Camilla in the Amazon

Chapter 1

As she stepped off a small propeller plane, Camilla felt a

thrill of excitement. Out of many students, she had been
chosen to join an expedition deep in the Amazon rainforest.
A local guide showed her the way to the rowboat that
would carry her to her camp. He offered to go with her, but
Camilla had a map and a compass. She would find her way.
Camilla gripped the oar carefully in her hands. It was
slippery from the wet of the water. She put her bag down in
the front of her rowboat and nodded to the guide. They
waved to each other, and he pushed her rowboat out into
the waters of the Amazon river. Before long, the sounds of
human voices disappeared, and Camilla's boat was
surrounded by trees.
Camilla recognized the kapok trees, famous for their long
roots and tall trunks. They towered over her small boat.
Camilla had read once that kapok trees could grow up over
13 feet in a single year. That's the length of four baseball
bats! Tipping her head backward, Camilla stared up at the
tall branches of the trees in wonder. She inhaled deeply,
drinking in the rich scent of soil and life.
A beautiful pink flower drifted down from the kapok tree
and landed in the boat. Eagerly, Camilla reached down and
plucked it up, holding it to her nose. Yuck! The smell was
terrible. Then Camilla remembered that kapok trees grow
flowers with a strong scent. The smell attracts bats, who
help the tree pollinate the rainforest, to grow more trees.
Camilla dropped the flower into the water and watched it
spin away.

Chapter 2

There was a rustle in the trees above, and Camilla reached

for the binoculars around her neck. It was a group of
squirrel monkeys, moving through the trees above her. To
Camilla's delight, she spotted a new mother in the group.
She had a tiny baby monkey perched on her back, its fuzzy
face turning this way and that to take in the forest around it.
All too soon, they had moved higher into the branches, and
Camilla couldn't see them anymore.
Camilla craned her neck, trying to catch another glimpse of
the monkeys. Smash! The nose of her boat crashed into a
snarl of watery vines and roots. Camilla stepped out of the
boat onto shore. It was as good a time as any for a break.
As she rested, she checked her compass, and then set it
down to take a drink from her canteen. There was a teeny
chittering sound, and before she knew it, a capuchin
monkey was snatching her compass from the ground.
With a cry of protest, Camilla shot to her feet. Her boot
tangled in the vines, and she fell forward, scaring the
compass thief. He scurried away, halfway up the trunk of a
tree. Camilla held up her hands slowly, hoping that she
wouldn't scare him any further. Without her compass, she
would be in trouble. Carefully, she reached into her pocket
and pulled out a bag of trail mix. She pinched some of the
fruit and nuts and tossed them gently toward the fuzzy
trouble maker.
The capuchin moved toward Camilla. Cautiously at first,
and then with greater zeal, he scooped up the fruit and nuts
she threw. The little monkey eyed her suspiciously for a
moment, and then lifted his head and let out a hooting
sound. As Camilla watched, a group of fellow capuchins
appeared from the trees to eat her snack. Her new friend
soon forgot about her compass, and she snatched it back. So
much for her break! It was time to move on. She detangled
her boat and paddled along the river once more.
Just a few minutes after she returned to the boat, a flicker of
motion caught the corner of Camilla's eye. She turned her
head just in time to see the tip of a tail slither over the edge
of the bank and into the water. It was an anaconda, one of
the biggest snakes in the world. He zigged and zagged his
way through the water. Camilla watched, heart pounding, as
he made his way to the other riverbank and back out of
sight.
Camilla blew out a breath. Anacondas don't usually attack
humans, but seeing an animal that big was still scary. She
dipped her oar back into the river and pushed forward. As
her boat rounded a bend, Camilla found herself amidst a sea
of water lilies. Victoria amazonica, she remembered. Giant
water lilies. They can grow to be almost ten feet wide. Big
enough for a person to lie down on top of them and laze the
day away.

Chapter 3

Camilla's boat rounded another bend, and she watched as

the trees beside the water dropped away. A new smell
struck Camilla's nose, charred earth, and ash. There had
been a wildfire in this part of the rainforest. Where once
there had been trees, now there were only jagged trunks.
The animals had all moved somewhere else, so it was eerily
quiet.
Fire is a natural thing for all forests. It helps to clear out old
life and awaken new. But this year, the fires were
particularly hard on the Amazon. Camilla knew they would
be talking about it when she reached camp. Many scientists
were worried that if the fires burned too much of the
Amazon, it would impact the whole world. Camilla took
pictures, noting that seedlings were already starting to poke
through the earth.
Finally, Camilla left the burned part of the forest behind.
The green of the jungle returned. Again she heard the
chatter of monkeys in the trees. But then the river branched
again. Having learned her lesson, Camilla stopped to check
her map. Suddenly, there was a rustle in the bushes.
Camilla froze, remembering the anaconda. Carefully, she
used her paddle to lift a branch and peered into the
underbrush.
A bright fuzzy nose poked through the leaves. It was a
capybara, the largest rodent in the world. The friendly
creature grunted happily at Camilla before sniffing the air
and shuffling off in search of food. In the distance, Camilla
heard the distinct sounds of munching. She smiled.
Capybaras had always been one of her favorite animals. A
capybara can eat up to eight pounds of grass in a day!
Camilla had to reach the camp by dark. Pushing off with
her paddle, Camilla moved her boat back into the river. It
wasn't long before she heard a flapping sound above her.
She looked up just in time to see a yellow-bellied bird with
a hooked beak overhead. Flipping through pictures in her
mind, Camilla recognized a Channel-billed toucan. It
opened its beak and let out a bird call. Another toucan
answered her from the trees beyond.
Camilla grabbed her binoculars and focused on the
direction of the calls. There in the trees were five colorful
toucans. They all appeared to be eating something off the
tree branches. Camilla remembered reading that toucans
can eat a lot of foods, but prefer fruit and insects. She
imagined that these birds may have found some ants or
termites to eat. The tree must be happy about that too, she
thought. A perfect jungle friendship.
 Chapter 4

As dusk approached, Camilla noticed a change in the forest.

The sounds she had heard all day started to fade. Instead of
the whoops of howler monkeys and the chatter of birds,
now she heard insects chirping in the brush. Her boat
drifted closer to the shore and the chirping stopped as if the
animals could sense her nearness. Camilla tried to
remember what she knew about the insects of the Amazon.
There were so many kinds!
There were blue morpho butterflies with their bright wings.
Giant bullet ants and titan longhorn beetles. The assassin
bug with its incredible hunting abilities. And the tarantula,
one of the scariest-looking spiders. Even though she knew
they weren't the most dangerous, Camilla shuttered. She
was a scientist who loved living things, but spiders still
gave her the creeps. Especially giant ones like the tarantula.
Just then, Camilla's boat floated through a spider's web.
Camilla felt the silk against her face and cringed. She
reminded herself that even though there were almost four
thousand species of spiders living there, most of them
weren't poisonous. And the most dangerous of those, the
wandering spider, didn't build webs but wandered the
rainforest floor, hunting for its prey. Camilla cleaned her
face with her hand and tried not to think any more about it.
In the distance, a light shimmered on the water. Camilla's
heart leaped at the sight. She was nearly there. And good
thing, too, since the sun had disappeared behind the trees,
and the light of the day was waning. She paddled faster,
excited to reach the camp. Someone on the shore called out
a greeting, and Camilla called back. As she approached, she
saw scientists standing onshore, waving to her. She had
arrived!
Camilla stepped out of her boat and into the sea of faces.
After so much time alone, it was a little overwhelming at
first, to hear so many voices and see so many people. The
head of the camp was a Brazilian scientist named Doctor
Santos. She clasped Camilla's hand and then walked her
through the camp. There was a small fire with camp chairs
around it. Tents were pitched in a clearing. Doctor Santos
got Camilla a cup of soup.
Camilla settled down by the fire. Monkeys chittered quietly
in the distance as Camilla told the others about everything
she had seen on her way to camp. After she had eaten,
Camilla walked back to her tent and lay down, listening to
the sounds of the rainforest around her. She breathed
deeply, her body tired from a long day, but her mind alive
with the ideas and excitement of all that she would learn
tomorrow.