SSブログ
AMAZON ADVENTURE ブログトップ

AMAZON ADVENTURE(1) (Documentary report at Amazon rainforest) [AMAZON ADVENTURE]

第6回 AMAZON ADVENTURE (1)
                                (BY SUSAN GOODMAN)
画像1212 004.jpg

画像1212 006.jpg


"Check it out! " Kevin shouted, pointing to something swimming in the world's largest river, the Amazon.

From the deck of a river boat, Kevin and his friends watched rare river-dolphins flash past.

Then the kids looked toward shoreーat the houses on stilts, the banana plants, and the palm trees. This place was so different from home!

Who were these lucky kids, and what were they doing in the Amazon rainforest? They were junior high students from Michigan. And they were taking part in a Children's Rainforest Workshop.

All through the school year they had studied rainforests. They also worked hard earning money to help pay for the trip.

Now all their leaning would come to life as they spent a week in a small corner of the world's largest rainforest.


LIFE IN THE FOREST

After flying to the city of Iquitos, Peru, the kids cruised 50 miles (80 km) down the amazon.

The boat finally docked at a jungle hideaway called Explorama Lodge.

(つづく)     


AMAZON ADVENTURE (2) [AMAZON ADVENTURE]

AMAZON ADVENTURE (2)

LIFE IN THE FOREST

After flying to the city of Iquitos, Peru, the kids cruised 50 miles (80 km) down the amazon.

The boat finally docked at a jungle hideaway called Explorama Lodge.
(以上再掲)

Right away the kids could see that life here would take getting used to !

Lots of rain made the air very humid, so wet clothes took days to dry. Kerosene lamp took the place of electric lights.(No ideos or hair dryers here!)

Mosquito netting kept creepy-crawlies out of their beds. And to go to the bathroom, the kids had to walk down a long path to an outside toilet.

" I miss hamburgers and pizza," said April,  I miss hamburgers and pizza," said April, " but I've tried some neat new foodsーlike fried bananas, black beans, and manioc root.

The kids didn't have to go far for animal-watching. While swinging on hammocks, they watched hummingbirds sip nectar from flowers.

They shared their showers with huge moths and weild katydids.

Once they even had to step over a column of marching army ants to get to the dining room.

IN, NEIGHBORS!

After getting settled in the Lodge, the kids visited a Yagua Indian the Lodge, the kids visited a Yagua Indian village.
The chief colored the kids'faces with red "paint"madefrom seeds.

Everyone tried shooting darts from a blowgun more than six feet (2m)long.
Best of all, they traded things brought from home for blowguns, dolls, grass skirts, and necklaces. 


A LIVING LAB

All week the kids explored the river and the rainforest.

While paddling down the Amazon in canoes, they learned that the river contains more species (kinds) of fish than Atlantic Ocean.

By catching some of those fish in a net, Jake made another discovery.
" These are the same kinds of tropical fish I have in my aquarium at home! " he said.

On one hike, the kids learned some of the jungle's medical secrets.
For example, when some of the native people get bad cuts, they force ants with huge jaws to bite both sides of the wound.
The ants' jaws lock and hold the skin together like stitches until the cut heals.

" Gross ! " Rebecca said when she heard that. " I'd rather go to the emergency room !"

By hunting for taranturas, butterflies, and foot-long walking sticks, the kids learned a lot about nature walking sticks, the kids learned a lot about nature.

But exploring the canopy walkway was the trip's high pointーin more ways than one.   

 
(つづく)  


AMAZON ADVENTURE (3) [AMAZON ADVENTURE]

AMAZON ADENTURE (3)


GETTING ABOVE IT

画像1214 001.jpg
The canopy walkway(At the highest point, the kids stood 35m above the forest floor)

The canopy walkway is like a narrow trail throgh the treetops.

It starts at the top of a tower and zigzags through the rainforest canopy.
(that's the top level of the forest.
)
It ends 1600feet (480m
)away at another tower.

The kids knew the walkway was safe. But that first step onto it was still a little scary.

Sarah said it was " fun, exciting, wonderful, frightening, and every other word that describes my mixed feeling! "
Scientists have known for a long time that tropical rainforest have more species than any other place on Earth.

But, until a few years ago, they had no idea how many.

Now they're sure that millions of unknown species live overhead without ever coming near the ground.

Di
scovering an unknown species would have been neat.
B
ut the kids were happy just seeing what what they did.

Some creatures that were hard to spot from the jungle floor were now right before thier eyes.

Instead of seeing just a flash of bright feathers, the kids stood eye to eye with some incredible birds.

Instead of just hearing a weild howl, they nearly shared the same branch with a howler monkey.

The sights were amazing, but what Emily liked best was her second trip on the walkwayーin the black of night.
" we got to see glow-in-the-dark mushrooms up there.
It was so neat! 

(つづく)  
 


 

 



 

 


AMAZON ADVENTURE (4)完 [AMAZON ADVENTURE]

AMAZON ADVENTURE (4)完

GOOD-BYEーFOR NOW, ANYWAY

By week's end, all the kids were ready to see their familiesーand modern toilets !

Still, the kids were sorry to leave.

Tim said he was going to be " rainforest sick" instead of homesick.
Erica said that although she hoped the forest would always be the same, " I know I'll never be."

画像1215 003.jpg
画像1215 002.jpg


画像1215 001.jpg

(おわり。雑誌「Ranger Rick」1994年10月号より抜粋)

AMAZON ADVENTURE ブログトップ

この広告は前回の更新から一定期間経過したブログに表示されています。更新すると自動で解除されます。