The Salopian no. 157 - Winter 2015

22 SCHOOL NEWS
Jess Moeran admiring a giant millipede
wedge. The chief guide, famed for his
unerring aim, aimed to hit just behind
its head but missed, and the snake
struck three times in rapid succession
covering a surprising amount of ground
as it did so. Fortunately all were at a
safe distance and the guide didn’t miss
his second attempt. Minutes later a
second snake was found at the edge
of the camp which was also killed.
Everyone kept their eyes peeled after
that, particularly when walking the
20m trail to the long drop in the dark.
During the night, our guides set up nets
and caught some huge piranha and
payara which also known as a vampire
characin due to its fearsome fangs that
particularly when salted and cooked on
the fire. After a final night at Surama,
we returned to Georgetown for our
flight home.
Such trips can never be 100% risk free,
despite exhaustive and meticulous risk
assessment and careful management
to control risk. One boy managed to
fall into a septic tank when it collapsed
under his weight. Fortunately, he
managed to avoid complete immersion
or injury (apart from some grazes) and
recovered swiftly after a very thorough
shower and disinfection of his grazes
by the expedition doctor. A few of the
party also became ill to varying degrees
Yellow-branded Poison Dart Frog
on their return with histoplasmosis,
despite not being exposed to any
obvious source of infection (it is usually
encountered after visiting bat caves).
Fortunately, all have now recovered.
We encountered numerous hardships
ranging from heat rashes caused by
the intense heat and heavy humidity
to insect bites, deep mud, dodgy
tummies and grim long drop toilets.
With the exception of histoplamosis,
I think all would agree that without
the challenges, the expedition would
not have been nearly so rewarding
and all those on the team endured the
hardships with dignity and patience.
They really proved themselves to be
worthy ambassadors and it was clear
that they relished the opportunities they
had to learn to gain new biological
knowledge, memories for life, insights
into a little known country and a new
appreciation of the world and their
place in it. Where next? Galapagos and
Ecuador 2017!
Brazilian Wandering Spider
can grow as long as six inches. Both
made excellent eating. Our second
camp was less eventful and we were
able to bathe in the river and relax
once our surveys had been completed.
A number of the boys were shown
huge beetle grubs living inside palm
nuts by the guides who insisted that
they were good to eat. The grubs were
used to good effect by WMS as bait
but they did taste surprisingly good,
Joe Davies with a huge Black Piranha