Amazon adventure: getting to grips with nature in a magical sea of green
I wake up suddenly just as daylight is sneaking into my room, startled by an otherworldly noise that disturbed my dreams. At first I think the plumbing is playing up and a drain is painfully protesting. Except I’m in the jungle, where plumbing facilities are minimal. The sound is spooky and ethereal, as if a vortex has opened to the underworld and a ghoul is summoning me. I was awestruck. Not for the weirdest sound I’ve ever heard, but for what it signified — I was in the magical, magnificent Amazon. This vast rainforest gives the world its oxygen and contains creatures, plants and tribes never encountered anywhere else. It’s an endless mass you fly over realising that if your plane goes down and you survive, there’s still a good chance they ain’t never going to find you. It’s estimated 390-billion trees protect 1,300 bird species and more than 430 types of mammals. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says millions of its species are still undescribed and between 2014-15 a new plant or an...
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