A Fulbright award allowed me to travel to Bogota, Colombia to pursue biodiversity research with colleagues at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and the SINCHI Amazonic Institute of Scientific Research. During that period, SINCHI colleagues invited me to participate in a field expedition to an area poorly studied along the Vaupes River. The team consisted of researchers in various disciplines of zoology, botany, and biodiversity conservation.  We traveled by plane to the town Mitu in Amazonia and from there we moved by boats to reach our area of interest. The expedition lasted four weeks and we collected many new species of frogs, bats, birds, fungi, etc. All specimens are deposited in the SINCHI collections of biodiversity.  We are currently describing new species of frogs and the specimens will also be studied by future generations of researches. The Fulbright award allowed me to develop long-term research collaborations with Colombian scientists.

Rafael O. de Sa – Fulbright to Colombia 2016