over 8 hours! (Harapan is about two thirds the size of Greater…

The expansion of palm oil plantations on São Tomé and Príncipe is threatening species that are only found on these beautiful oceanic islands. Alice Ward-Francis tells us more on the latest post over on the Saving Species blog.

Guest blogger: Sarah Sanders, Head of Partner Development Unit - Africa, Asia and UK Overseas Territories

At the beginning of October, my boss had to give a presentation at Kew on the tropical rainforest work we’re supporting around the world. He wanted to speak about the Uluguru mountains because they’re important as a water source to Tanzania, but also because they’re home to plants and animals found nowhere else,…

I’ve been working in Harapan Rainforest for three years. I’m a biodiversity officer, which means I keep an eye out for and monitor the wide variety of amazing species that call this rainforest home. From sun bears and hornbills to gibbons and pangolins, I keep an eye out for all of them, but by far my favourite is the Sumatran tiger. I like them so much that if I had to choose between a male tiger and a handsome…

I love Fridays – it’s the end of the working week, the start of the weekend, and there’s even a chocolate bar dedicated to that wonderful Friday feeling. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to channel that feeling and make it do something for nature? Well this week you can!
 
FSC Friday happens once a year and it’s all about celebrating the world’s forests and promoting responsible forestry. There’s loads…

Rainforest Alliance have produced a brilliant film showing that "you don't have to go to the ends of the earth to protect the planet - just follow the frog". It's well worth a watch, so click here.

In the latest posts from the Together For Trees Rainforest Reporter, Gareth meets Gola Rainforest National Park's very own Dr Doolittle and some local heroes, whilst "enjoying" some unexpected sounds of the rainforest. To take a look, head over to the Rainforest Reporter blog.

It feels like an age ago that we launched the search for the first ever Rainforest Reporter as part of Together For Trees – our partnership with Tesco that aims to protect rainforests around the world. We were looking for someone with a passion for conservation, a flair for communications and good all round practical skills to send out to Gola Rainforest National Park to report back on the amazing work that’s being…

Guest blogger: Heather G

I loved reading Annika’s pygmy hippo diary from Gola last week.  From the outset I was hooked.  It had everything that’s needed for a great story.

First, there’s the setting.  It really is another world, one of adventure and wonder (and somewhere I’d like to go).  I’ve been lucky enough to visit tropical forests elsewhere, and the sounds of a rainforest are like no other…

2 June

Last night was our last night all together so we threw a little party for the team, though I wasn’t really in the party mood and have to admit to shedding a tear or two. We’ve come so close so many times, but still haven’t managed to catch a pygmy hippo.

And what would our last night be without another close call? This morning we checked one of the traps that had shown lots of signs of hippo…

27 May

I’m starting to think that I’m just not meant to see a pygmy hippo in the wild. I came back to Kenema today, promising some new colleagues a lift back with me as they had spent the night on the island. When I arrived at the campsite where they’ve been staying on the island late in the morning, I could tell from their faces that something wasn’t quite right. One of the group, Kelly, had gone…

23 May

Another close call over the weekend, but still no pygmy hippo. I wish they could understand it’s for their own good! It’s become worryingly quiet over the last couple of days and frustration levels amongst the team are growing. What are we doing wrong? It started so well, but we still haven’t managed to catch one and there’s been no fresh signs at all in the last day or so. It’s cutting it close to the wire, but…

18 May

Quite an exciting day today. Ok so we didn’t actually catch a hippo, but we’re getting closer!

Kenewa heard hippo noises whilst out checking his traps this morning. The locals think it’s a pregnant female looking for somewhere to give birth, but Michele thinks it’s more likely to be a female that’s come into heat and is looking for a mate.

This could have been our chance to see…

8 May

No luck so far. There haven’t been many signs of hippos around the traps, but a couple of them have feeding sites nearby. The team are busy improving their radio telemetry skills ready so that if we do catch a hippo we’ll be able to track where it goes.

Unfortunately, I have to head back to the office as there’s a big pile of work waiting for me. I’m hoping to come back in about a week. I’m a little…

5 May

The whole team have been on Tiwai for two days now and yesterday we started opening the traps. We’ve removed the strong cover materials that, for the last month, have allowed the pygmy hippos to walk over the traps without falling in and replaced them with partly broken rattan mats on top of sticks which’ll break once they’re stood on. We’ve then covered the mats with leaves and soil so that they’re camouflaged…

2 May 2012

The team are starting to assemble in Tiwai. Michele, the vet from Palm Beach Zoo who is an expert in wildlife immobilisation (or anaesthetics to you and me) arrived yesterday after travelling from South Africa where she’s working on another project involved rhinos and lions. Today saw April arrive from Georgia and tomorrow they’ll be making their way from Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, to Tiwai.…

31 March

Success! We now have 20 finished traps. I may be biased, but I’m sure these are the most beautiful pitfall traps I’ve ever seen. I’m really proud of the team – it was hard work, but we got there in the end.

We’ve covered the traps in strong material so that the hippos can used to walking on the trails again and over the traps before we move into the capture phase of the project. In order…

24 March 2012

I arrived on Tiwai Island last night along with Mohammed, one of my assistants from Gola. It’s just a couple of hours drive from our HQ in Kenema and luckily, since it’s the end of the dry season, the mud roads are still ok to drive on. The journey may have been a little on the bumpy side, but at least there wasn’t any danger of getting stuck.

The back of the car was all loaded up with…