By Lorna Johnston

Woke up from a very good night’s sleep in a hammock. Didn’t get bitten much because Karina’s legs ended up on top of me – effective protection! For breakfast Hannah and Als made the best marshmallow pancakes I have ever had in my life. They were beautiful!

We packed up from base camp and we set off up river, me and Dan Betney in the inflatable canoe, and I must say a good team. It was hard work but worth it with river dolphins swimming near us. We split off the main river into the mangroves where the jungle was flooded, which was breathtaking. We all had to chop our way through with machetes whilst attempting to manoeuvre around sharp bends. The water was so still though, and with the reflections of the trees, it was so fun. Canoeing is my new favourite hobby!

We eventually stopped and had a well deserved flapjack. We went for a walk in the forest where we saw the biggest tree I have ever seen in my entire life. It was amazing. We saw a group of squirrel monkeys which were adorable. We got back to the boats and while I made my second expert grill from bamboo others caught fish to cook on it. We left again and paddled upstream some more and turned into a small cocha (lake) off the main river, where we discovered an abandoned hunters’ camp. There were dolphins, eagles and bats flying everywhere which was really cool. We decided to set up our second base camp where the hunters’ camp was, a really nice location on a strip of land between the cocha and the river.

Tea was good and we went nocturnal canoeing which was awesome. You could see a million stars, it was breathtaking. Came back to camp and had toasted marshmallows before bed. An excellent way to end the night :)