In October 2015, I visited Ecuador for the first time. I spent my first ten days in the country traveling with amphibian biologist Chelsea Carson. We visited the Amazon, the Andes and the coast to develop the SAVE THE FROGS! Ecuador Ecotour. At the end of our travels, I interviewed Chelsea while overlooking the Pacific Coast at Tabuga in Ecuador’s Manabi province. We discussed Chelsea’s career path and how she went from being an undergraduate organizing Save The Frogs Day events to a Fulbright scholar researching amphibians in Ecuador and organizing ecotours. Chelsea teaches us about Ecuador’s primary ecosystems and the threats they face, and we learn about Chelsea’s research in the streams and agricultural areas of the Ecuadorian cloudforest. We also discuss the value of ecotours, both for the ecotourist and the local communities. And of course we talk about the SAVE THE FROGS! Ecuador Ecotour and the beautiful frog habitats we visit on the tour.
Chelsea Carson smiling with a glass frog in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Listen to the interview with Chelsea Carson and enjoy the ocean waves in the background, right here. (Right-click to download)
If you are inspired to join Chelsea and 15 other frog enthusiasts in Ecuador June 8th-20th, 2017, please visit the SAVE THE FROGS! 2017 Ecuador Ecotour webpage and contact us before the ecotour fills up…there are currently only two spaces remaining!
View amazing photos from the 2016 SAVE THE FROGS! Ecuador Ecotour here.
Dr. Kerry Kriger and Chelsea Carson on the Rio Napo, Ecuadorian Amazon, October 2015.
Photo of Hyloxalus awa with tadpoles at Itapoa, Ecuador, courtesy of Jaime Culebras