Day 115 - Noel Kempff Mercado

Noel Kempff Mercado

When I visited the zoo, I discovered it is the Noel Kempff Mercado Zoo.  And around the corner from my apartment is the Noel Kempff Mercado Museum of Natural History.  So I began to wonder who is this man?

Let me tell you what I found out.

A lo largo de su vida impulsó el estudio y la conservación de la naturaleza en Bolivia, como apicultor (fue presidente de la Sociedad Apícola de Bolivia), como catedrático en la Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno , como director del Jardín Botánico de Santa Cruz y del Zoológico de Santa Cruz y como director de Parques y Jardines del municipio.He was born in February of 1924 and throughout his life maintained a deep love of nature. He promoted the study and conservation of nature in Bolivia.  He moved to the country and began raising bees.  His curiosity about his bees, caused him to research where they looked for nectar.  So he began studying the flowers of his native Santa Cruz.  This in turn led him to the study of botany and eventually zoology.

As a beekeeper, he became the president of the Apicultural Society of Bolivia.   Later in life, he was a biology professor at the Gabriel René Moreno University.  In his last years he was the director of the Botanical Gardens and the Municipal Zoo of Santa Cruz, and the director of parks and gardens for the municipality.  The original Botanical Garden was destroyed in a flood of the River Pirai, but has since been replaced by a garden he would be proud of.  His idea for the zoo and botanical garden was to teach people the need to conserve nature.  He insisted on using only native species in both.  So you will not find an exotic tree from India, or giraffes from Africa.  You will only find species native to eastern Bolivia.

Bees at the Guembe

He wrote many books on the birds, bees, and flowers of Bolivia.   His love for green and for flowers has created so many beautiful areas in Santa Cruz.  One who does not live here, just does not know of the beautiful parks, plazas, and boulevards, overflowing with flowers of every color imaginable.  I am blessed to live by two of them, the Plaza Blacut and Avenida las Americas.

 

Mercado had an idea to protect an area in eastern Bolivia that lies on the border of Brazil.  Some parts are nearly inaccessible, and most likely hold species of plants and animals as yet not classified.  It is an incredibly diverse and remote region.  In his last days that is what he was working on, including convincing both Bolivia and Brazil to work together to create an area of “cross-border management of protected areas.”  That was an idea that neither country was ready for in the 80s.

In 1986, he was flying to the Huanchaca National Park in a small private plane, to conduct some scientific experiments.  His pilot, Juan Cochamanidis, landed them at the wrong airstrip, this one owned by drug traffickers.  Noel Kempff Mercado, his pilot, and his guide, Franklin Parada Auclos, were shot by the traffickers.  Vicente Castelló, a Spanish scientist, was the only survivor.  He dodged bullets and hid in the forest for hours until he was rescued. 

This was a turning point in the history of drug trafficking in Bolivia.  Since then, they have been an ardent warrior in the fight against cocaine production in Bolivia.

The Huanchaca Park was renamed in his honor, now the Noel Kempff Mercado National Park. 

He is quoted as saying, "Animals are not the ones that cause harm; it is man who is the destroyer." 

Adapted from articles in Wikipedia.com and BoliviaBella.com