Peruvian Rainforest (Amazon - Picture Heavy)

[GrifTheGreat]

Fantastic Jeff!!!!! I'm actually quite envious of you! I would have loved to takena trip to the Amazon. Lots of wildlife! Especially love the fact that you got to see a Ceratophrys cornuta in it's natural habitat. Simply amazing!

[numpty]

Nice post! I went to this part of Peru a long time ago but never made it into the park proper (naively thinking I could just turn up at the park in a canoe ferry and bypass the usual park waiting list regulations!) Looks like you had a great time with some good people.

[deranged chipmunk]

awesome pics Jeff!! thanks for sharing!! looks like it was incredible journey.

[maxQ]

Wow, great post and awesome pictures, thanks for sharing. I got to do a conservation trip to Kenya years ago, these are things you will never forget.

[JeffreH]

Thank you guys! It was definitely the most incredible experience of my life = )

I'm going to take a moment to share some grim news by encouraging anyone who has an opportunity like this to seize it. The rainforests are dying, and I'm skeptical about their persistence for my children and grandchildren, which is why I'm trying to make as many people aware of this as possible so that we can try to help. I've been told that Madagascar's forests will be completely erradicated within 10yrs, Borneo and much of SE Asia within the next 30yrs, and the Amazon is uncertain. Apparently the previous president of Peru tried to build a logging highway straight through the National Park! Gold Mining is also incredibly prevalent and we even found a couple of illegal camps that were built into the park... The Gold mining involves using methyl mercury to isolate gold from sediment, and the workers and children muddle through it with bare hands and dump the waste directly into the Amazon... thousands of metric tons annually. A look at what gold mining is doing:
Futurity.org – Gold rush stripping Peruvian Amazon

On a more Positive note! There are amazing people helping, including this man who has single-handedly planted over 30,000 trees following sustainable agriculture with the rainforest. This is a great video that is only 5mins long and just won an award from the United Nations. It highlights conservation efforts we saw in the park, and while it starts off kind of slow, it really picks up and is totally worth watching (plus its super short).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnOTbVxOPZw

Especially love the fact that you got to see a Ceratophrys cornuta in it's natural habitat. Simply amazing!

Haha Grif, the first thing I thought when that C. cornuta was found was "I need a photo of that guy for FrogForum!" ; )

Nice post! I went to this part of Peru a long time ago but never made it into the park proper (naively thinking I could just turn up at the park in a canoe ferry and bypass the usual park waiting list regulations!) Looks like you had a great time with some good people.

It was absolutely amazing - we went through the CREES foundation with the university; I'm honestly not sure if they only support researchers or if their ecotourism is open to anyone, but they're worth looking into if you want access into the park. Everything was planned very well, we had food brought in for us... great people to work with and most funding goes to conservation efforts.

Thanks again guys! I probably have some more pictures I can post later if I sift through enough stuff...

[Gorgonopsia]

Wow!! I feel jealous!!