Learning from pristine Lico forest in a Mozambique volcano

I was transfixed by this report in the Guardian on a pristine rain forest in the mouth of a volcano in Mozambique. Besides the bare COOLNESS factor of it all, the photos could be particularly instructive for permies.

For instance, if you click on the photo essay to the left of the page, you can see that most of the trees are pretty small, and the canopy surprisingly open. In fact, it reminds me very much of 50 year regrowth forest of much of Northern Michigan. Does this mean rapid succession? If so, it vindicates the permaculture chop-and-drop dogma.

Additionally they mention the constant "rain" of caterpillar droppings. That, coupled with what appears to be very shallow topsoil, confirms my observations in central Africa that the fertility cycle on this continent is generally a rapid one; relying less on thick layers of humic material--that's a cold climate mechanism--and more on the incredible abundance of small biology to constantly consume, transport, recycle and process nutrient. In my climate it's termites; in Lico, it's caterpillars.

Because most of us will never be in virgin forest ourselves, these photos are a precious resource. I would love to get your observations and insights as well.

It was a really interesting report.  However, was given pause when they said that after the arduous technical climb they also discovered (ancient?) pottery up there!

Phil Gardener wrote:It was a really interesting report.  However, was given pause when they said that after the arduous technical climb they also discovered (ancient?) pottery up there!

Yes! On top of a 300 metre cliff, it is certainly an anthropological mystery.

(Caterpillars are everywhere on Lico, so numerous in the trees above that their droppings fall like a dry, soft rain.)

That's incredible. What a mental picture that draws.

Here are two photos from the expedition showing the caterpillars:

Wow that is gorgeous! It really impresses upon me the roll of insects in an arboreal system. Our forests are so sterile in comparison. Makes me feel better about my moringa trees getting stripped by caterpillars every few years. They survive just fine. And perhaps we need greater diversity of caterpillars as well. Every few years these guys show up and it makes me happy:

Yeah, I love caterpillars, and I love butterflies even more. I do sometimes get pissed when they eat my plant buddies, but I Garden so we can all enjoy the space together. If things are getting out of control, I'll run some neem and diatomaceous, but that's about it.

Great article. I sort of got stopped near the end when they described one of the scientists holding some carefully collected fish. Think on that for a minute.