Into The Unknown...

More from Phil, click here for the full entry...

Today was one small step for Olly, Kristen and I but one giant leap for the Yachana Reserve. We set off this afternoon as intrepid explorers going into the unknown with only a GPS to protect us.

The north eastern corner of the reserve has never been studied or mapped before and the topographic maps on the GIS programme indicated that there is a big depression which potentially may hold a stream with a collection of tributaries. Our objective for the afternoon was to find out if there were any streams and to map the location and route of any we found.

Olly, Kristen and I set off from base after lunch at a fast pace and made it to the point where we intended to leave the trail in good time. Within ten minutes of leaving the trail we stuck gold and found a small but fast flowing (it has rained a lot this week) stream. We walked along the stream plotting points on the GPS every five meters. We knew no recent GVI staff and volunteers had ever been along that stream before and judging by the density of the undergrowth, nobody had walked along it in years, if at all. It was quite exciting to think that we were the first people (or at least the first people for a very long time) to walk that route...

Phil Brown - GVI Amazon Conservation Intern, Oct 2010-Mar 2011

Into The Unknown...