How to be a Rain Forest Explorer

Want to travel to the Peruvian Amazon rain forest? Here are some tips and tricks to consider before you head out on your trip.

1.  Don’t touch anything. That is, don’t touch anything without looking first. Animals lurk where you least expect them. So, shake your shoes before you put them on.  Check the floor before you put your feet down in the morning, and pull back the bed covers before you climb in. Keep your suitcases shut, and don’t grab trees and plants in the forest. Never, ever walk barefoot.

2.  Knee-high rubber boots are your friends and also your enemies. While hiking in the rain forest, knee-high rubber boots keep your legs and ankles safe from mud, animals, and plants. However, if you wear them in the boat and your boat tips over, those suckers will fill up with water and drag you to the bottom of the river.

3.  Forget all those sacred cows in your life. Electricity, running water, air conditioning, hot water, washing machines, Internet access, long showers, cell phone coverage…these things do not exist in the rain forest. Amazingly, your life will go on without them.

4.  It doesn’t always rain in the rain forest. The rain forest has a dry season and a wet season. In the dry season, it doesn’t rain much. Despite this, you’d better be ready for rain because it could rain at any moment.

Waiting along the river in the Peruvian rain forest

5.  Rain forest animals do not come out to play. Finding animals in the rain forest is difficult. You have to know what to look for and how to listen carefully. Also, you have to be quiet or you definitely won’t see anything. If you plan to take pictures, then bring a zoom lens and a memory card with lots of space. Animals don’t pose for pictures or say, “Cheese.” They are hard to photograph.

6.  There’s no sleeping in during a visit to the rain forest. Early morning is the best time to see animals. So, plan on a hike before breakfast and before the sun rises. Don’t worry, you’ll go to bed early because there won’t be much to do in the evenings. No electricity, remember?

7.  Be ready for close encounters. You’ll have some freaky animal encounters. For example, bats flew past my legs so fast that I felt wind on my calves. I had a large cockroach on my shirt. There was a frog in my bathroom, and a vicious bullet ant crawling up my arm (their bite hurts for days). Bats woke me up while they fed during the night. A guy in my group found an extremely large spider in his bed. Toughen up before you leave home. You won’t regret it.

8.  You will sweat. The humidity is high and there’s no breeze. Air conditioning doesn’t exist, and you’ll need to wear long pants over your legs. You might even need to wear long sleeves. Oh, and on some hikes you’ll need to wear those knee-high rubber boots. You can bring all the moisture-wicking clothes you want, but you will not be cool or comfortable. You will be hot, sticky, sweaty, and stinky. Don’t worry, though. Everyone else will be, too.

9.  Picky eaters had better bring snacks. Granola bars work particularly well. Rain forest food will be native food, including lots of locally grown fruits. If you want a cold drink, then you’d best search for a lodge that caters to tourists. The more rustic accommodations will not serve anything cold. Caffeine addiction? Bring your own or hope for coffee.

10. There’s no time for beauty. Leave your make up, hair dryer, curling iron, and other beautification items at home. For one thing, there’s no electricity to power all those appliances. Make up is pointless because of the heat and humidity. Make sure you can put your hair in a ponytail and then throw a hat on your head. Everyone else will look equally plain, so you’ll fit right in with the crowd.

11.  You will not blend in with the locals. No matter how hard you try, everyone you meet will know you’re a foreigner. Your Spanish won’t be authentic enough, and your clothes will be too American. If you’re taller than about 5 feet, 5 inches, your height will give you away. Blonds and redheads don’t have a chance of passing as native Peruvians. People will stare at you, and you will not be able to avoid it.

12.  Get ready for awesome. If you can handle all these tips, then you’re ready for an awesome, mind-blowing experience as you journey into the wild. You’ll learn, see, feel, and think. It will change you beyond your wildest expectations, and it will leave you thirsting for more. So pack your bags, buy your plane ticket, and get ready for the journey of a lifetime to the Amazon rain forest. You will not come home the same.

Rules of the Rainforest

             After I arrived in Puerto Maldonado, Peru, and met up with the rest of my group for our week-long sojourn into the Amazon rain forest, our leaders gave us a few rules to follow. These rules were imperative for keeping us safe, happy, and healthy while experiencing nature at its most volatile. The rules were:

            #1: Always look before you put your hands on anything. This included rocks, trees, and vines out in the forest, as well as any piece of furniture or item in our cabins. Touching the wrong type of insect or plant could be very painful, and in a few cases, fatal. We were specifically warned to be on the lookout for bullet ants. The bullet ant’s sting is said to be as painful as being shot, and the intense throbbing and pain lasts for at least twenty-four hours. These words rang in my mind later that week when I had a bullet ant crawling up my arm. I didn’t hesitate to brush it to the ground and stomp on it.

            #2: Before putting on your shoes, shake them out to make sure nothing has crawled inside. I definitely didn’t want to put my foot on something that would bite or sting. And, bigger animals than bugs can find their way inside a shoe. I made sure to shake my shoes out every single time, no exceptions.

            #3: Always sleep under a mosquito net. This was one rule that was taken very seriously in the rain forest. The mosquitoes were most active at night and could carry a variety of diseases, so mosquito nets were essential. We were also told to check the nets every night to make sure they didn’t have any holes. When one of my nets did have a hole in it, it was replaced immediately. I also appreciated the mosquito nets because they kept away more than just mosquitoes. Bats, spiders, and all manner of critters moved around at night. I felt much safer inside the confines of my net.

            #4: Don’t leave your toothbrush out or uncovered. At first I thought this was unusual, but then I learned why it was so important. Cockroaches love toothpaste. Leaving toothpaste and a toothbrush out in the open was a great way to attract them. Later in the trip when I had a two-inch cockroach on my shirt, I was really glad it wasn’t my toothbrush.

This is a large ficus tree. Yes, I did look before I touched it.

            #5: Before you get out of bed in the morning, check the floor to make sure it’s safe to put your feet down. This rule is similar to rules one and two. Putting feet down on a creature that could bite, sting, or pinch would be an unfortunate and painful mistake. So, the floor had to be checked every morning. I expanded this rule into an entire morning routine. Before I got up, I would shine my flashlight all around inside my mosquito net. I always slept with my flashlight inside the net because it was my only light source at night since we didn’t have any electricity. Anyway, then I would sit up and shine the light all around on the floor. I had flip flops right next to my bed, so once I was sure the coast was clear, I would come out of my mosquito net and put on my flip flops. I never once walked barefoot during the trip. I always had shoes on.

            #6: Keep luggage zipped and closed at all times. This rule was important unless you didn’t mind sharing suitcase space with a snake, spider, or bat. I have to admit, I struggled the most with this rule because living out of a suitcase was hard enough without having to keep it closed all the time. I guess I was lucky that a small creature didn’t find my luggage too attractive.

            #7: Keep your field pack fully stocked for every hike. This meant that we had to carry drinking water, our rain gear, and our journals. I also included my camera equipment, granola bars, and bug spray. I faithfully carried my rain gear on every hike, but we only needed it two times. My journal was completely waterproof, and that included the paper, too. The whole thing could get wet over and over again without ruining the pages or the writing. It was an amazing little notebook, but unfortunately, I never got to put it to the test because we hardly had any rain.

            When I look back on these rules now, they seem very obvious, and they make sense. At the time, however, they were just another part of my learning curve for surviving in the rain forest. At home I never had to worry about a cockroach on my toothbrush, but clearly, I wasn’t at home any longer.

Hiking the Trails in the Rainforest

We did a lot of hiking in the rainforest. We were in search of animals. What I very quickly learned is that although there are lots of animals out in there in the rainforest, they don't just come right on out to say hello. For the most part, they are pretty hard to find. I think in my mind, I expected something like I've seen on TV. I've watched those shows on the Discovery Channel or on National Geographic, and all the animals are right there in living color, up close and personal. Well, in reality, they're pretty well hidden, and you've got to be quiet and observant if you want to see anything.


Thank goodness for the guides that we had during the trip from Rainforest Expeditions. Vico, Rodolfo, and Ruben were awesome. They found animals that I never would have seen on my own. They knew just where to look and what to listen for. They could identify lots of animals by sound, and they would also see animals that took me a few minutes to pick out even after the guides were pointing them right out to me.


As we walked through the forest, we had to keep our eyes open and our mouths closed. In all the areas where we were, paths had been cut. This didn't mean that there weren't things to step over or around, it just meant that we had a clear trail to follow. One of the things they taught us was to always look before we put our hands anywhere. When hiking, people tend to reach out with their hands and touch trees or rocks. Well, in the rainforest that could be a big mistake. There are lots of animals that bite and sting (like bullet ants), so we learned quickly to look before we touched.


We were always hiking with a guide. They really didn't want us to wander off alone. I was okay with that. Even with the trails, it would have been easy to get lost. As we walked, the guides would stop periodically to point out interesting plants and animals. Sometimes we didn't see the animals, but we would see tracks, nests, or holes that they had left behind. I used my little waterproof journal to make notes as we hiked.

When we were hiking in the rainforest, we all usually wore long pants. This was to keep off the bugs mostly. I didn't like plants brushing against my legs, so long pants were good for that, too. Most of us had those convertible pants that zipped off into shorts. I think they look ridiculous, but they were the best pants for this trip. Sometimes we wore knee-high rubber boots. I hated those things. They were not comfortable for long hikes, like the four hour hike we took one day, and they were really hot. I only wore them if I had to. I much preferred my hiking shoes, so if I thought I could get away with wearing just those, I did. On some hikes we really had to wear those rubber boots, though. They were good for walking through mud and tall grasses. For shirts, sometimes I wore a long-sleeved shirt and sometimes I just wore a regular t-shirt. Again, the long sleeves were hot, so during the day I tried to go with short sleeves. I had a few shirts where the sleeves rolled up, so those weren't too bad. I always had on bug spray, too. I usually wore my hat (unless I just got too hot). I felt braver with it on, and I didn't have to worry about bugs falling into my hair.

We hiked a lot on this trip, but I didn't mind it too much. It was the only way to experience the rainforest...we had to get out in it.