Discover what it’s like to spend six months in the Amazon Rainforest being trained to carry out field research and lead a range of surveys to help advance scientific knowledge.
Q&A with former intern, Patrick Rutledge:
What made you want to do a environmental internship here at the Manu Learning Centre (MLC) in the Amazon Rainforest?
“Following my degree in Environmental Management, it was very difficult to find any form of work in the environmental field that was in line with my interests. There were a lot of office based environmental jobs but what I think often happens after people finish their degree is that they know everything in theory but they don’t necessarily have the field practice.
“I was pretty keen to do something that would really hone all my practical field work skills and also tell me if this kind of outdoor lifestyle is the exact kind that I want. When I came across this internship here at the MLC that actually trained you – and trained you for six months, not four or six weeks which many programmes do for a very similar cost, if not more – then it was a simple enough decision.”
“I’d say one of the main skills is you learn to run all the main surveys in your sleep. The average person, or even someone who’s done a masters, couldn’t roll out of bed in the morning and lead a pitfall survey or butterfly survey and in the evening go on night survey, then after a little rest go on a early morning Avian and Mammal Transect and be absolutely comfortable in the middle of the Amazon rainforest where there’s snakes and jaguars. That’s one of the main things that you learn here.
“Then there’s also volunteer management. When you start the internship you have about a month of learning everything and then you start getting signed off on all the surveys. After that, it’s suddenly you and a team of volunteers in the forest together and maybe they’ve never been in the jungle before but it’s your job to look after them. So it’s a really good, fast level of progression but at the same time it doesn’t happen if you’re not ready for it.”
What do enjoy most about leading and teaching volunteers?
“The side of environmental education that I really enjoy is that it’s quite cool to be able to teach someone something that you’ve struggled with when you started learning. So when you look back you realise that not only can you help them understand, because you’ve been in their position, but it also shows you how far you’ve progressed.”
What’s it like working at the MLC?
“This is a much more professional atmosphere than a lot of the places you might go. In some places everyone goes out, gets smashed and maybe does one survey in the morning where the data means nothing. Whereas here, the focus is on the science and what you’re doing here is collecting data that is actually contributing to a wider scientific community.”
What’s the best thing about being here for six months?
“The cool thing is that you loose the sense of urgency, which a lot people get if they come as tourists or volunteers. As much as you understand that you could see anything around the corner, which is a really exciting prospect, you also have the patience to wander around the forest and just enjoy hearing it all day. You don’t have that same sense of ‘oh my god, I’ve only got a week to see everything’, because really you’ve got all the time in the world for something to come around the corner and for you to see it.
“I’d say it’s almost peaceful, despite how much you have to do. You can take each day as it comes; you’re not worrying so much about what the future holds and what other people are doing because you’re cut off from the internet. So when you’re on a survey that’s all you’re doing. You’re on that survey, you can enjoy that survey, you’re in that moment.”
What’s been the highlight of your experience?
“The wildlife is always a highlight. But I think the closeness of the people has got to be the main highlight because you live with everyone and you work with everyone. You get to know everyone in a much closer way; you don’t need to be from the same background or have the same sense of humour, because you get bonded by experience. There is a real community atmosphere, it’s a close knit one where everyone knows everyone.
“I think what I’ll miss most is the people but also just being outdoors in the Amazon everyday and realising your doing what people dream of but for you it’s your everyday life – wake up, jungle; go to bed, jungle; look outside your window, jungle. Then you’ll be half way through eating your dinner and someone will come running in shouting: “There’s a tapir over there!” And everyone goes sprinting to look at it. If you’re sitting at home, and for me that’s London, nobody’s going to be shouting about the fox that’s running about outside.”
What do you think is the wider impact of the work here?
“The basis of everything we do here is trying to assess the biodiversity and conservation value of regenerating rainforest. There’s a lot of pessimism in conservation, with a lot of people saying that it’s a hopeless cause. But our research shows that over 80% of species diversity can return to a regenerating forest, as long as it’s protected and there’s a source population.
“You come here and there’s none of this talk of it being hopeless; this forest is not going to be cut down, we’re not just conserving one species of animal and seeing numbers dwindle everyday. Here, if anything, we just find more species which is great. It gives you hope that it’s not a lost cause, but maybe there are answers that we just weren’t expecting.”