Some time in May 2018 I got an email from Summit Workshops announcing a new photography workshop. They were planning to take a small group, seven participants, to Peru to explore and photograph the Peruvian cloud forest in the Andes range and the rainforest of the Amazon basin. I got to know Summit in 2017 when I participated in their Nature and Wildlife Workshop in Jackson, Wyoming, in September. Link to that gallery
here. I was very pleased with that workshop, with the instructors, the classwork, the field trips, and who can say no to the beauty of the Tetons. Going to the Peruvian Andes and Amazon basin would be a bit more involved, challenging and adventurous than going to Grand Teton National Park. After talking to the folks at Summit, doing some research about the Amazon basin and rainforests I decided to go. The preparation started early. Long lists for photo equipment, clothing, medical shots and first aid kit, travel arrangements and so on. This turned out to be the journey of a lifetime for me. Peru is a very beautiful and interesting country. From the cosmopolitan capital Lima, to the very remote villages of the high Andes with very friendly, happy and humble people, to the dense and moss filled cloud forests in the Andes range, to the lush, hot, humid, green layers of the rainforest, to the ever changing rivers of the Amazon basin that were our ‘roads’ to so many fantastic opportunities to see and experience wildlife be it during the day or in the middle of the night. Got to witness the courtship behavior of the amazing Cock-of the-Rock, drifted very close by the endangered Giant River Otter, saw many unusual birds, butterflies and really out of this world insects. We stayed in two very comfortable lodges and the food was very good. November is the beginning of the rainy season, if there is such a thing in the rainforest, and we were lucky with that. Only one time towards the end of the journey rain got in the way of some night photography. The group made up of three faculty, two local guides and only three paying participants, (I think the announcement of this trip came way too late) was a good group and we had a good time together. The two weeks we spent there were way too short. I think if I was there for two months, every day would reveal something new and interesting. A few images from this journey below. And some daily adventures and journeys can be found in the
blog pages.
