When the spirit of adventure takes hold of you and your friends, it’s worth listening to. Some experiences feel just beyond reach until the moment they finally arrive, and for us, that moment was a research mission deep within the Tambopata National Reserve in the Peruvian Amazon. With its dense vegetation, unforgiving heat, and extraordinary wildlife, the Amazon rainforest stands as a global focal point for both adventure and climate preservation. What began as a mere conservation quickly became a test of endurance, curiosity, and the gear we relied on to carry us through one of the most demanding environments on Earth.
Back in Scotland, we’re just a group of university students in Edinburgh, each studying something entirely different. Yet despite our academic differences, we share the same instinct: to throw ourselves at every opportunity that promises something new. Time outdoors has always shaped our lives, but the Amazon was unlike anything we had ever known; a landscape so vast and alive that it left us with lasting amazement for the natural world we’ve carried long after returning home.
Gearing up
Engaging with an environment as demanding as the rainforest requires equipment that can genuinely withstand conditions that push clothing and gear to their limits.
For a long expedition, assembling reliable kit is a serious undertaking; one that matters far more than anything else you pack. We wanted to make sure we were prepared, so we reached out to people who understood the realities of the outdoors.
We were then introduced to Teren. From our first call with Hyde, it was clear that our sense of adventure and their commitment to performance aligned naturally. From the earliest planning stages, we knew we needed gear we could trust in the jungle; clothing that would hold up in heat, humidity, heavy rain, and long days in the field. Teren’s performance apparel delivered exactly that. Their support allowed us to travel light without compromise, stay comfortable, and rely on our kit when it mattered most, and boy did we!
No One Day like the Last
The moment we stepped off our rickety boat and onto the dirt bank that opened into the vast expanse of the Amazon, the singularity of the place struck us. While the Amazon Rainforest has been documented time and time again in nature shows and geography classrooms, nothing prepares you for the true extent of how it feels. Before us a sea of green, lush, and towering vegetation stretched in every direction, like an endless window for exploration.
Our research was always balanced with exploration. With mornings as early as 06:00 to track mammals, and nights spent trekking through the dark to check on endemic tree species, the only thing we could predict in our days were heat and movement. The variety of research we undertook played a sizable role in what made this experience so intriguing. We moved from mere admiration to genuinely understanding and watching the rainforest reveal just a fraction of its complexities.
One of our primary focuses was to aid the rehabilitation of a group of spider monkeys, and as early as our first day in the rainforest, we were greeted by a particularly sociable monkey named Esmé. As the most recent addition to the project, she was still very keen to mess around with human company, dampened only by her stronger desire to steal food from the kitchen.
Tracking these monkeys sat at the heart of our work; a task equal parts joy and challenge. Some days we spent hours with our necks craned toward the canopy, watching a single monkey eat, sleep, and nearly defecate on our faces (a near-miss we were embarrassingly grateful for). Other days, when it finally decided to move, its spectacular ability to glide through the treetops forced a choice: keep pace no matter what lay ahead, or lose it entirely.
On one such occasion, the jungle opened into a swamp. In any traditional research setting, you’d hesitate, weighing alternatives, considering risks. But when you’re tracking a monkey, the steps are simple and fast: protect your gear, then wade into the murky unknown. Tripping over submerged logs, careful not to disturb whatever lived beneath the surface, we kept our eyes fixed on the distant speedy black blur of gangly limbs.
Four hours later, soaked from the neck down and standing deep in the rainforest with a long trek back to camp ahead, we would find ourselves grinning, knowing we’d just made one of the most exceptional memories of our lives.
In Tambopata, sunset came early, around 17:00. This meant we’d still be still out on our field excursions as the sun slipped behind the distant treeline. With head torches on, we strained our eyes scanning the canopy while a new cast of creatures emerged — mosquitos in their hundreds. Even when doused head‑to‑toe in bug spray, nothing slowed the inevitable onslaught. Our final defence was our Cloudland Shell rain jackets. Thrown on, they did more than keeping us dry and ventilated, but stopped all mosquito bites entirely. Zipped to the chin, hoods pulled tight, we endured the closing hours of our tasks feeling oddly invincible, even in such a vulnerable situation.
As each day presented a new set of activities, and therefore challenges, we embraced a key feature of this: adventure presents opportunity. And we wanted to live every single moment
to the absolute fullest. Whether we were sticking our heads into blackened tree hollows to scope out bat nests, rose with the sun to follow untrampled trails, everything from roaring howler monkeys, travelling coatis and the faint paw prints of jaguars greeted us along the way.
What’s Essential: Protection and Preservation
Because we were spending weeks in relatively untouched wilderness—cut off from the world—we were constantly reminded of what was at stake if places like this were left unprotected. We saw first‑hand how quickly a landscape as important as the Amazon could be destroyed. Just across the river from our base, illegal mining had torn through the riverbank, leaving behind raw scars of earth, violent explosions, and the persistent hum of machinery. Although our research took place safely within the protected boundaries of the reserve, the consequences of illegal logging and mining were impossible to ignore, often echoing within earshot of the same wildlife we were there to study. It was a stark reminder of how fragile these places are, and how quickly their loss can unfold.
Unity and Resilience
Ultimately, the rainforest was a highly demanding backdrop for adventure that tested our endurance, resilience, teamwork, and knowledge of card games — WiFi being a rare privilege. However, there is something to be said about time spent like this; in the solitude of the jungle, friendships blossomed, grit was strengthened, and our fires for adventure burned just a little brighter than before.
Bringing it all to a close
As four, fairly ordinary university students with varying levels of adventure under our belts, we did not expect to end up in an environment anything like the Peruvian Amazon in our lifetimes. None of this would’ve been possible if it wasn’t for the collective support of a partner like Teren making it possible to tackle famously adverse conditions. They’ve inspired us to adventure further, and do more within the endless outdoors that’s available to us all.
- Alex, Henry, Madison, and Saya.
