The End of an Era

After over 6 years of intensive research and community development work in and around the Yachana Reserve, GVI Amazon is coming to a close. We have finished our final research project (look forward to our Road Effects paper, coming soon!) and are handing over the project to our partner, The Yachana Foundation. They will continue to maintain and monitor the reserve, using it as an hands-on science education center for students -- we're very excited to see what fabulous things this next generation of scientists find! For more detail on GVI Amazon's closure, and our accomplishments over the years, please read on...
GVI Amazon Closure Statement

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Once More Unto the Jungle My Friends....

Last night we went on our final hike to Laguna for the 5 week phase. It was a 6 1/2 hour journey winding through the jungle, up slippery slopes, climbing through tree falls, and wading through creeks. After a couple hours we stopped at a beautiful lookout point to have dinner. Enjoying our spaghetti dinners, we watched Aracaris, Flycatchers, amongst other birds fly over the ridge as the sun was setting.


Sitting down and taking in the view, I managed to convince Jamie that an insect was attacking him by using a small root to graze his ear, each time trying to maintain my laughter as he slapped the side of his head violently to drive away the “mosquito.” After five minutes he finally realized what was going on, fortunately after the entire group was cracking up and pictures had been taken.

After night began to set in we made our way to the lagoon we saw a several caiman swimming about. The big surprise of the night came when we happened across a 1 meter plus Fer de Lance (Bothrops atrox). Being one of the more dangerous snakes of the Amazon, we kept our distance as we snapped some great photos. It was another great night in the Amazon Rainforest.


Clayton Simons - GVI Amazon volunteer, Jan-Feb 2011


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