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Out of the sea of green a small dirt runway could be seen and the plane headed towards it. On our approach the jungle could be seen rushing up beside us as we plunged down towards it and we hit the ground with a thump, but it didn’t finish there. The end of the runway was approaching far too fast and the plane didn’t appear to be slowing down, mercifully it came to stop just yards from the wall of forest. As we climbed out of the plane we were hit by a blast of heat and looking around I realised that we were truly in the forest. Some of the locals came over and helped us to remove our luggage from the plane and then filled the hold with the most enormous catfish (about 5 feet long) and a huge great pig to be sent to the market and a sack of chickens. Then the plane left and we were alone in the forest. |
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To get to camp we were ferried in a pair of dugout canoes down the river. All of this passed in a daze as I watched enormous butterflies and tiny hummingbirds buzz around us and then flocks of yellow rumped cassiques building nests in trees overhanging the river. It truly was a place only found in dreams and David Attenborough wildlife programmes! But one of the most magical moments of the trip came when we lugged our packs down a narrow trail, past the “Pavacachi Hotel” sign some joker had placed on the river bank, and into a small clearing with three wooden huts that was to be our home for the next five weeks |
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The huts were basic structures raised above the ground with a thick palm thatched roof. There was one hut for the staff, one for volunteers, the “Saladero” where we ate, cooked, socialised and made data recordings and then the toilet block with two of the only four porcelain toilets for several hundred miles. There was electricity infrequently whenever “la planta” the small generator was fired up and there would have been showers and flushing toilets if the water system worked properly however it needed a little work! The huts were also inhabited by spiders, opossums, spiny rats and if Joes screaming in the night is to be believed even a porcupine which he claims was using his toilet! |
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The first few weeks were spent learning the ropes of how to gather data efficiently, jungle skills, camp life, first aid and other necessary learning. We had several sorties out into the forest along the locals tracks guided by Luis one of our two main guides (Alberto, his brother, was our main guide for the second half) and some of the children (Luis now has 11 kids!). |
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