Whatever Happened to GVI Amazon's Port?
After arriving back at GVI base camp as a fully fledged (and fully busy) intern, I had to admit amongst endless camp duties and assisting new volunteers, I’d become just a little complacent to the awesome power of nature you find in the Amazon. Such was this realised when, upon arriving to Puerto Rico from a bird walk, we saw that the River Napo had swollen massively, swallowing the beach, banks and surrounding vegetation. Racing through the enormous currents was a mass of debris, including entire tree falls – roots and all. Eek! ...And a fridge. Hmm...
Once back at camp we headed down to port to check out the full extent of the flooding – except port wasn’t really there anymore; it was underwater.
We all stood and gawped at the river tearing ev
erything from root and crevice and dragging it away at over 40mph. In the end we had to move the Yachana Reserve sign because it was looking likely to be swept away too!
Karina said severe storms further up north had caused the floods...the full extent of the damage in affected areas is unknown as of yet...all I can say is, I’m damn glad our base camp is 285 steps above port, otherwise we’d all be floating off down the Napo in our lifejackets.
Needless to say, I’ve snapped out of my complacency.... respect the nature people!
Laura Jones - GVI Amazon Intern, Jan-Jun 2010
2 comments:
woahhh insane!!!
Certainly is Val. Absolutely bananas. It's back to normal now though.
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