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Expedition Diary - Jaguar Collaring

In Search of Jaguars: An Amazon Tail

Deep in the heart of the Amazon roam jaguars, pumas and other creatures of the jungle. Rodrigo Donadi of WWF’s AREAS Amazonia project has been tracking them for almost two years. He’s felt the bone-rattling sound of a jaguar’s roar and seen herds of wild pigs stampeding through the lush rain forest. Join him in the Amazon as he comes face to face with the jaguar – king of the jungle.

With its source in the Andes Mountains, the Tambopata River runs through the Bahuaja-Sonene National Park and the Tambopata National Reserve.
© WWF / Rodrigo Donadi

After spending a day in Puerto Maldonado and shopping around for some jungle essentials (mainly bug repellent and rubber boots), I was finally on my way. Since every trip to the field station takes at least seven hours by boat, we take maximum advantage of the opportunity to bring in fresh provisions since there are no stores where we are going. After loading the food, other supplies, the 55-gallon drums of fuel and a generator so we can run our laptops at night (during the day we run off solar panels), we put on our life jackets and set off.

The jungle is never as you expect it. One's romantic visions of paradise are quickly dispelled by the suffocating heat and swarms of mosquitoes. Nevertheless its beauty, colors and sounds are much more than one could have ever imagined. In most of the Amazon the only travel route is via the rivers – the lifelines and expressways of the area. After seven hours, I was eager to see what would become my new home for the next two years.