Challenge DAY FOUR

After packing up our bags and having granola for breakfast on day four we walked for around an hour through a nice area of riparian forest from the community of Keweriono to the tourist lodge. When we arrived we had a tour around the lodge and were told about some of the conservation and science work that was going on and were shown some of the top predators which inhabit the area and were caught on camera traps during a previous study. One of the things that the money raised by this challenge will go towards are camera traps so that these top predators and large mammals such as Jaguar, Puma, Jaguarundi, Tapier, Ocelot and rare Bush Dogs can be monitored by the local communities in the future.

After our tour we got into our kayaks and made our way down river, some of us in single kayaks, others in doubles. Everybody got on ok after a shaky start from Henry and Reena. For lunch we stopped at a small community and ate a packed lunch of rice and chicken which satisfied us as meat is not often on the menu with GVI. The desert was even better, banana with chocolate sauce to give us an energy boost for the afternoon.

The afternoon saw some more canoeing and a quick change of people in the kayaks. With the sun bringing out the beauty of the Amazon rainforest, Lewi proceeded to lose his hat after getting tangled up with some overhanging branches and Tom had problems keeping his kayak pointing in the right direction. We arrived at our destination earlier than expected so we had all had time to chill out for a couple of hours. Dinner was followed by a night walk where we saw an ornate snail eating snake, a rainbow boa, a scorpion, a night monkey and a huge tarantula. When we got back from the walk we ate desert, had a coffee and toasted with a semi cold beer for the almost completion of the challenge and to Liz who had raised the most money individually, an amazing 855 pounds. After such a lovely day and tiring week we sat around a bonfire and reminisced on the challenge before retiring for bed for the night.

James, 8 week volunteer + Phil Brown, Assistant Base Manager

Challenge DAY FOUR