For this work, the shore of the lake was divided into 40 50m strips which took up the first day. The following days were spent conducting the census using the rather eccentric and hair-raising method of two people sititng on chairs secured to the roof of a 4WD vehicle and being separated by a canvas screen. Each person then independently counted the number of capybaras in each 50m section as the vehicle was slowly driven round the 2km. Although the farm here had tried to reduce the impact of land improvement for grazing by leaving many cerrado trees standing, the ground level vegetation had been replaced by more productive African breeds of grass. However, here a certain area of original vegetation had been protected.
Brasilian law demands that farmers protect a certain percentage of the original vegetation.
This is rarely adhered to in other areas because nobody checks. These three days brought home how easily cerrado can be destroyed and turned into grazing land for large herds of cattle. It made obvious why cerrado is Brasil's second most endangered habitat after Atlantic rainforest. Unfortunately no-one hears of this type of landscape and little or no attempt is being made to stop its destruction. It was here that I also discovered what a Brasilian barbeque is like an how it feels to eat a pound of salty meat with no vegetables or other dishes - not an experience to be repeated in a hurry.