It was 5 am, the skies were still dark as we jumped out of bed this morning. The air was crisp, and we were all on deck, ready to set sail! We hoisted the sails as the sun rose slowly from the Rio Negro, blanketed by a layer of clouds and we were all very excited for our 7th day in the Amazon!
We anchored up at Velho Airon in the morning and got out to explore the place. The story goes that when wealthy Spanish and Portuguese people had moved into the place, ants had driven the people away and left the place in ruins. Today however, the area is a feast to the eyes. Nature has completely taken over! Trees have wound themselves through and through the buildings. Roots are emerging from the ground, plants are hugging the walls, and a huge range of colourful insects and bugs have made themselves at home. Mother Nature just flaunted all her beauty and glory, and it didn’t stop there.
While cruising down the river, Mike spotted a huge spider web. We all got in the dinghies and approached the jungle for a closer look. Yet again, the power, beauty and wonder of nature was just incredible. The web consisted of hundreds and thousands of silk strands, which was shaped into capsules- big enough to trap birds and filled with hundreds of spiders! I had never seen or imagined anything like it!
We had an incredibly fun afternoon, visiting a small community on the banks of the Rio Negro. It was great to learn about their lifestyle and we had an opportunity to gift them soccer balls, stationary and first aid kits. It was amazing to see how something as small as a pencil can bring so much happiness to a child, but the highlight had to be playing soccer with the children! Running around in their oversized shirts, coated in mud and completely fearless, the children just gave it their all! One look at their glowing smiles, and you can’t help but grin too.
Once more, Mother Nature spoilt us, this time with a gorgeous sunset to finish up a beautiful day.
When I woke up this morning, it was just as if I was still dreaming because I was lying on a hammock in the Amazon jungle! It is such a great feeling to wake up in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of crazy people around me sleeping in hammocks. I could smell the fire we made last night to cook our sausages. Then we packed our equipment to come back to “civilization”.
We went to the Foundation FAM in Novo Airao after walking a few hours while it was raining cats and dogs. At the Foundation, we attended Cristina F. Tofoli's speech introducing her Institute for Ecological Research IPE. Their mission is to develop projects for sustainable biodiversity conservation all around Brazil. It was really great to meet people that also care for the future of our planet and feeling that we are all acting together and helping each other to realize our aims. It would be great to set up some Pangaea projects with this Foundation in order to reach more people's lives and to raise awareness in the Brazilian Communities about preserving the forest.
Then we visited a workshop where the indigenous used their technical knowledge to make decorative objects such as sculptures, jewelery, boxes…
They also taught us how these communities were naturally coloring the wood in red so we took this opportunity to paint our faces and I painted my hair which gave me a punk look!
Before having lunch, the young motivated adults from the Foundation joined us on the boat for a few hours. As I've lived two years in Brazil when I was young, I could understand what they said but I still had some problems with communicating. Anyway these exchanges are really important as we learn how to express ourselves with the language borders and in this way, I think we can understand much more from the other communities because we stay open.
In the afternoon, our boat was at anchor near a small tourist attraction with dolphins. We knew that we had to pay to see the pink amazing dolphins but as all of us wanted to have this experience, we proposed to the staff from this attraction to come to visit the boat and this was a good deal. It was the first time I have ever seen a dolphin.
Their body shape is so beautiful and I love the noise they do to breath when they come back to the water surface. I was lucky to touch their skin which feels so sensitive and soft. I was pretty surprised because I was expecting it to be much more hard and rigid. We were not allowed to swim with them but just having the dolphins near me, opening their mouth to try to catch my fingers was a REAL experience.
After swimming in the Rio Negro we came back to the boat to leave Novo Airao to begin our sailing trip to reach Sao Gabriel Do Cachoeira.
We woke up on the boat, excited for 24 hours we would never forget! We had a quick swim in the river and took the opportunity to wash our shirts (in the jungle these get surprisingly dirty!) After breakfast we went to the village where we met 8 other young people that are actively doing their best to conserve the environment in their community.
It was really exciting to meet them! They presented their project and talked about their goals and hopes for the future. It is fair to say that we were all really impressed by their motivation and the bond between them that formed a great group of caring and passionate teenagers. We also got to present the PANGAEA project. It was really fun and we all felt proud to present this global environmental project and urged the local group to get involved.
We went back to the boat for lunch and packed our bags with our hammocks, sleeping bags and the equipment for the upcoming afternoon jungle hike. Setting off to land on the dinghies, we looked like pros with our machetes and nothing could wipe the smile of our faces!
The hike in the jungle was a dog’s bullock (all the new expressions and words you learn on a multicultural boat is amazing!) It was amazing to be walking through what seemed like a green paradise. After a short hike that served as our warm-up to the upcoming jungle treks, we set camp! Mike taught us how to place and tie our hammocks so that it stays firm and to keep the ants away. What took us an hour to do apparently took him 4 minutes during his expeditions (practice is needed!).
Have you ever slept in a jungle, in your own hammock, where nearly all of the surrounding animals are completely unknown to you? That’s exactly what we did! After making a fire and sharpening a stick, we grilled our sausages and talked around the fire before heading off to our own little personal headquarters for the night. What an experience to fall asleep with magical sounds of the rainforest and waking up to a stray of light breaking through the thick jungle!
I haven’t yet; it’s a dream of mine to be able to eat one, fresh from the tree. I’m talking about the fresh ones, the green coconuts that have much liquid with soft flesh in the inside. Today, my dream came true, as we were walking through the streets of Novo Airao, a quiet and quite modern village; I spotted coconut trees at the sides of the streets. This excited me very much! I thrived to just take one and open it up with a machete straight away. Later, we found out that they belong to the locals and that we would need to ask them for one. We had a chance to walk around and explore the village, talking to the locals and asking them questions about the place. Once we had the chance, a very nice local showed us around some coconut and cocoa trees. He was very generous and gave us three nice coconuts and three cocoa beans. This made my day! It was so exciting! Throughout the whole day Julia translated perfectly, making it much easier to communicate.
We visited the local school, which is the biggest in the area. It was very interesting to listen to what the teacher had to say. One impressive activity that she mentioned was that the students have an Internet session once a week with a professor from Manaus. This amazed me because it’s very advanced and it shows that the school, which is run by the government, put a lot of effort into the education.
Later on we went to the Nova’Arte center. It is run by a foundation that gives the locals an opportunity to pass a fairly cheap course in order to master the skill of handcraft. After the government decided to preserve the forests around the town, the locals, who depended on it, had no alternative to take care of themselves. What the foundation does is that they collect scrapped wood and keep it in order to craft it into different animal sculptures and other products. This offers the locals an alternative instead of working in fields that harm the ecosystem such as fishing and agriculture. These working places allow them to make money from tourism, support their families and at the same time have a positive impact on the environment.
After having an interesting tour around the center we went to a local bar and had some cold fruit juice, which pleased everyone very much due to the hot and humid weather. We had a good time communicating with the interesting people from around the world that lived and volunteered there. We listened to their stories under a full moon light, with many mosquitoes buzzing around.
What a day! If anyone would have taken a glimpse into our lives today, their hearts would have been plagued with pangs of jealousy.
The day started off with a tropical storm sailing session. It is an incredible feeling to be keeling over on the Rio Negro, the rain hitting your face as hard as hail as you winch to bring up the main sail. After an exhilarating start to the day, we gathered around the beautiful conference room for a taste of Christian’s delicious cooking.
We spent an incredible time snorkeling in the swamp, truly being in nature, guided by the man that had spent 6 months crossing this terrain. We saw a blue morphis butterfly, one of the most beautiful creatures in the rainforest. We then learnt about all of the dangers of the dreaded bushmaster; a snake that can drop down from trees onto your head.
That then led to an awesome time spent being hoisted up to the top of the mast, to be greeted by a tremendous view of the largest archipelago in the world, the Anavilhanas islands. Being up there, standing on the third stay of the mast and looking out over the luscious, dense rainforest, we were truly on top of the world.
We concluded the day with an exhilarating few hours spent paddleboarding. We were given free reign to take off down the river, and venture into the swamps and marshes. That was when I truly felt like we were explorers; bushwhacking through the flooded rainforest; I felt like a Pangaea Young Explorer.
An AMAZING start to an AMAZING adventure!
Words simply can't describe our first full day on PANGAEA. It feels as though I have been here a month (I know I have learned more in this single day than the entire last year.) More than anything else, today I have seen a very small peek into REAL life! 14 years of my life WASTED in what I thought was living. Mike has woken me up, and now I want to wake YOU up! Go out and LIVE! See the world, because through that, you will come to know yourself! True living is being the best you can be at everything you do. That's what sets Mike apart from others. Not strength or knowledge, but full-hearted passion!
LIST OF AWESOME THINGS WE DID TODAY:
Learned how to drive a small motor boat
Dove in to the river while PANGAEA was moving at 5 knots
Watched dolphins
Pumped 5,000 litres of gas into PANGAEA via floating gas station
Saving Mike from the river after he jumped in to the river (while PANGAEA was moving) to test if we could stop PANGAEA, locate him and pull him out
learned how to move as a team safley back to the boat together
went to the (not so) super market and bought weird looking produce
learned how to lift the sail (which is actually VERY hard
Got the most AMAZING talk from Mike Horn
Heard about the next day that will be 20 times better than this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PANGAEA IS THE BEST BOAT AND CREW IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!!!!
It has been 23 days since I saw spelt out the best word I have ever read in my whole young life: CONGRATULATIONS!
I had dreamt about this email countless times so I asked my mum to pinch me as hard as she could to make sure it wasn’t another good dream. Bingo! This time it was real! That moment felt magical, like the world around me stopped for a few seconds… It was on a hot Australian summer’s morning in a small motel room on a road trip; my family was moving up the coast to a new town.
For the last three weeks, it has been a race to get everything sorted for selection camp. My preparation has been somewhat very “original” since exactly the day of my selection my family moved to a new town 2000km away to Far North Australia. Trust me … it is hard to find a public scanner in a rural town at Christmas time let alone contact media or try to contact a principal that doesn’t even know you will attend his school! But all these challenges spur me on and make my excitement grow every day!
I can hardly sit still to think that in 17 days (and counting down!) I will meet 17 young explorers from around the world to face amazing challenges in hope to secure one of the few spot for the Amazon Expedition with Mike Horn!
As far as preparation goes, I have been extremely lucky to have my family and friends by my side; everyone has been pitching in to make sure I have an optimum chance to following my dreams. Even from half way around the world, friends have been kindly donating warm clothes so that I don’t freeze in Switzerland. My Mum has been helping me get paperwork organized, Dad has been teaching me a few things on mental toughness and my grandparents have been feeding me lots of pasta!
My favourite part so far has been contacting media (I was stoked to make the front page of the newspaper!), training heaps, getting in contact with my fellow young explorers and learning a heap of things every day from everyone already!
Even after three weeks of running, swimming, cycling and research on the Amazon, I still have to ask my mum to pinch me frequently to make sure it is not a dream.
18 YEPs from Switzerland and Germany celebrated together in the Swiss Mountains this year. It was one of the best New Year's Eve's ever!! Best wishes for 2012!
Blog Written by Saraya D’Ath
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In the industrial area of Cairns there is an already established rehabilitation centre, which was set up by vet; Jennie Gilbert and Marine Biologist; Paul Barnes way back in 2000. It contains 14 tanks and is currently at capacity, the reason being, is that there is a high number of Turtle strandings along the East Coast of Australia due to the recent natural disasters, such as; Cyclone Yasi. Yasi hit Northern Queensland in January of 2011 causing drastic changes in marine-life habitats, the sea grass beds were ripped up therefore leaving no food for the Turtles and as a result of this, beaching themselves due to starvation.
Many of the Turtles also are brought into the Rehab with an illness called ‘floaters disease’ which is an obstruction that occurs in the Turtle’s gut causing air to become trapped between the shell and the body, impacting the animal’s ability to dive down to the sea grass beds in order to eat.
The new project is an extension of the rehab centre on Fitzroy Island, Fitzroy Island resort has donated us a piece of land in order to extend the rehabilitation centre. It used to be an abandoned prawn farm so the area is semi-prepared to hold tanks and piping for the water to be pumped in and out of the site. At the moment we are waiting for a permit to be signed by a government official then we will begin work establishing the extension rehab centre. Our hope is to be able to fit another 20 Turtles out on the Island whilst keeping the 14 tanks running in Cairns.
I’m heading to Cairns in the next few weeks, post another update soon.
15th December 2011(from Cairns, Australia)
Now that we are on Summer holidays, I have had a window of opportunity to fly up to Cairns for a few weeks to help out with the Turtle Rehabilitation Project located in Cairns along the Northern Queensland Coast.
The past few days we have all been very busy at the current rehab centre located in the industrial area of Cairns. Each day we follow out a specific procedure by cleaning out the Turtle tanks, feeding the Turtles and regularly scrubbing the algae growth off the Turtles shell.
A few days ago we received some very exciting news, the permits that were submitted to the Queensland government, which will allow us to build a rehabilitation centre on Fitzroy Island, have been successful.
In the coming days we will go to Fitzroy Island and prepare the site for the establishment of two new tanks out on Fitzroy, it’s going to be a very eventful week. These first steps of the project are very important, because they create the foundation layer for the project and gives a realistic view of the project. This also provides us with an opportunity to share with the rest of the world our passion for the sea turtles and inform everyone on what we are doing!
18th of December 2011(from Cairns, Australia)
The past few days we have had a very special guest come up from Sydney to film an episode for the TV show- Bondi Vet.
Bondi Vet is a famous Australian TV show starring vet; Chris Brown, who stands at 6’5ft and makes every girl squeal. The Bondi Vet crew were up here for 3 days to film an episode on the Turtle Rehab Centre which will be aired on Australian TV in February of 2012.
Whilst Chris was up here we mainly filmed at the rehab centre which included a couple of one on one interviews with Jennie and Paul.
Chris removed Fibropapilloma Tumours off one of our green Turtles called, Nelly at the Marlin Coast Vet Clinic. It was very important that the tumours were removed, because they were effecting her movement through the water as the tumours had grown on her front and back flipper’s. Tumours had also formed around Nelly’s eyes and if these were not removed this could cause long-term blindness.
After the surgery at the clinic we took Angie one of our larger turtles who came into the rehab centre with floater’s disease and Nelly to the hospital to undertake a CT scan. This CT scan was to determine whether Angie still had gas entrapped inside of her which causes her to float on the surface, because 3 months ago when we last did a CT scan of here- there was still obvious signs of gas still trapped inside.
Angie had broken her jaw so we wanted to see the recovery of that. The results were good Angie has no gas entrapped beneath her shell and her jaw is making a steady recovery.
We put Nelly through a CT scan to see if any internal Fibropapilloma Tumours had established which would place pressure on her organs, would have drastically reduced her survival rate. Nelly also brought good news showing no signs of internal tumours.
After spending the last 4 ½ days at the YEP Haga Haga project, the YEP West2Wild road trip continued with YEPs Robyn Lighton, Kai Fitchen, Reghart Pistorius, Henko Roukema, HH photographer Steph and the Mercedes-Benz Vito crew bus on the 1 200km long return trip from the Wild Coast to the mother city (Cape Town) on the West Coast of South Africa.
With the help of a map of a completely foreign city to all of us, we took a couple of detours to reach our first stop – the Mercedes-Benz Coastal Education and Visitor Centre in the Nahoon Point Nature Reserve in East London. It was really interesting to learn about the local environment of the East London area and how Mercedes-Benz is involved with environmental education in the area.
The aim of the MBSA Coastal Education and Visitor Centre is to make exceptional strides towards education and awareness of our natural heritage and to protect a valuable heritage site and conserve the wealth of coastal biodiversity in the area. This center provides an eco-tourism facility to educate children, city residents, and visitors to the area, and given MBSA’s CSI focus on community upliftment, protecting the environment and education, funding establishment of the Centre was a perfect fit.
The Centre is providing a number of social benefits, including job creation through opportunities offered to small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME’s) to become involved in the operation of the facility. The footprint found at the Reserve that scientists believe to be 120 000 years old (the oldest known humanoid footprint in the world) inspired the shape of the MBSA Coastal Education and Visitor Centre.
As ambassadors for YEP we provided flyers of the Mercedes sponsored Pangaea Project and we distributed our Shark Safety tips as provided by the Shark Spotters and also SASSI consumer pocket guides on Sustainable Seafood.
After a long drive down the Sunshine Coast we reached our pitstop for the night where there was a nice warm plate of pasta waiting for us…