University student Eleanor Drinkwater’s childhood fascination with the Amazon has culminated in her leading an expedition there later this month.
Eleanor, aged 20, of Douglas, is studying developmental and cell biology at the University of Edinburgh.
Here, she explains what the Peru expedition involves and what she expects to experience in the field:
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It is probably a good thing I am not afraid of spiders.
In less than two weeks from now I will be leading an expedition to the Amazon.
Robin Morrison, the other team member, invaluable for her enthusiasm and love of sloths came up with the timeless question, as to why there is no section on the risk assessment for jaguars.
I saw a jaguar for the first time on a trip to the zoo with my sister.
Her delighted exclamations of: “Oh look something else that’ll want to eat you in the jungle”, meant we spent most of our trip to the zoo safely in the café.
It is fortunate that we had Dr Ennos on side as, with saint-like patience, he went through our proposal pointing out things like, no, we really cannot head off into the jungle alone at night, and yes, we should keep a look out for spiders
We received expedition status from the University of Edinburgh and shortly after, financial support from the Davis Expedition fund.
Our project itself is to study whether agroforestry, a method of farming which involves planting a range of trees as well as the crop, is better for local ecosystems then traditional plantations.
To do this we will be looking at butterflies; essentially, more types of butterfly means a healthier ecosystem.
While in the jungle we will be staying at the Manu Learning Centre (MLC), which is responsible for introducing agroforestry to the area.
The research centre runs day-to-day under the watchful eye of Andy Whitworth, one of the few people I have ever met who, on sighting an alligator is more likely to throw himself bodily into a swamp to catch it rather than run in the opposite direction.
It is hard to know exactly what to expect, but with a risk assessment which reads like an adventure novel, 1500 species of butterflies to catch, and a research centre full of excitable scientists, this expedition does promise to be quite an adventure, and it is probably a good thing I am not afraid of spiders.