"It will be very helpful for us to have a hospital boat to enable us to reach these remote villages."
Dr. Max Themme Feonez, General medical practitioner at the Belem Health Center
Academic Trips
What better place to learn about the Amazon than in the rainforest itself! Bring your course, educational or service group to the Peruvian Amazon as a regular study-abroad course, a winterim break, an alternate spring break experience. Over the years, hundreds of students and young people have participated in these life-changing experiences. One directionless and academically unmotivated community college student discovered a love for conservation and plants on such a course several years ago. It lit a fire in him and he graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Botany in Spring 2009 (yes Torben, we're talking about you and we want you come come do graduate student work with us!).
Many others have discovered the joy of community service though visiting and working with local communities in the Amazon. For anyone, however, it is an opportunity to reflect on your place on the planet and to begin to realize how your life choices affect the environment, even in the usually distant Amazon. Students have the opportunity to study Amazon ecology and hydrology, mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians and plants, and recent student projects have studied fish parasites, bats, bird distributions, tiger beetle roosting behavior, butterfly food preferences and invertebrate colonization of artificial water reservoirs. Working with local communities, students have interviewed shamans, herbalists, fishermen, and agriculturalists, as well as worked with children and teachers in community schools of the region. Interactions with local people are often a highlight of student experiences, and a fair number of students manage to return in later years. One unanticipated result may be a newfound appreciation by students for their home institution. After a visit to one poorly equipped jungle elementary school, we overheard a student comment to another, "I'll never complain about my school again!"
Organizing an Amazon course or service expedition may be much easier than you think. We can take care of all the Amazon logistics and arrangements in Iquitos and at our four field stations out in the rainforest. With many years of experience, we'll make sure you have the resources you need so that your students have a safe, affordable, and unforgettable experience.