girot@huracan.cr (Pascal Girot) (02/19/91)
I happen to be in close contact with the group which has developed the canopy raft. The person who designed and created the mobile canopy raft is Gilles Ebersolt (AEROSCOPE 60,rue Truffaut 75017 Paris FRANCE). The scientist responsible for its development and field testing in Francis Halle (ORSTOM, Laboratoire de Botanique, 163, rue Auguste Broussonet, 34000 Montpellier ,FRANCE). The October 1990 issue of National Geographic also had a shot article on the canopy raft, which has been tested in various sites since 1986 (French Guyana, Peru, and Brazil). We are interested in promoting a project using the mobile canopy raft in Central America, do you know of any possible sources of funding? To answer your question (RHG@psuvm.psu.edu). The inflatable raft's total weight is 750 kg (this does not include the weight of passengers or of the zeppelin which carries the inflatable structure). I hope this satisfies all of your needs. If you need any more information on the tree top raft, please feel free to contact me or those mentioned above. Sincerely, Pascal O. Girot, Proyecto Regiones Fronterizas, CSUCA, Costa Rica