Since 1995, Emory University’s Biology Department has offered undergraduate students an incredible, life changing class taught over Spring Break in the upper Amazon rainforest of Peru.
Biology/EnvS 372 is taught every spring semester, where a small group of twelve select students get the opportunity to travel south of the equator to the very heart of biodiversity on the planet! Students are required to take the lecture class (Tropical Ecology 371) to help prepare them for an immersion into the rainforest.
The rainforest is the greatest expression of life on earth. Students view and experience amazing flora and fauna, meet with local peoples, and meet with two indigenous tribes: the Yagua and Maijuna. Their seasoned, indigenous guide (Roldan) provides insights in life in the rainforest as someone who has spent his entire life within it.
They start each day with a pre-breakfast boat ride or walk, then a morning activity, a late afternoon activity and an after-dinner night hike or boat ride. These activities include bird watching, looking at useful and medicinal plants, visiting and interacting with the local shaman/medicine man, searching for frogs including colorful poison dart frogs, setting camera traps, bat netting, and fishing with cast and seine nets to observe the greatest diversity of freshwater fish in the world.
Andrew Pahnke 23C
“After my field course, I just want to share my gratitude to the donor(s) that helped fund my trip to Peru. This was really a once-in-a-lifetime experience that was really packed with amazing activities and close encounters with tropical wildlife. I learned a lot about conservation along with identifying rare animal species with my classmates. I will never forget the monkeys. Thank you so much for allowing me to be able to have this experience.”
Dr. Larry Wilson
“We in the biology department greatly appreciate the support the donors give to allow this program to be available to all of our students, as some could not experience this incredible trip without this financial support! Years after students have graduated from Emory, I still get messages back from students who state this class changed and influenced their lives and career decisions. Some have made decisions to totally change their career paths based upon their experiences, but more importantly, they become ambassadors for conservation and protection of the earth’s treasures.”