AMAZON DAY 2 : AIRFORCE

Equitos, Peru : July 4, 2017   

After a meeting with our expedition leader, Hector, and a crazy moto taxi journey to the Peruvian Airforce base, we waited 6 hours only to be told the runway at our first location was a safety hazard due to inclement weather. Our flight to the Matses village was cancelled.

Apparently before his North Pole expedition, Paul and his daughter Jade had waited in remote Russia for 2 weeks for a safer runway to be built! This put things into perspective and while I wasn’t complaining, I was actually hoping to spend my 40th birthday deep in the jungle, with my new native friends. 

Kane and Paul Hameister

After hauling our equipment and luggage back to Equitos, I passed the time shooting local wildlife from the balcony of the airport, including this vulture, captured with the Lumix and 300mm lens.

Paul and Kane took me to a US/Mexican restaurant where I quietly celebrated my 40th birthday with a burrito and large ice cream sundae!  We enjoyed the festivities Equitos had to offer before retiring, hoping that the next day would bring news that we would fly into our first Matses Village.

My 40th Birthday dinner

AMAZON EXPEDITION DAY 1

Equitos, Peru : July 3, 2017
Melbourne – Sydney – Santiago – Lima – Equitos.

"The Amazon, the last great blank space in the world” - Percy Fawcett (British Explorer)

Equitos, Peru - the largest remote city in the world – not accessible by land.  Arrival is possible only by air or river - the Amazon River!

I arrived in this remote region to film Father-Son Team Paul & Kane, here to learn more about the rain forest habitat, indigenous people and wildlife. Kane, age 14, has the vision of educating young people around the world on the importance of conservation and the battle against global warming. Paul, my Amazon project Leader - an inspiring man, has also guided his 16 year old daughter Jade unassisted to the South Pole. By January 2018 she will be the youngest person in the world to accomplish the Polar hat-trick (North & South Poles and Greenland). This was going to be a challenging and exciting assignment with a family of intrepid explorers.

After 4 flights over 30 hours to the remote jungle city in North Eastern Peru, I had a day to acclimatize to the welcome heat (I escaped the Melbourne winter... AGAIN… as my wife says). I knew that meals would be fairly lean once I entered the jungle so I seized the opportunity to enjoy as much local food as possible while wandering the streets of Equitos with its historical Spanish buildings, soaking up the atmosphere and activity on the nearby Amazon river.

Using a Panasonic Lumix GH5 and lightweight Sachtler tripod meant I could shoot video and photos around the busy town and not appear to look like a ‘film crew’. I captured some beautiful images of Peruvians going about their business, thousands of moto taxis (Peru's version of Thailand's Tuk Tuk) and fisherman in canoes hunting their dinner.

The next day we would begin our journey into the Amazon rainforest, living and hunting with the indigenous Matses’ tribe, learning survival techniques from them and capturing their jungle lifestyle. After a large meal with my compadres Paul and Kane, I spent my final night of my 30’s watching E.T. in Spanish and using my last opportunity to connect on social media before entering the jungle and losing internet and communication...