I miss this place SO MUCH!

After finishing my bachelor’s degree in protection and management of nature, I wanted to take a year to discover the world and gain work experience on the field before doing a master’s degree in Ecology. I wanted to go somewhere drastically different to what I’ve been used to and Brazil seemed like an interesting destination especially in the Atlantic forest! I also wanted to meet people who shared my passion for nature. I’m glad I chose IPBio, it almost felt like a big family. I am grateful to have been part of it for some time! They have some very interesting projects running and it enabled me to learn a lot about the Atlantic forest and the species who inhabit it.

I particularly enjoyed the bird inventories. During these, we saw beautiful landscapes as well as amazing birds! The night walks looking for bioluminescent mushrooms were also amazing! Sometimes, the whole floor would be glowing with the mycelium, it looked a bit like the movie Avatar!

I definitely recommend bringing a camera. It can be useful during work hours for some inventories but above all, there are loads of landscapes, birds, insects, reptiles and amphibians to take pictures of!

In our spare time, we could go and swim in the river just behind the volunteer house which I also recommend especially after work on a hot day! The walk in to town is also nice, I got to see some cool animals including monkeys and the scenery is beautiful on the way in to town. There are loads of cool activities to do on weekends such as visiting cool caves with rivers running through them, amazing hikes and Boia Cross! For the boia cross, you basically just float down the river on a tire… It sounds weird but it’s amazing! You get to go down some rapids and also calm areas. The view is incredible. It’s really fun and can also be relaxing depending on which part of the river you’re on.

One of the things that makes this experience so amazing is the people you meet there. This kind of experience attracts similar types of people. I have met incredible people there during my stay and have made really close friends with which I intend to stay in contact.