Biology - Amazon Trip

Reflection on the Amazon Trip

BY: NATALIE COOK

Can you imagine a night free of all noise and all distractions but the sound of the rain? Can you picture boating on the winding curves of an endless river and walking into the unknown darkness? A rainforest holds in itself mysteries and wonders just waiting to be explored. I had the once in a lifetime opportunity to fly out of the country to Peru and explore a sliver of the rainforest with my biology professors and peers. My trip to the Amazon Rainforest was calming and in every way wonderful. Boarding the plane, I felt entirely thrilled and anxious of not knowing what awaited me at the end of the journey. Little did I know what the rainforest had to offer with its sights, rarities, and wonders.

Once we landed in Peru, we toured the city of Iquitos, including the large markets. All around us there were so many sights and smells I had never experienced before. Hogs were being freshly butchered to our right, and on our left there were spices of all varieties. I didn’t know what to expect next! After touring the city we took a shuttle boat to the lodge. We first started in the Amazon River and moved onto a tributary called the Tuyaho River. The weather was much more pleasant than I had expected. I thought it would be an onslaught of humidity but it was nothing that I hadn’t experienced before in Minnesota. After pulling up to the lodge, I felt like I was in a dream. The lodge looked like something from a movie. The lodge was on stilts above the water, and all the staff members came out to greet us. After finding our rooms, we got our boots and ventured out on our first hike. It was our first experience of going into the forest and our first steps into a whole new world. There were centipedes, pigmy monkeys, water vines, and various colonies of ants to name a few treasures. When it was pitch-black outside we went on a night boat ride looking for nocturnal creatures. It was quite peaceful, and excitement struck once we spotted the reflections of several eyes. One night we found a “hot spot” of frog varieties. Frogs lined the boat and were jumping all over us!

The next morning, with our binoculars in hand, we traveled in the tributaries looking for birds. Peru has the highest species richness of birds in the world so it was great to experience a small portion of those while in the Amazon. The guides were amazing in the fact that they could spot monkeys, sloths, and birds from dozens of meters away! My favorite bird we watched was the Hoatzin bird. We had to canoe through the flooded forest to get to their habitat. Their ancient aura and bold colors perplexed me. 

Later in the afternoon, we hiked farther into the forest and went zip lining through the canopy. However, in order to zip line through the canopy, we had to get up there first! Most all of the professors and students inched their way up with a rope climbing system, I on the other hand chose the easier option of being pulled up! The view in the canopy was breath-taking as we could see for miles above the trees. After everyone made it down in one piece, we made our way back to the lodge. Later that night we pulled on our boots and went on a three hour hike from one village to another. After leaving the trail that we started on, we detoured through the forest. The guides led us through the forest cutting down vegetation with machetes. There were a few tree boas and tree frogs along the way. In one spot, Dr. Malloy told us to turn our head lamps off. The only light we had was the dim moon. As our eyes began to adjust, we started to see glowing fungus on the forest floor! It was one of the coolest things I ever experienced. 

On the third day, we went birding again and then after we went fishing for piranha. Instead of waiting patiently and quietly for the piranha, we slapped the water with our poles hooked with meat! After several bites and failed attempts, I finally caught a piranha! In the evening, we rode to Chino village and played soccer with the villagers. They were so good, but we were better! We beat the villagers by one goal! 

Early the next morning, we packed up for our daunting survival camp out. The professors decided to opt out of our excursion. The guides took us to a separate location about an hour from the lodge. The guys had to build their own shelter with skinny logs and vines cut from the forest. The girls got to stay in tents. We fished for our dinner using grub worms we scavenged for in decaying wood. After setting up our shelters and eating dinner, we hiked through the forest searching for breakfast. Unfortunately our hunting was unsuccessful after attempting to catch an aguti and a caimen. The next morning we ate heart of palm from two, thirty-foot tall palm trees. Shortly after it started pouring rain and continued to rain for the entire afternoon. We were drenched to say the least. 

While I was in the Amazon I also did a research project with species diversity and species richness of fishes based on the different water habitats.  I used gill nets to collect the specimens in both the black and white water habitats. Black water is nutrient depraved while white water is filled with more nutrients. I hypothesized that the white water would have a higher species richness than the black water because of the nutrient content. It was really fun and excited to see what I would pull up. There was piranha, armored catfish, tiger catfish, barracuda, freshwater sardines, and nobia fish to name a few. The most exciting fish to catch was the ten-pound tiger catfish! My hypothesis was not supported and a higher species richness was actually found in the black water habitat. I was able to present this project a few months later on Benedictine College’s Discovery Day.

Going to the Amazon Rainforest was one of the best experiences of my life. Thinking about it, I still can’t believe I was there. I got to know a lot of people on the trip and many of us are still great friends. I guess the take home message would be that our world is so much bigger than our school, our state, and our country. Every place on this earth has something to offer that’s unique. On our trip we only saw a glimpse into the Amazon Rainforest. One of the coolest experiences was canoeing through trees with huge blue morpho butterflies floating all around us. It again felt like a fantasy. The Amazon is a beautiful and mesmerizing place and I hope to be able to return someday soon.