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Fu Jianrong tells of his experiences as one of WWF¡¯s Panda Survey field workers. The fieldwork portion of the 3rd national Panda survey took place from April 2000 to November, 2002. The new survey covered parts of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces with an area of over 55,000 km2. Several hundred people were involved in the survey, which included data collection on natural resources in the panda habitat as well as the social economic status of people living in the panda range. As July and August are the often the time when it floods, the field survey usually stops during these months. Most of our survey team members had returned home, but at the last minute we heard there were pandas in the area so the team leaders decided to let me go to the valley in Hongya County. Time was really limited for us to complete the work, so I quickly found a local guide and began the survey work. It was raining when we departed and heavy fog was everywhere. We climbed to the mountain ridge, but couldn¡¯t see anything. Our GPS and compass were not working probably due to the rain - the information from GPS and the compass were not compatible. At a time like this, I could only rely on the local guide. Usually when we conduct survey work, we are asked to walk along the mountain ridge to collect information, making it easier to find our way back. Because this is the area where three counties meet, the terrain was really difficult and complicated. So the team leader asked us to walk down from the mountain ridge to collect more information. It was about 1pm when we started to walk down from the mountain ridge. When we came back, the local guide got confused. He couldn¡¯t tell whether the marks were the ones we left when we climbed down or the ones we just passed. We tried to find the right trail until 6pm. It began to get dark so we had no choice but to stay overnight in the mountains. There were no big trees at the mountain ridge so we had no shelter from the wind and rain. It was bearable before 10pm because we managed to set a fire and chatted for a while. But from 11pm on, rain started to pour. We got soaked in the rain and the fire began to go out. I was really tired after walking the whole day and fell to sleep. It was probably 20 minutes later that I woke up feeling something warm on my leg. The fire was out. We were surrounded by complete darkness. Fortunately, the guide smokes and had a lighter with him. We peeled a branch into slim pieces and managed to set up a small fire at about 4am. Although the fire was too small to keep us warm, I saw the hope. At 6am in the morning, we finished the biscuits and some fruit we brought the day before. Then we started to walk down. We knew that we would be trapped if we did anything other than walk downhill or walk along the river. The river was really big when we reached the mountain foot and the landscape was completely different than the day before. We couldn¡¯t tell whether we went down the right side and what was waiting for us. We were extremely lucky that it was the right side and we finally reached the base camp. No one knew what would have happened if we walked the wrong direction. We learned later that a lot of areas in Sichuan were struck by floods that day that we got lost. People in the base camp were getting very worried and were about to contact the military to search for us in the mountains. I took a shower after arriving at the base camp. Other team members saw my leg and asked me where I burned myself. It was then that I noticed that I burned my leg while sleeping in the mountain. I think that the survey is a really rare experience for me. I was working in the wildlife rescue center before. After graduating from the university, I never went to the mountains. I learned a lot from the survey, including the status of the habitat of wildlife and the conservation situation in the mountains. Since I know about the situation in the wild, I believe that there will be more opportunity for personal development. Also, I experienced the fear of death so there¡¯s nothing to be afraid of in the future. For further information:
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