WHAT TO PACK - CLAIRE - OVERSEAS OPERATIONS INTERN

What’s your best travel experience?

My best travel experience has to be taking part in an expedition to Ecuador in 2007. A group of 12 of us flew to Quito, and after a few days took another flight and a very long bus journey into the Amazon basin. We reached a tributary of the Napo River, from which we continued our journey by canoe.

We spent a total of eight days in the jungle, canoeing and trekking with the direction of our guides, one of whom was a member of the local Huaorani tribe. We were shown some of the many incredible plants and animals the Amazon has to offer, including edible ants (they taste of lemons) and plants that can be used as antiseptics and painkillers. 

We also had the privilege of being joined on our treks by ‘Stevie’, a young Woolly Monkey who had been adopted by the guides after his mother was killed for bush meat. It was an eye-opening and challenging experience which has left me keen to revisit the Amazon, and do some more extensive travel in South America when I next get the opportunity.

What did you take?

We took hammocks, lots of insect repellent, water purification tablets, hats (to stop the backs of our necks getting sunburnt on the long canoe trips and for the classic explorer look) and only two sets of clothes, as we were travelling light. The clothes we wore during the day got soaked due to the humidity, so it was important to have a clean, dry set for the evenings and nights.

What do you wish you had taken?

A tent! It’s great to sleep in a hammock, but there were lots of beaches along the river where it would have been easy to camp. With hammocks, we either had to venture into the jungle where insects would try and crawl off the trees onto us, or we had to build a wooden frame on the beach to support the hammocks. We tried the latter a few times, but usually it would collapse in the middle of the night, spilling us all onto the beach.

Which Frontier Project would you like to visit?

I would like to visit the Fiji Marine Conservation and Diving Project, as I love diving and I’ve never been to that part of the world.

What would you take there?

I would take a really good camera, and a tent!

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