A leap of faith – do what scares you!
(Travel advice for those in doubt)
White-Hearted Glassfrog (Hyalinobatrachium Carlesvilai) - One of the rarer to see frog species in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest, taken from my final jungle walk (Thanks to Crees Manu - Manu Learning Centre, Madre de Dios Region, Peru)
“The boat ride was incredible; the sun reflecting off the tranquil waters, my eyes feasting on the incredible array and variety of birds lining the river banks and flying through the air. At this point I didn’t need any further confirmation; I knew I was exactly where I was meant to be”
Too often we get caught up in the comfort of routine, for me if I’m stuck in a routine then I don’t feel like I’m living! I need to be taking risks and pushing myself further, as the cliché states - life is too short!
Working a well paid job in a surgical supplies manufacturing was the definition of “security” for a lot of people. Tough work composed of logic and physical graft, organising job sheet requests to fulfil a fast paced workload for over 30 employees in a “clean room” for each week, across a long gruelling month.
Once organised and the inevitable Sage job sheet batch number errors corrected, to then go and grab the heavy boxes full of the physical supplies. Creating the labels, having to mind numbingly sit there until the machine completed the request otherwise you could have a minor disaster on your hands.
Making sure everything tallied up on the stock tracking system before passing through the materials and labels needed to fulfil the order requests. Rinse and repeat until Friday 4pm (a small consolation finishing an hour early on Friday to hook you in)
Not particularly difficult but you’d definitely be feeling it by the end of the week physically and mentally, so much so, that you’d be fighting to keep your eyelids open until you could crash for a nap once clocked out.
It got to a point of energy debt where I could barely enjoy my weekends as I began to get the dreaded “fear” of going back to do the same monotonous things week in and week out until I thought “this isn’t for me”.
I’d had enough and needed change, I’d been in Ripon for 26 years and as much as I love it. It was just the same old, same old.
At this point most people just begin to look for a new job elsewhere in their home town to repeat the cycle. Not me, I wanted something more, my soul was craving adventure!
A Craving For The Far Side Of The World
I thought about the classics such as Thailand then on to Australia & New Zealand as I wanted some picturesque locations, flora and fauna to further my photography skills. Until one fateful day whilst scrolling through Instagram and an advert had the rare fortune to capture my attention!
3 Months working and living in the Amazon rainforest as an intern in Peru, learning the ins and out’s of conservation media communications, right up my street!
After some prior research and some background checking, it finally took a final push from my previous job to push me into action!
The Peruvian Amazon Rainforest
After an interview by Whatsapp then a smash and grab for fulfilling the list for gear requirements, I still had my doubts. The flight date was drawing closer and the classic questions were running through my mind with all the “what ifs” and “but...”
This wasn’t helped by the fact when the date finally arrived, I spent my first night in a rougher neighbourhood near the airport in Lima, Peru. I spent some time staring out the window wondering what have I done!? Further compounded by the fact I was awoken by a cold front in the middle of the night, 4 hours before my next flight to Cusco!
Irregardless of this, I safely arrived at Cusco airport after being greeted by the golden hour glow flowing across the impressive mountains on my way in, a characteristic of this unique city. I was then greeted by my now friend Axel, he dropped me off at the hotel.
I met my group of volunteers and interns that were going to be accompanying me on the long ride ahead of us! After some introductions, Axel eventually took us on a tour of the city and gave us a briefing about what we were about to experience, the famous Andes and Cloud forests!
After an unforgettable journey through the winding mountains and mists of the cloud forest, with a night at the cock of the rock lodge to see Peru’s aforementioned national bird, we eventually arrived in Atalaya. Ready to embark on our boat to the Manu Learning Centre. An ex-cattle ranch turned into a secondary regenerating rainforest reserve and research centre.
The boat ride was incredible with the sun reflecting off the tranquil waters, my eyes feasting on the incredible array and variety of birds lining the river banks and flying through the air. At this point I didn’t need any further confirmation, I knew I was exactly where I was meant to be.
The male cock of the rock pictured within the Lek (Taken at the Cock of the Rock Lodge, Cloud Forest, Madre De Dios, Peru)
Time flies...
3 months passed so quickly for my multimedia internship that it left me thirsting for more! I had already seen so much but of course there was always more to see. I was fortunate enough that my attitude, passion for learning and photography skills were enough to get me a place on the staff after taking the initiative to apply. Further extending my stay!
In this time I saw both sets of endangered monkeys on the reserve, the black-faced spider monkeys and the peruvian woolly monkeys. With the latter giving me a memory firmly etched into my brain, where a friend and I had the luck to witness a family troupe of 12 feeding and going about their business for a good 40 minutes. With us eventually having to pull ourselves away!
I cannot even begin to count the amount of amazing mammals, birds, insects, amphibians, reptiles and people that I added to my list. I even got in a close up puma sighting whilst exploring the river beds of the reserve! An experience that left me speechless for the rest of the day as I replayed the memory over and over in my head! (No pictures unfortunately, I had the wrong settings and wanted to take it in with my eyes)
A fork in the road...
Eventually my time was cut short by the pandemic, we had two weeks notice before the relief flights. There was still time for a final night walk on the stream allowing me to achieve a long held goal of mine in finding the elusive glass frogs! With that it was time to evacuate after waiting for 2 weeks to receive permission to move during the quarantine.
We set off at the crack of dawn, the glow of the full moon shining down on us as we crossed the river by boat and made a long walk along the banks to Aguanos. Carrying all our wordly possessions. We loaded up the bus and were off, reaching our first checkpoint in 10 minutes in Salvacion, a small modest town on the edge of the jungle. The closest thing to modern society we had.
After doing the necessary legal items, we were allowed to continue, until another block approached us. A flatbed truck had slipped down the edge of the cliff side and was hanging on by 3 wheels and its axles blocking the road. This halted our journey, everyone already had frayed nerves due to the gravity of the situation.
A fork in the road… (Salvacion, Madre de Dios Region, Peru)
After approximately 10 minutes somebody called out “Laughing Falcon!” I looked out the window to the opposite side of the bus, to see the aforementioned sat casually on top of a dead tree trunk. I grabbed my camera out of my bag and rushed off the bus, I was fortunate enough to have a good 15-20 minutes observing and making photos of this beautiful creature, a bird that had been long on my list due to the miniature encyclopaedia of bird photos on Instagram! I couldn't believe my luck!
The elusive Laughing Falcon I had good fortune to see on my way out! (Salvacion, Madre de Dios Region, Peru)
Eventually we got going again after a few hours, arriving in Cusco safely without any further hitches. We had a further 5 days to wait until we were eventually allowed to fly home! The mood on the plane was great as everyone was so relieved to be travelling home safely, the song by Elton John “Tiny Dancer” was played across the loudspeaker with everyone joining in!
What a ride! Even though my adventure was filled with stressful situations, the highs far outweighed the lows and were all part of the process. This adventure gave me the stepping stone to ignite my career and go pro. I made many friends for life and made a highly valuable contact in the Crees Manu / Crees Foundation, who are consistently providing the tools and knowledge necessary to kickstart a career in conservation! I now know that you are capable of anything if you put your mind to it!
I have even returned to the Manu Learning Centre, where I am currently sat writing this, already having seen some incredible sights and improved my portfolio in the short time I have been here!
Find out what I have been up to in my next post!….
Visit Crees Manu to see the great work they are doing within the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest
Who’s more bored me or the dog? Waiting outside Cusco airport for our evacuation flights (Cusco, Peru)