Bitatawa Hunter

Love and the Bitatawa hunters of the Sierra Madre

The chances of spotting a bitatawa in the Northern Sierra Madre National Park are very slim. To improve the odds, I employed the services of Mulvie, a forester that British biologist Stephanie Law had relied on to track down the reptile when she was doing her research on the species brought to the world's attention by National Geographic. Mulvie the forester had a scrawny dog named Seksi who aided him.

Seksi would be set loose in the forests. When a bitatawa was spotted, she would chase it up a tree, then stay at the base while continuously barking to alert the other foresters. They were able to capture several bitatawa this way. The bitatawa were released shortly after.

Seksi, along with local teens, was with us on our trip but it had just rained and there were too many monkeys, which probably confused the dog. Our attempt to meet a bitatawa was not successful. Nevertheless, it was a good trek inside the canopy, leeches and thorns aside.

I returned to Maconacon years later to reloop with Mulvie but according to the locals, he had already left the country. He and Stephanie had already hooked up and are now a couple based in the UK.