The Association Senior School Site Search Old Girls St Catherine's Association Senior School Prep School Admissions Book your visit Search Engines Library School Calendars Location Contact Us St Catherine's main home page
Rosamond Raymond Travel Bursary 2007
Kathryn Palmer and Jess Vyvyan-Robinson

Kathryn and Jess were both awarded bursaries for a British Schools Exploring Society trip to the Amazonian rainforest.


Kathryn Palmer
As we greeted the people we would be spending the next five weeks with, at Heathrow airport, each ‘young explorer’ was filled with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. At 6am we boarded the flight to Madrid followed by an 11 hour connection flight to Lima and finally to Iquitos. Iquitos is a fantastic place which everyone spent 2 days exploring. We went to the market which was one of the highlights as it was fascinating to compare the Peruvian culture with our own. We walked along the boulevard and played with the Peruvian children. The Peruvian people are amazing - so friendly and welcoming. It was the perfect start to the trip and we knew things would only get better from here.

From Iquitos we got on the ‘M/F Clavero’ - the boat that was to take us deep into the jungle and be our base for the next 4 weeks. The boat became host to all sorts of activities from epic card games to fitness sessions. After several days of travelling down river, we reached Tasca Cocha - the first base for the conservational activities. One of these activities was searching for turtle eggs. One fire at a time would travel down the river by night or early in the morning, searching the beaches for turtle eggs. Any eggs found were taken back to the guard station to hatch before being released back into the wild. Unfortunately, we found a total of 6 nests between the whole fire over 6 days, a paltry amount compared to the 200 eggs found on the first trip out by the following fire! Nevertheless, our nocturnal trips were enjoyed by all, especially the moments when we saw a caiman and when the Peruvian biologist picked up a turtle from the beach and put it in the boat with us!

The next activity we undertook was the transects. This involved walking in pairs 4 km into the jungle along pre-cut transects, surveying the terrestrial mammal species present. They had to be walked very quietly so as to not alert the animals of our presence. By far the most common of the animals we encountered were monkeys. There were numerous species each day, from red howler monkeys to brown capuchin monkeys. It was incredible to see these animals first hand in such an unspoilt environment.

Whilst at Tasca Cocha we travelled to a nearby lake, Cocha Atun, to establish Wild Camp. At camp we conducted fish surveys which involved setting up a giant net across the lake and then using rods to catch fish, which we then had to identify, weigh and measure. We also set about improving the camp by building a clothes stand and soap rack for a shower and a lifejacket rack. Our watches had been taken away from us earlier that day, to make the experience more authentic, so we were unaware that although we all felt tired and went to bed, it was only about 6.30 pm!

Following this, now a few weeks into the expedition, the Clavero moved further downriver, deeper into the jungle, to do some more work from our second base, Huishuto. We spent two days of our stay at Huishuto, surveying pink and grey river dolphins and also macaws. Macaw surveying involved leavening the boat at 5.30 am to travel up river, stopping every 500 metres for 15 minutes to record which macaws we had seen. Our group was lucky enough to see every type of macaw during the course of the two days. The group also travelled 5km down the river at a time surveying the pink and grey river dolphins, turtles and mammals such as manatees living in the river. We got to see dolphins close up and learnt a lot more about their behaviour, and how to identify each kind. We also undertook caimen surveys We were taught to identify three species of caiman. One night we surveyed a caimen that was 2.94metres in full length and they estimated about 60 kilograms. It was the biggest one that had ever been caught by the team of Peruvian scientists.

While at Huishtu we spent another night under canvas in the jungle. We walked about 4 kilometres into the jungle, carrying our rucksacks and sufficient water for one night, before we arrived at Jungle Camp. At Camp we took in the peaceful surroundings before climbing into our tents, avoiding the spiders!
Sunday 19th August marked the end of our science expedition and the beginning of the long journey home. The last day in Peru was spent with our close friends, travelling around Iquitos, having lunch and visiting markets to find souvenirs to bring back home. The journey back to England was a long and tiring one. Part of us was happy to be going home to see our friends and family and a warm shower but part us was sad that what we had looked forward to and prepared for all year- an experience of a lifetime, had come to an end!

Jess Vyvyan-Robinson
Last summer I got the chance to experience the wonders of the equatorial jungles first hand - although the incessant bugs and twenty-four hour heat were admittedly a little too first hand at times! We saw six species of primate on our forest transects, which is a definite indication that the work that we were undertaking within the Pacaya Samiria Reserve is having the desired effect. This is a dramatic increase from a time only a few years ago when a maximum of two species were being sighted. Our intensive scientific work included surveying river dolphins, counting macaws, weighing caiman and collecting turtle eggs - all of which goes toward conserving the incredible biodiversity of this area which is second to none throughout the world. Without the data that we collected, the Peruvian Government would be unable to prove the value of this Reserve, which would otherwise undoubtedly become another logging wasteland, stripped of all its natural resources, something which is happening throughout the Amazon basin to disastrous effect.
In addition to this invaluable monitoring of our forest environment, we also became the first ever non- indigenous people to reach Cocha Pobra, which is a breathtakingly beautiful lake several kilometres from the banks of the river. This was truly an achievement as it involved walking ten kilometres through waist high swamp land during a tropical rainstorm without a cut path. We also later learnt that this area of the jungle was home to the largest population of fer de lance snakes in the world. If bitten by one of these snakes, the victim has only twenty minutes to reach medical help if they are to survive; we were six days from civilisation. This is the first time I have experienced true wilderness, and quite apart from the good that will come of the work that we did, the opportunities that this trip has given me made it a truly life changing experience.