Nine Weeks In and Still So Much To See!!!

It’s now near the end of the phase and I was starting to think I wouldn’t see some of the animals I really wanted before I left. This was before I saw four in the space of two weeks. Dave nearly fell over a rainbow boa going over the boardwalk one evening. I had thought they were plain brown from the photos I had seen but I was so wrong! They have an amazing rainbow sheen that was really amazing in torchlight, it was such a beautiful snake! The second was a Cochranella midas or a kind of glass frog to you and me. It was such a fantastic thing to find on the reserve and shows that we have a healthy reserve. He was so small and was the exact same colour as the leaves he was found on, a really good spot! The third was on the way to satellite camp when we saw a Great Potoo roosting high up in a tree by the road. They make such a load of racket and sound like a real show off. Later that night we heard its call which I had been hoping to hear since our initial bird call training in week one of the expedition. The last and for me the best was reported to us by an early morning radio call from the mist net team. We all hurried on with our boots and went out to meet them only to find a nine foot red-tailed boa constrictor! It was huge and had most likely never been seen by anyone before. So here we are with a week to go, I still have a motmot and an armadillo on the list so I’m keeping my fingers crossed!!!

Becky Mott - GVI Amazon volunteer, Jan-Mar 2011

Nine Weeks In and Still So Much To See!!!