The Last Places on Earth  

Amazon Spring 2008

Most photos here are of the spectacularly bio-diverse and beautiful Mamiraua Reserve in the Central Amazon Basin in Brazil. The reserve is part of the flooded forest region of the Amazon Basin. Seasonally divided between a rainy and dry season, water levels can rise as much as 20 meters (60 feet) during the wet season. This creates a vast flooded area of rainforest that one can actually scuba dive in. Animal life of the Flooded Forest has adapted to living extended periods of time in the flooded environment, with most land animals living in the trees during the flooded season. Along with the amazing wildlife and aquatic life of the huge reserve, an interesting population of people make the flooded forest their home. These are the "River People", descendants of settlers to the Central Amazon generations ago. These settlers carved out a unique subsistence way of life in the forest. Read my story of my visit to this amazing world of the Central Amazon, Amazon's Flooded Forest at Mamiraua and Other Amazon Travels