Millennium & Copthorne hosts expedition launch party

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, in association with the Scientific Exploration Society, will be hosting the launch party for Kota Mama V1, a unique scientific expedition to Bolivia, South America, on Monday 16th April 2006. Deep in the Bolivian Amazonas region is an 8km wide crater. This is possibly the site of the Earth’s most recent big meteorite impact.

The location is so remote that investigators have only visited it briefly however a twenty strong Anglo-Bolivian team from the British Scientific Exploration Society (SES) proposes to conduct an in-depth survey of the area under the direction of geologists from Sergeotechmin (the Bolivian Geological Institute) from June-August 2007. Access to the site is challenging and in 2005, the SES survey party used balsa rafts to cross rivers and voyaged up the Rio Madidi in peke-pekes.

Local Ojaki people accompanied this survey team and have agreed to work with the expedition. In return, SES will install a clean water supply, supported by another British charity, ‘Just a Drop’. SES will also provide dental, medical and educational support as on all their expeditions and re-equip the medical clinics en route, particularly with an incubator brought from Britain.

The poverty level of the people is increasing. Much of their livelihood depends on Brazil nuts which are now being affected by a disease of the trees. In spite of all their problems, the people are deeply religious and at Ojaki, a new church has been built for which they require an organ.

There is no electricity in the village and so the SES team propose to transport a pedal organ from the UK to La Paz, then 700 kms over the Andes and through the rapids in the gorges of the foothills, before sailing in local boats all the way to Ojaki. The organ has already been sourced in the depths of Dorset and cost of transport will be generously paid by Millennium & Copthorne Hotels plc.

The SES team will study the rich abundance of fauna and flora which could become an attraction for eco-tourists and give a much needed boost to the economy of the region. They will also follow up the discovery of a strange double nosed dog, which the survey team found in 2005.

“This is a seriously challenging expedition which will be of real value to the people, the fauna and the country. Bolivia is the second poorest country in the world and needs all the help they can get. As well as making a scientific investigation of a suspected meteorite impact crater, community tasks will be undertaken to assist the local people.

“Why the pedal organ? In the remote area of the Amazon jungle we are visiting, the village of Ojaki has no electricity and the church is centre of social activity. The pedal organ will revitalise the people, just as the baby grand piano we took to Guyana in 2000 did” says John Blashford-Snell, expedition leader.