A Rough Guide To Setting Up a Jungle Hammock

The time had come to haul our hammocks and food filled backpacks onto our shoulders and set off into the sweltering heat of the day towards the infamous 'Laguna' satellite camp, located a treacherous hour's walk away from GVI Amazon base camp. Tales had been told of a land where tree frogs flourished and caimen were plentiful lucking around the muddy waters of the lagoon.

With excitement for the Laguna night walk high and motivation for the exhausting, muscle crunching, sweat fest of a walk ahead, we finally made it all in one piece (just!) and wasted no time in scouting around for the best spot to pitch a hammock. We now have the experience to know this is a crucial decision, which can potential make or break the opportunity for gaining much needed beauty sleep.

Here are a few points for setting up a jungle hammock; firstly you need two good solid trees, spaced about three metres apart to take your weight, flimsy trees, equals bouncy sling shot hammock, ants equals bad news - don’t even go there and you need to know how to tie a good knot. A bad knot may mean you end up sleeping on the ground (like Guy and Paul did), potentially in a puddle of water if it rains (like poor Ruth), or the person left to pack it up may forever curse your name trying to un-tie the damn thing.

The next step is all about height and angle; tarp to hammock roof distance is important if it rains, as rain will seep through if they touch. Tarp and hammock flap angles allow for rainwater run-off, airflow and rainforest views; important if you want to make the most of your sleeping-in-a-jungle-hammock-rainforest-experience.

The last thing to consider. when setting up a jungle hammock, is stability, (which can be obtained by threading a sturdy stick through the strings at either end) and the precarious placement of your sleeping bag inside. These factors are not quite as important as the aforementioned steps, but certainly do help in making a graceful landing when sliding inside and tucking yourself in, after sitting around the camp fire and eating fire cooked spuds and sipping billy tea.

But, even if you don’t always get these steps right every time you set up a jungle hammock you needn’t worry, because that is the experience of sat camp. Sat camp is all about getting the hammock set up wrong, someone will always fall from the trees and land on their butt in the middle of the night and someone will always get attacked by ants, one camp night always gets torrential rain and sleep is generally something only a privileged few get to experience. But strangely this is why we love sat camp and why we can’t wait to go again. Well…. Some of us anyway!

Jas Rowe, GVI Amazon volunteer October - December 2009

A Rough Guide To Setting Up a Jungle Hammock

BTECs, meat, cake and dance-offs!

The second stage of our ten week adventure is now well and truly up and running. It’s been a pretty manic week here back on camp. In addition to the various ongoing science projects the BTEC guys got opportunities to lead their very own surveys with great success. It has been so great returning to camp and getting back into the jungle after a long time away. This is what it’s all about, immersing yourself in the wondrous amazon rainforest, with all the amazing bugs, creeping crawlies and the ever so vibrant colours of the forest.

This week we have been getting to know the fresh new faces who have joined our expedition for the second five weeks, Kim, Alexis and Paul, along with a returnee from a previous expedition Guy who has now become a GVI Scholar. We cannot of course forget to say a sincere fond farewells to those who have sadly left after the first five weeks and are now embarking on their own adventures, Mike Thackwray a.k.a ‘Milky’, Emma and Tamara – all who are sadly missed.

On Friday, after a week out in the field those who were out on surveys returned back to camp to find a great sense of excitement growing in the group. A rumour was spreading around that ‘meat’, yes that’s right ‘meat’ was on the menu for dinner. And amazingly they were not wrong, a mistake had been made with our food order this week and we had ended up with steak, minced beef and sausages, with no refrigeration, all had to be eaten on that same day – heaven!

To end the week on Saturday, it was Kristin’s birthday. For her birthday we had one hell of a party! As is tradition with birthdays on camp, it meant a cake could be baked. Up stepped Jas, who, using only a gas stove, made one of the best choclate cakes ever – it was soooo good! After we had the cake the festivities began. First up we played a game of pass the parcel in which not only did you get a prize but also a dare – with a few pretty dangerous dares to boot. They included drinking beer out of a used welly, eating a spoonful of chilli flakes and shaving one leg (which to the much displeasure of Andy, our Base Manager, fell to him to do!). We also played musical statues and an Ecuadorian game which involved dancing with a passionfruit held up between two heads. The games then culminated in a dance off to end all dance off’s, with everybody facing up on the dancefloor! The dancefloor then was opened and the party really got going – which went on going deep into the early hours of the morning!

Good week!

Chris Shuttle, GVI Amazon volunteer October - December 2009

BTECs, meat, cake and dance-offs!

Keep callin’ Mr. Deridens

T’was the night before Tena and the sky was dark,
Down in the shadows Chris and Andy had a moral dilemma.
Close by, there called a frog sat upon high tucked in a log.

His call sent a chill and a bit of a thrill,

But to climb such a tree, a lesser man it would kill.

Chorus

One day true love will come,

For you and for me and the frog in that tree.

Then we will see how happy we’ll be.

Keep callin my froggy friend, never give up right till the end.

Using a ladder wrought from finest steel,

Chris and Andy were hot on his heels.

A saw made of gold, a twinkle in the black.

Chris soon had a hold, for the crowd to behold,

And up went a cheer as away crept the fear.

Chorus

Andy smiled like an enlightened child,

All became clear as he whispered in Chris’ ear.

‘It’s deridens, but my worry is that, he has no friends’.

‘He calls on his own, on an Island of stone, cold and alone’.

Chris released him at once and sang to the crowd,

‘Have faith and pray for a brighter, better day, all of this heartache will soon go away.’

Chorus

Whena Tena was done, along with the fun,

Chris and Andy sat having a chat.

Whilst in the tree, grew strong the sound of the sadness they had previously found.

When all at once, a female did pounce,

On the Comedor table, healthy and able.

Chorus

She was caught at once and helped on her way,

As the crowd left, in the tree she did stay, till the break of day.

From the Comedor close by there came the hum,

Of true love and some freaky froggy fun.

Chris smiled at Andy as he lay in his bed, both fuzzy inside at the work they had done.

Chorus

An Ecuadorian ballad written and performed by Rio Napo artists Andrew Whitworth and Christopher Beirne.

Keep callin’ Mr. Deridens

Full Moon in Bloom

After five weeks of jungle fun

Its hard to believe the first half of the phase is done

Time to return to the land where hot water flows and light bulbs glow

After weeks of science and community work

Rest and cervezas are what we deserve

With great anticipation of what was to come

We arrived in Tena ready for fun

The events began with a great nights meal

Food without beans or rice was the best deal

The days followed were filled with exciting recreation

Riding the whitewater and climbing through canyons

The mountainous landscape towered around us

Birds soared high and vegetation was lush

Lunch was served on a bamboo platter

With the locals we shared good food and laughter

As the day progressed we baked in the sun

Our pasty white skin was soon long gone

We took a break from the white water raft

Face painting with mud, we had a good laugh

As the afternoon commenced, the adventure continued

The landscape changed, with more beautiful views

It didn’t take long for the raft to capsize

We floated through the water with smiles, “we’re alive!”

At the end of the day we were greeted with a cold beverage

An exhilarating day, that was much more than average

The adventure was over, our break is done

But I can’t wait to get back to the jungle

Five more great weeks to come!

by Jill Robbie, GVI Amazon volunteer October - December 2009

Full Moon in Bloom

Parting thoughts from five-week volunteers.

Our last weekend with GVI was spent taking a well-deserved break at Hector's Island, (Sumak Allpa) on the Rio Napo, 30 minutes downstream from Coca, soaking up the sun and of course the sandflies! The weekend was jam-packed full of activities from helping with some trail maintenance to drinking traditional Kichwa tea at 4am in the morning and hearing all sorts of stories from our giude, Hector. Finally, as the sun was setting, we took a canoe across the river to a stretch of deserted beach, surrounded by serene jungle, for a wild and whacky game of beach football. At half-time we cooled our weary sand-burnt feet with a dip in the Napo River. All feeling like winners, we returned to Hector's camp to feast on his delicious freshly barbequed chicken - what a treat!

As the full moon rose over the Amazon rainforest we sat around a roaring camp fire sharing all sorts of stories and playing games. It was the perfect end to a rewarding five weeks of work and play in the rainforest with the GVI Amazon expedition. All that was left now was to return to base camp for a couple of last days back at base before packing up and heading out into life outside the beautiful backdrop of the Yachana Reserve.

Kristin Bianchini & Emma Steer, volunteers GVI Amazon, October - November 2009

Parting thoughts from five-week volunteers.

Minga at Puerto Rico

GVI Amazon base camp was quiet on Friday morning as the volunteers had left for Hectors Island ridiculously early. I’ll admit I smiled as I heard the rain at 4.15am when they’d have been waiting on the road for the bus to Coca. Me, Andy and Sam headed to Puerto Rico to help with a minga, a communal work session, at a slightly more reasonable 7am. We ended up in a field behind the community where an enclosure was going to be built for the school kids to grow some vegetables. First an area had to be cleared, most of it had been done but a small amount of brush remained. The border was marked out with large stakes then huge stretches of bamboo were cut, carted, then tied to the top of the stakes.

The temperature got higher but the work still continued and by midmorning we were inserting small stakes between the bamboo to make the fence – taking care to make sure it was chicken-proof of course. Standing back to look at them there were distinct sections with a slight lean but I’m sure it’ll do the job! By this point it was stupidly hot and we all collapsed in the shade of the school to recuperate with juice and biscuits. The kids, after investigating Sam and Andy’s tattoos, discovered my camera and crowded round for as many piccies as they could get in, piling on top of each other to get a look at themselves on the screen. We eventually escaped and returned to work to find that we only needed to empty sacks of soil onto the beds ready for the kids to start planting. All in all it was hard work but rewarding, we could definitely see what our hard work had achieved.

Amy Dutton, GVI Amazon Scholar October - December 2009

Minga at Puerto Rico

Bursting with Science and Fun, Fun, Fun!

Out and about in the reserve, there was a lot of action on the dung beetle front during the last few days. The miniature pitfall traps unexpectedly revealed a high yield of beetles from the secondary forest trap sites, with around 200 beetles being caught from one trap alone - that's a whole lot of beetles! This made identification arduous, but rewarding, as several new speies were identified.

In other planned work, there was a lot to be done in the form of preparing land for planting trees. However, the long awaited rain (it is currently the 'drier' season here in the Amazon and the river levels visibly drop on a daily basis), disrupted play. Further Management Plan work had to be postponed until a later date. Rain also disrupted the butterfly work, in it's final stages of trapping for this five weeks and the traps were closed until the start of the next five week phase in early November. From the few that were caught, a new species to add to the Yachana Reserve list, was still identified. One particular, rather aged, three month old butterfly seemed insistant on returning to the trap sites and has been recaptured and released multiple times - he just couldn't get enought of that tasty fermenting banana bait!

The reserch focus moved to the community development side and an uplifting and rewarding new English teaching session at another community nearby the GVI Amazon base camp, Puerto Salazar. A successful introduction between the community and GVI was had after what initially looked like a poor turn out. The day started with some English teaching and after a slow start to a football game, the whole day was concluded with some fantastic football action as other members of the community appeared in trickles and a great day of fun and education was enjoyed by all involved.

The following day, another trip, this time to our partners across the river, Yachana. A visit to the Lodge and High School was on the agenda. Volunteers and staff enjoyed a selection of cool refreshing milkshakes and a second football match in as many days. A suitable and well deserved spot of relaxation for all the efforts and hard work volunteers and staff have been putting in to the Ecuadorian Amazon Expedition during the preceeding weeks.

Bursting with Science and Fun, Fun, Fun!