Parrot Pilgrimage: A Journey from Stranger to Belonging

We began our Parrot Pilgrimage on Ometepe Island, Nicaragua in December 2025 as strangers to one another. We had 20 nonresident pilgrims who came from many different regions, but when we left the island to go home, we all returned to the same place – to our home planet Earth, which we came to understand we steadfastly belong to, as do all other beings.     

Pilgrimages often mean to literally walk to a holy place, often accompanied by others. As pilgrims walk, they seek transformation, personal growth, and a stronger connection to life, earth, and, as many would call love on and of this earth, God.  As we walked, many expressed they had experiences such as these before, discovering not just who we are, but whose we are. Each step showed us that we are each other and that we belong to each other.

            Our fervent hope is that this sense of belonging radiates out and transforms into an embodied welcoming through open hearts, minds, and hands that together can heal the world as we were healed on Ometepe Island.

            Does this seem like a big ask of parrot pilgrims and of each other?

            I think not. This is the chant we frequently shared as we walked around Ometpe:

Si se puede. Si se puede. Loros vuelen libres.

Yes, it's possible. Yes, it can be done. Parrots fly free.

And by parrots I mean all of us can be free, for we are each other and we belong to each other, to parrots, to Ometepe, to the conservationists there, and to this earth.

This pilgrimage was an act of freedom, which is a core tenent of Transformative Conservation that thrives on the following deep knowing: "None are free until all are free."