An overnight stay in Iquitos and tour of the city markets was followed by a ride downstream to base camp. Travel is always by boat since there are no roads in the area surrounding Iquitos. The Explorama Lodge is a semi-primitive tourist facility on a tributary of the Amazon, Yanamono Creek. It features dormitory-type rooms with much-needed mosquito netting around the beds, a central dining hall, a cantina for evening gatherings, pit toilets, and refreshingly cold showers. The group also stayed at the Explornapo Camp on the Sucusari River and at the nearby Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research (ACEER). The final two nights were spent at the Explorama Inn, a "fancy" facility with electricity and running water, and back in Iquitos.
Each day's activities were set out by Celso, our most excellent guide -- discovering animal and plant life or examining the culture of the native people. One of the highlights of the trip, in fact, was simply getting to know the local children, visiting their homes and schools, sharing their songs, and whuppin' 'em at futbol. (Okay, so they beat us pretty soundly....)
Another
highlight of the trip was time spent on the Canopy Walkway at the ACEER.
The Walkway is a series of bridges suspended from trees, allowing visitors
to climb into the canopy and view the rainforest from treetop level --
a somewhat nerve-wracking treat, but well worth the effort.
The group got to know a local celebrity, Dr. Linnea Smith, a physician who chose to give up her practice in America to help the natives of Peru. For the past nine years she has treated medical problems on a below-cost basis at the Yanamono Clinic which she manages, the only such facility in the area. A true American/Peruvian heroine!
And we got to hang with a true international celebrity, Dr. Jim Duke. The world's foremost authority on herbs and herbal remedies, Dr. Duke very generously shared his time and expertise, even leading us on a three-hour lecture / walk across the isthmus from the Amazon to the Napo River.
The Biology Department offers the Amazon Rainforest trip every other January Term, the next one in 2001. Interested students and alumni should contact Dr. Davenport (205 870-2584) or ljdavenp@samford.edu for more information.
Photographs from the 1999 Peruvian Amazon Trip
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