Singing in the Rain

Today Naomi, Lauren, Sam, Tim, Fei, and Beau went with GVI Amazon staff team intern Liam to check and take down butterfly traps which had been set up on Monday. We found a large Morpho species in the first; it was sitting on the edge of the bait (made of rotten banana and beer) about to escape. Beau managed to catch the butterfly in a dramatic struggle lasting hours, and removed it with his bare fingers (the atmosphere was tense) as it was large enough to handle without a bag. We recorded its sex and species before photographing and releasing the butterfly. As we headed onto the next eight traps, a storm began to close in. Within minutes, rain began to hammer down. Despite this, we marched on to the remaining traps, getting soaked to the skin. Our boots were half filled with water as the path turned into a stream. Battling monsoonal rain, we collected all traps. Fei, Beau, Tim, and Liam decided that it would then be appropriate to remove their shirts and photograph themselves making ‘manly’ poses in the rain. After an epic journey, we finally arrived safely back at base!

Sam Evans & Tim Schnabel, GVI Amazon Volunteers, July-Aug 2011

Singing in the Rain