BÓTHAR GOES OUTDOORS IN ECUADOR
Livestock organization challenges participants to ‘change your horizon…change a life’

Bóthar, the sustainable development organisation working in some 40 countries worldwide, is inviting interested participants on a fundraising horse trek through Ecuador in June 2009. Planned for Summer 2009, the trip will take riders on an exhilarating ride through the high Andes of Ecuador, across vast grassy plains to remote areas between the snow-capped “Avenue of Volcanoes.”

The organisation is currently recruiting participants to be part of a group of up to 20 riders for this 11-day challenge taking place next June to help raise much-needed funds in support of Bóthar’s work. The sponsorship requirement for this trip is €4,950. Accompanied by the skilled local horsemen and bilingual guides, participants will have a unique opportunity to ride through stunning scenery, visited by only the local ‘chagras’ (Andean cowhands) riding out to check the cattle with their trusty dogs. According to Bóthar’s Leinster Regional Director, Aisling Donoghue, “This really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to complete a circuit including the snow-capped Cotopaxi volcano, the wild highlands including Cotopaxi National Park and the seldom-visited open plains high in the Andes. There is a good chance of seeing a lot of the Andean wildlife including the Andean condor, high-altitude hummingbirds, foxes and deer as we cross a variety of terrain. And the added benefit is, participants are giving back to those in need in this very region.”

Exploration with a purpose

Ecuador is a country of outstanding natural beauty, and is one of a small group of countries that is home to the majority of the world’s plant and animal species; it is, however, a very poor country where rural poverty is severe. The dry forest on the border of Ecuador and Peru, which once covered an area of 20,000 km2, has been subject to intense deforestation and subsequent desertification in the last 50 years. Overgrazing by animals combined with the use and sale of firewood and charcoal in an unsustainable manner have contributed to this ecological disaster.

Bóthar is working with the people in the area to find alternative sources of supplementary income outside of firewood extraction and to manage the forests so as to sustain future livestock and successive generations that will come to depend on it. The farming of animals in an ecological and sustainable manner alleviates further environmental degradation while the use of improved stoves for cooking and boiling water will reduce the need of firewood and firewood extraction. All proceeds from this fundraising event will benefit Bothar’s Dry Forest Development and Conservation in the Perú-Ecuador Border Area.

If you would like to find out more about the Ecuador Horse trek and how to register, or for information on any of Bóthar’s projects, please contact Aisling by e-mail aislingd@bothar.ie or call (01) 4981888.