Search for Gold Expedition 23rd Aug - 9th Sept 2011
We are being asked daily now why we are running an expedition into one of the world’s most inaccessible and hostile terrains.
Perhaps it’s because there is no other place on Earth as least explored as the high peaks of the Llanganates National Park in the Ecuadorian Andes, or anything quite so close to ‘The Lost World’ of Arthur Conan Doyle - with its almost unsurpassed level of biodiversity - that make the Llanganates one of the most intriguing natural places on the planet.
But there are also incredible myths associated with this mysterious place that add a greater sense of excitement to our challenge. Did Rumiñahui, King Atahualpa’s General, really bury the entirety of the Incas’ gold fortune near a lake in Llanganates? This fortune was destined to pay Atahualpa’s ransom to the Spanish but, in transit, the treasure carriers learned that Atahualpa had already been killed and upon hearing this, they decided to hide the riches in the mountains. Since the colonial era, many expeditions have tried, without luck, to find this treasure and we are the first British led expedition to follow the map of Valverde to see for ourselves if there is any truth to the myth. Unfortunately many past treasure seekers have perished in their pursuit, so we will be taking every precaution to ensure that we all come back safely.
Progress will be hard, sometimes it will be like a cold steam bath with zero visibility and swirling mists. Underfoot will be a lumpy carpet of lichens and succulent,s making every step difficult. The fog will lift long enough to reveal gnarled, wind swept-trees and sometimes a perfectly silent lake will appear out of the gloom. There are very few paths to speak of and these are probably ones established by the Incas over five hundred years ago. As we crawl upwards the air will get thinner and altitude sickness will come and go.
Whatever the discomforts, the pleasures of looking down into cloud-filled valleys andseeing the untouched and undeveloped natural beauty of the Llanganates will make it all worth while. The park boasts one of the highest levels of biodiversity and endemism in the world and recent surveys have sampled 194 species of birds, 51 mammals, and over 800 plants. Some of Llanganates more notable animal species include the spectacled bear, Andean deer, capybara, various species of monkey, Andean tapir, jaguar, ocelot, various parrots, and toucans. The Llanganates drastic geographic variations give way to climatic extremes ranging from 3 to 24 degrees Celsius and we know we will get very wet as the park’s annual precipitation is between 1,000 and 4,000 mm - compare that to The Lake District, which is the wettest area of England with an average total of 2,000 mm a year.
As hot, wet winds blow up the valleys in the Amazon they create the unique environment that produces orchids. So far over 90 orchid species have been discovered in the Llanganates National parkland and the WWF have declared this area ‘a gift to the Earth’.
So that just about sums up why we are so excited to be going!