Deep Inside the Amazon Rainforest with my Camera

This is Yasuni National Park in the Ecuadorian Amazon. I am staying at the Napa Wildlife Center, a community-owned eco-lodge. My mission is to capture the sights and sounds of the Amazon rainforest. I spent the first few days navigating the black water lagoons by canoe, but now I want to spend some time on land, deep in the forest, searching for the incredible wildlife that calls the Amazon home. The Amazon rainforest is the most biodiverse place on earth. The constant warm temperatures and abundant rainfall allows plants to grow year-round, supporting continuous life cycles and enabling many species to co-exist. So behind me is a canopy tower and it's been built right next to a sabre tree, and apparently this tree species is the preference for harpy eagles to nest in. Not sure we're going to see a harpy eagle, but maybe some toucans, maybe some monkeys. The sun is finally coming out, so yeah, we'll see what we can find. We ascended this incredible staircase in the Amazon, where a platform has been built on this sabre tree. This gives an incredible perspective above the upper canopy. A three-toed sloth. It's quite far, but it is in quite a good position. It's an isacropia tree, so it's pretty clear. It'd be amazing if it would move down the branch and we could see the full body, but we'll see. The three-toed sloth and the ivory-billed aracari are some of the species that forage in the upper canopy, so this canopy tower is such an incredible way to observe them. And in the distance we could see a white-throated toucan. The toucans are primarily arboreal fruit eaters, but will also take insects, lizards, eggs and small birds. The canopy is so thick it blocks so much light down to the forest floor, but up here it is bright and full of endless green trees. This afternoon we're going for a walk in the forest. There are woolly monkeys right above us, but they're right in the upper canopy, so it's going to be almost impossible to photograph them. But we'll just see what we find. We walked further into the forest where we found another woolly monkey family. These primates have thick brown coats and mostly eat fruit, leaves and some invertebrates. They're listed vulnerable to extinction due to deforestation and the building of new highways in the Amazon, so it feels very special to be in a place like where wildlife is protected. The Napo Wildlife Center is a remarkable eco-lodge deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The lodge is owned and operated by the Quechua and Yangu community, who lead every aspect of its management, from guiding to conservation and research. Through tourism, the community has been able to protect more than 21,000 hectares of rainforest. They support education, health care and provide cultural heritage for future generations. As we continue to explore the blackwater lagoons and rainforest, we found many beautiful species. One of my favorite animals to photograph on this trip were the red howler monkeys. Although it was sometimes difficult to get smooth footage with the movement of the canoe, I was pleased to capture this footage. I've just been updating the product page for my Red Squirrels 2026 calendar and I'd like to thank Squarespace for sponsoring this video. I've used Squarespace to build my entire website and run my online shop, where you can grab the Red Squirrels All Wonderful Wildlife calendars. I love how easy it is to run my shop. From the app, I can update product listings, see orders and analytics. If you're interested in trying out Squarespace, head to squarespace.com and you can save 10% off a purchase of a website or a domain. This afternoon, we are on a canoe ride down the river creeks and we've not seen much yet. We had an incredible morning because we saw a crested eagle, which the guides got really excited about, and we saw the giant river otters again, but it was raining and now the sky is very clear, so the light is really nice and hopefully we can get some good shots of the wildlife. Monkeys! We found a large family group of squirrel monkeys. There must have been at least 60 individuals. We were completely surrounded as they crossed the directly above us. At times, they were only a couple of meters away, but don't be fooled by a squirrel monkey. They have the largest brain to body mass ratio of all primates. So I thought I'd sit down and talk about my experience in the Amazon in Ecuador, because it's been quite different to my other experiences in the rainforest, definitely different to Peru, and the major reason for that is because we've been navigating this entire area by water. We've been almost every day, no, every day, we've been going in the canoe and going down the creeks, finding wildlife, and being in the canoe definitely has advantages and disadvantages. The amazing thing is that because we're canoeing everywhere, we are very quiet, so it's a very non-intrusive way of doing wildlife photography. We're also almost eye level, so this is amazing for getting shots of some of the birds, but because we are in a boat, the movement can be quite difficult for mostly video, for photography it's okay, but trying to stay still and stable whilst on the boat is quite tricky, but generally it has been very comfortable. Napo is amazing, the food is brilliant, hot showers is very nice, we've had internet the whole time, but a part of me does miss just walking in the rainforest for hours and hours and just finding whatever, because we've been near water almost the entire time, we haven't really seen any interesting insects or looking at like footprints. We did find a jaguar footprint yesterday which was really amazing to see, just to know that there are jaguars and pumas and ocelots and all sorts of amazing animals here. Yeah, those are just some of my thoughts with staying here at Napo. It was my final morning in the rainforest and I headed back to the salt lick because I really wanted to photograph the macaws. Of course the noisy cobalt winged parakeets were already present in their hundreds and suddenly the parakeets were spooked and flew off, and then an animal I was not expecting to see, a red brocket deer. I was expecting her to be nervous but she didn't seem to mind our presence at all. She drank from the salt lick, this is such an important source of minerals for wildlife in the rainforest. As she disappeared into the forest it was also time for me to go home. I hope you've enjoyed these videos from the Amazon rainforest, both in Peru and Ecuador. These videos have been a joy to make and I hope you've been captured by the magic of the rainforest.