Amazon under the skin
Programme
Expedition Date
1 June 2007 - 30 June 2007
The Mission
The Life programme team ventured deep into one of the wettest and most inhospitable parts of the Amazon basin to film the elusive bald uakari monkey. Travelling for five days and nights by river boat, the crew snaked up the Yavari river on the border between Peru and Brazil. They then travelled on foot, hacking through impenetrable swamp forests in an attempt to film the uakari’s spectacular arboreal behaviour.
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Meet the explorers
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Chadden HunterChadden has been a wildlife biologist and filmmaker for over 10 years. He is currently a director on Frozen Planet.
Where on Earth?
The Lago Preto rainforest is situated on the Peruvian side of the Yavari River in the Amazon Basin just south of Iquitos. It's home to 13 species of New World monkey, making it one of the highest primate diversities in the world. Although water must travel over 2,000 miles from here to reach the sea, the forest is less than 100 metres above sea level. This creates vast areas of swamp forest which flood for months every year.
© Microsoft Virtual Earth, image courtesy of Navteq
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