My Time in the Rainforest

Today was very productive day. I saw many things that I have never seen before in the Amazon rainforest. It is located in South America and is hugely populated with many different species. It is vast, covering an area of 2,5 million square miles, and we haven’t even got one eight yet. Amazon river is one of the reasons the forest is so tremendously populated. It flows for more than 4,000 miles to discharge its waters in the Atlantic Ocean near Belem, Brazil. Along the way, about 1,100 tributaries latch on. One of the most seen birds was the Toucan. It was bigger then I thought it would be.

Our guide told us that ten million species of plants, animals and insects live in the tropical forest. As it became dark, we stayed in the undergrowth of the forest where the tree could shade use from the hot sun we were expecting in the morning. The floor of the rain forest was sticky and wet from the rain that had fallen earlier this morning. It was hard to relax because of the weird weather. I could see a rainbow in the sky through the gaps between the canvas of leaves.

As I got up, a spider monkey jumped down from the canopy and tried to grab the fruit we picked. We made a quick dash towards a giant tree trunk that had fallen. Thousands of small insects scattered as we approached it. We made a fireplace here to cook the raw meat we had brought. We fetched water from the Amazon river which was flowing near to camp and put in tablets to clean it. As we filled our bottles, piranhas swam towards our hands in the water. The Amazon river was a very dangerous place.

–Day 2 24.09.10

We woke up at dawn when most of the animals would be sleeping. We saw an anaconda slither by. It was 21 feet long and I saw it choke a Giant Anteater. We were far away and the snake didn’t spot us. A pack of squirrel monkeys passed us and we carried on through. It was getting cooler and there were less animals wandering about. More deadly animals started to appear, such as the poison dart frog. Our guide told us it is very small in size, but poisonous enough as to kill up to 100 people.

It has the most powerful poison known by man, but harmless if left alone. Amazon Indians hunt using its poison in the tip of their arrows.

–Day 3 25.09.10

We were heading towards Manaus, the weather in tropical areas have equatorial climate, found approximately 5 degrees to the North and South of the equator. Like any other tropical rainforest, it’s hot and humid throughout the year, with an average annual temperature of 27�C