We got a knock on our door at quarter to six from John, saying we could get up and see the sunrise. We slowly got up and made our way to the veranda. It was a little cloudy and it had just started to get bright. The was loud bird song as the jungle awakened and we saw a few birds fly across the sky. It gradually got brighter until the sun pierced the horizon. We took a few pictures and then went back to bed.

We got a knock on out door a bit later to say breakfast was ready so we made our way down. We had a quick breakfast and then returned to bed again as we were still tired. We slept a little before Elso knocked and said we would leave soon. He also brought Shivani a pair of wellies so she would have more appropriate foot wear.

We got ready and made our way down but could feel rain in the air. Elso also thought so and we said we would rather not go out if it was going to rain. We waited to see what would happen and 5 minutes later it started pouring down. We were stuck in the main room so played some poker while we waited.

When the rain stopped Elso said we could go so we made our way to the boat. As I was walking down the wooden stairs one of them broke, I fell but wasn't hurt. We carried on down to the canoe and then set off down the river. We were going to the highland forest today and it took a long drive to get there.

When we got there we were faced with some slippery slopes as the rain had made everything wet. We made our way in and found this forest much more dense as the flood water couldn't get here to wash the trees away. There were also less mosquitos so we were much happier. This felt much more like we had thought and Elso led the way showing us some plants and trees, starting with one that smelt like Vicks. He then took us down a really steep path that I slipped on.

We then went to a brazil nut tree, Elso cracked open a nut and we ate it. Next he found a massive ants nest and put his hand on it. Ants crawled all over him and he said the scent would keep mosquitos away. I was feed up being bitten so did it too. The ants seemed to bite a bit but I got the smell on me and it seemed to keep the insects off.

We then went and found some more fauna, with the clove tree and one that Elso said was a chocolate tree but turned out to be very bitter quinine. He also showed us the phone tree which made a massive noise when you hit it and was used be natives to signal each other. He then picked up some palm leaves and showed us how to make plates and also made some animals, a snake for me and a humming bird and grass hopper for shivani.

The whole time we had also been looking for tarantulas but had not found any. We tired a few different holes before giving up and heading out. It was a long walk back and was still slippery but luckily John was quite helpful to us as Elso moved on ahead. We finally made it out if the jungle and boarded the boat. This had probably the best experience so far and we made our way back feeling satisfied.

When we came back lunch was ready and a new person had arrived for Elso brought by his wife, Paula. Her name was Bonnie and she was Dutch. She was quite chatty and we had lunch with her and exchanged experiences. We then spoke to Elso who said we would leave in 30 minutes for our overnight jungle trip. He said we didn't need to take anything expect the clothes we wore, bug spray, camera and a torch.
So we went back to the room gathered our stuff and came down to the boat.

We took a bigger boat now as we had a bunch of supplies and bonnie and Paula as extra passengers. We set off on our way, with Bonnie all excited about her first experience. The ride we took was really long as went past the highlands we had visited in the morning to a place where they had a camp that was partly set up.

When we got there we found that the jungle was like the highlands we had visited in the morning and had less mosquitos. We made our way to a clearing in the jungle where we found a few poles set up, a table and old fire. Elso, John and Paula started setting things up and we quickly put up a rain sheet and the girls put up hammocks and nets. Elso chopped some wood and made a new table and started building a fire. He sent me out to get palm leaves so he could make some plates.

The camp was quickly set and John went off to get dinner. Elso showed us a rubber tree and made an elastic band. He then showed us an animal trap which he almost caught himself on. John then came back with some chickens and vegi rice that he put over the fire to cook. Elso then made some plates and spoons for us while Paula made salad and cut some fruit. We waited and watched, briefly amused when the bench collapsed when the girls and John were sitting on it.

It now started to get dark and while we waited for the food to cook Elso took Bonnie and I into the jungle to find a tarantula. Shivani knew what we were hunting and didn't come. Elso knew where to look and we quickly found one. He teased it out of the hole and grabbed it for us to take a closer look. It was highly poisonous but Elso seemed not to care. He showed us its teeth and we took pictures although mine didn't come out too good.

We then went back to the camp where Shivani had started eating. We had to wait a few more minutes till our chicken was done. It was worth it however, as it was delicious, along with the rice too. We sat and ate round the fire until we were full. The fire was going out now and it was really dark. It was only 7.30pm but it was time for bed. There was nothing we could do in the dark here so we all got into our hammocks. It was too early to sleep so I wrote my blog but we could quickly hear that John and Elso were asleep. Around we could hear all the sounds of the jungle and it was really cool if not a little scary at times, as we didn't know what was making the noise.