Videos & Instagram
I didn’t make & upload many videos at the start of the expedition, due to very limited internet access and when I did find WiFi it was far to slow to upload videos. Plus I had very little space on my small laptop to store video files. Most of the videos below were edited on an iPhone 10 I received in 2021.
Instagram feed.
@ ascentoftheamazon . Nov 28
“There are always going to be obstacles that come in your way, stay positive” ~ Michael Phelps.
🏊🏻When I swam across the Amazon (several times) I drifted down river as I swam.
🏊🏻This shot was about halfway across a 13km swim downriver to Iquitos Peru.
🏊🏻I calculated roughly where I would end up taking into account to speed of the river flow.
🏊🏻This obviously added extra (walking) kilometers to the overall trek but to maintain an unbroken trail I had to do this, I then continued walking from that point on the opposite bank.
My then guide Diego was in an escort boat filming. He said “ I’m poor but I wouldn’t do that for a million dollars”
🎥Diego Santos Peru 2019
#AmazonRiver #Trekking #Mountains #Brazil #Peru #Travel #Nature #Swimming #Instatravel #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #Wildlife #Rainforest #Indigenous #Andes #Conservation #Expedition #Adventure #Rivers #Quechua #Science #Amazon #Inca #Exploration @m_phelps00 @gopro
“There are always going to be obstacles that come in your way, stay positive” ~ Michael Phelps.
🏊🏻When I swam across the Amazon (several times) I drifted down river as I swam.
🏊🏻This shot was about halfway across a 13km swim downriver to Iquitos Peru.
🏊🏻I calculated roughly where I would end up taking into account to speed of the river flow.
🏊🏻This obviously added extra (walking) kilometers to the overall trek but to maintain an unbroken trail I had to do this, I then continued walking from that point on the opposite bank.
My then guide Diego was in an escort boat filming. He said “ I’m poor but I wouldn’t do that for a million dollars”
🎥Diego Santos Peru 2019
#AmazonRiver #Trekking #Mountains #Brazil #Peru #Travel #Nature #Swimming #Instatravel #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #Wildlife #Rainforest #Indigenous #Andes #Conservation #Expedition #Adventure #Rivers #Quechua #Science #Amazon #Inca #Exploration @m_phelps00 @gopro
@ ascentoftheamazon . Nov 26
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” ~ Joseph Campbell.
I spent weeks meticulously planning and preparing for the walk along the riverbank of the stunning river Ene in Peru (Photo) due to repeated warnings of the very real risks of doing so.
But I had to do it to reach the Amazon source river - the Apurimac river.
The Rio Ene runs through lush green high forested valleys, still homeland for the indigenous Asháninka people and has been for millennia.
Myself and a local Ashaninka chief passed many Ashaninka villages.
In one I was informed that I was the first gringo to ever enter their village.
Another incredible leg of my Amazon river journey I will never forget.
Pasonki - thank you to all the Asháninka people🙏
Read the blog I wrote at that time.
Google ….
Ascent Of The Amazon. Apurimac “God Speaks”
My Website link is in my Instagram bio.
📸Casey Peru 2021
#AmazonRiver #Trekking #Mountains #Brazil #Peru #Travel #Nature #Instatravel #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #Wildlife #Rainforest #Indigenous #Andes #Conservation #Expedition #Adventure #Rivers #Quechua #Science #Amazon #Inca #Exploration @fabu_ashaninka
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” ~ Joseph Campbell.
I spent weeks meticulously planning and preparing for the walk along the riverbank of the stunning river Ene in Peru (Photo) due to repeated warnings of the very real risks of doing so.
But I had to do it to reach the Amazon source river - the Apurimac river.
The Rio Ene runs through lush green high forested valleys, still homeland for the indigenous Asháninka people and has been for millennia.
Myself and a local Ashaninka chief passed many Ashaninka villages.
In one I was informed that I was the first gringo to ever enter their village.
Another incredible leg of my Amazon river journey I will never forget.
Pasonki - thank you to all the Asháninka people🙏
Read the blog I wrote at that time.
Google ….
Ascent Of The Amazon. Apurimac “God Speaks”
My Website link is in my Instagram bio.
📸Casey Peru 2021
#AmazonRiver #Trekking #Mountains #Brazil #Peru #Travel #Nature #Instatravel #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #Wildlife #Rainforest #Indigenous #Andes #Conservation #Expedition #Adventure #Rivers #Quechua #Science #Amazon #Inca #Exploration @fabu_ashaninka
@ ascentoftheamazon . Nov 25
A Camouflaged mushroom.?
I encountered many different mushrooms in the rainforest but this unusual naturally military style camouflaged mushroom was hard to spot in the Peruvian Amazon.
🍄Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies or reproductive structures of a much larger underground fungus.
🍄Fungi are the largest life forms on earth.
🍄Fungal mycelium can grow and expand for miles under the ground as they go in search of food.
🍄Fungi allow trees to talk to each other.
🍄Mycorrhizal fungi have a special relationship with host trees and plants. The fungi interact with the plant’s roots and provide nutrients, getting sugars in return.
🍄They have been used to treat infection for hundreds of years and have many medicinal uses.
📸Casey Peruvian Amazon 2019
#fungi #mycillium #weboflife
#AmazonRiver #Trekking #Mountains #Brazil #Peru #Travel #Nature #Instatravel #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #Wildlife #Rainforest #Indigenous #Andes #Conservation #Expedition #Adventure #Rivers #Quechua #Science #Amazon #Inca #Exploration #House @paulstamets
A Camouflaged mushroom.?
I encountered many different mushrooms in the rainforest but this unusual naturally military style camouflaged mushroom was hard to spot in the Peruvian Amazon.
🍄Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies or reproductive structures of a much larger underground fungus.
🍄Fungi are the largest life forms on earth.
🍄Fungal mycelium can grow and expand for miles under the ground as they go in search of food.
🍄Fungi allow trees to talk to each other.
🍄Mycorrhizal fungi have a special relationship with host trees and plants. The fungi interact with the plant’s roots and provide nutrients, getting sugars in return.
🍄They have been used to treat infection for hundreds of years and have many medicinal uses.
📸Casey Peruvian Amazon 2019
#fungi #mycillium #weboflife
#AmazonRiver #Trekking #Mountains #Brazil #Peru #Travel #Nature #Instatravel #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #Wildlife #Rainforest #Indigenous #Andes #Conservation #Expedition #Adventure #Rivers #Quechua #Science #Amazon #Inca #Exploration #House @paulstamets
@ ascentoftheamazon . Nov 21
Time and patience.
For seven months in 2020 during lockdown I had to be patient, I tried to use my time wisely.
As I had no idea how long the lockdown would last.
I was fortunate I had the freedom to walk out of the house and into the wall of jungle behind.
Once they had gained my trust I helped the local indigenous Kapanawa villagers plant and harvest crops such as bananas, Yucca, (cassava) sugarcane, pineapple, etc.
I also helped construct a complete traditional jungle house with all materials sourced from the nearby rainforest tied together with vines (photo)
“Time is free but it’s priceless. You can’t own it but you can use it. You can’t keep it but you can spend it. And once it’s lost, you can never get it back” ~ Buddha
📸Casey June 2020 Peru.
#AmazonRiver #Trekking #Mountains #Brazil #Peru #Travel #Nature #Instatravel #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #Wildlife #Rainforest #Indigenous #Andes #Conservation #Expedition #Adventure #Rivers #Quechua #Amazon #Inca #exploration #House #time
Time and patience.
For seven months in 2020 during lockdown I had to be patient, I tried to use my time wisely.
As I had no idea how long the lockdown would last.
I was fortunate I had the freedom to walk out of the house and into the wall of jungle behind.
Once they had gained my trust I helped the local indigenous Kapanawa villagers plant and harvest crops such as bananas, Yucca, (cassava) sugarcane, pineapple, etc.
I also helped construct a complete traditional jungle house with all materials sourced from the nearby rainforest tied together with vines (photo)
“Time is free but it’s priceless. You can’t own it but you can use it. You can’t keep it but you can spend it. And once it’s lost, you can never get it back” ~ Buddha
📸Casey June 2020 Peru.
#AmazonRiver #Trekking #Mountains #Brazil #Peru #Travel #Nature #Instatravel #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #Wildlife #Rainforest #Indigenous #Andes #Conservation #Expedition #Adventure #Rivers #Quechua #Amazon #Inca #exploration #House #time
@ ascentoftheamazon . Nov 19
A scar to the forest and to the heart of a native Ashaninka.
I taught all my walking companions how to use a compass and follow a directional bearing in the jungle.
Here Miques my Ashaninka companion/guide and I had just stumbled out of pristine jungle onto a fresh cut road in Ashaninka territory that was not on any recent satellite imagery.
He was very sad to see the road and piles of logs stacked up at various points either side.
He looked down at his compass and said “I don’t think we need the compass to get to the next village now.
My heart is in pain to see this destruction of our forests”.
He then remained silent for the next few hours as we walked.
“If we go on the way we have, the fault is our greed and if we are not willing to change, we will disappear from the face of the globe, to be replaced by the insect”~ Jacques Yves Cousteau.
📸Casey 2021 Peru.
#AmazonRiver #Trekking #Mountains #Brazil #Peru #Travel #Nature #Instatravel #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #Wildlife #Rainforest #Indigenous #Andes #Conservation #Expedition #Adventure #Rivers #Quechua #Amazon #Inca #Exploration #Home #Deforistation
A scar to the forest and to the heart of a native Ashaninka.
I taught all my walking companions how to use a compass and follow a directional bearing in the jungle.
Here Miques my Ashaninka companion/guide and I had just stumbled out of pristine jungle onto a fresh cut road in Ashaninka territory that was not on any recent satellite imagery.
He was very sad to see the road and piles of logs stacked up at various points either side.
He looked down at his compass and said “I don’t think we need the compass to get to the next village now.
My heart is in pain to see this destruction of our forests”.
He then remained silent for the next few hours as we walked.
“If we go on the way we have, the fault is our greed and if we are not willing to change, we will disappear from the face of the globe, to be replaced by the insect”~ Jacques Yves Cousteau.
📸Casey 2021 Peru.
#AmazonRiver #Trekking #Mountains #Brazil #Peru #Travel #Nature #Instatravel #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #Wildlife #Rainforest #Indigenous #Andes #Conservation #Expedition #Adventure #Rivers #Quechua #Amazon #Inca #Exploration #Home #Deforistation
@ ascentoftheamazon . Nov 13
Insects….
Small but immensely significant.
“Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.”
Henry David Thoreau
The most dominant animal life-form I encountered in the Amazon was undoubtedly the vast variety of insects.
A single square mile of rainforest often houses more than 50,000 insect species.
“The Amazon rainforest may house as many as 2.5 million species of insects, although only a tiny fraction of this number have been described by scientists.” ~ Mongabay
“Insects are the food that make all the birds and make all the fish.
They’re the fabric tethering together every freshwater and terrestrial ecosystem across the planet.” ~David Wagner
Read the @Reuters article - Google….. The Collapse Of Insects. Reuters.
📸Casey Amazon Rainforest
#AmazonRiver #Trekking #Mountains #Brazil #Peru #Travel #Nature #insect #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #Wildlife #Rainforest #Indigenous #Andes #Conservation #Expedition #Adventure #Rivers #Quechua #amazon #Inca #exploration
Insects….
Small but immensely significant.
“Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.”
Henry David Thoreau
The most dominant animal life-form I encountered in the Amazon was undoubtedly the vast variety of insects.
A single square mile of rainforest often houses more than 50,000 insect species.
“The Amazon rainforest may house as many as 2.5 million species of insects, although only a tiny fraction of this number have been described by scientists.” ~ Mongabay
“Insects are the food that make all the birds and make all the fish.
They’re the fabric tethering together every freshwater and terrestrial ecosystem across the planet.” ~David Wagner
Read the @Reuters article - Google….. The Collapse Of Insects. Reuters.
📸Casey Amazon Rainforest
#AmazonRiver #Trekking #Mountains #Brazil #Peru #Travel #Nature #insect #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #Wildlife #Rainforest #Indigenous #Andes #Conservation #Expedition #Adventure #Rivers #Quechua #amazon #Inca #exploration
@ ascentoftheamazon . Nov 9
Amazon to Thames….
Still adjusting to returning to the geographical point where my Journey began over seven years ago, on this “Pale Blue Dot” 🌎
Perspective forever changed….
“We shall not cease from exploration, And the end of all our exploring, will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time” ~ T.S. Elliot.
First flight in 7.5 years✈️
🎥Casey London 2023 October.
#amazonriver #Trekking #mountains #brazil #peru #Travel #Nature #Instatravel #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #wildlife #rainforest #indigenous #andes #conservation #expedition #adventure #rivers #Quechua #amazon #Inca #exploration #home
Amazon to Thames….
Still adjusting to returning to the geographical point where my Journey began over seven years ago, on this “Pale Blue Dot” 🌎
Perspective forever changed….
“We shall not cease from exploration, And the end of all our exploring, will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time” ~ T.S. Elliot.
First flight in 7.5 years✈️
🎥Casey London 2023 October.
#amazonriver #Trekking #mountains #brazil #peru #Travel #Nature #Instatravel #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #wildlife #rainforest #indigenous #andes #conservation #expedition #adventure #rivers #Quechua #amazon #Inca #exploration #home
@ ascentoftheamazon . Nov 6
"The jungle speaks to me because I know how to listen."
- Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book.
📸Casey Brazilian Amazon.
#AmazonRiver #Trekking #Mountains #Brazil #Peru #Travel #Nature #Instatravel #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #Wildlife #Rainforest #Indigenous #Andes #Conservation #Expedition #Adventure #Rivers #Quechua #Amazon #Music
"The jungle speaks to me because I know how to listen."
- Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book.
📸Casey Brazilian Amazon.
#AmazonRiver #Trekking #Mountains #Brazil #Peru #Travel #Nature #Instatravel #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #Wildlife #Rainforest #Indigenous #Andes #Conservation #Expedition #Adventure #Rivers #Quechua #Amazon #Music
@ ascentoftheamazon . Nov 5
“God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools”. ~ John Muir.
📸Casey Peru 2021
#AmazonRiver #Trekking #Mountains #Brazil #Peru #Travel #Nature #Instatravel #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #Wildlife #Rainforest #Indigenous #Andes #Conservation #Expedition #Adventure #Rivers #Quechua #Amazon #Music #Inca #Trees #Deforestation
“God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools”. ~ John Muir.
📸Casey Peru 2021
#AmazonRiver #Trekking #Mountains #Brazil #Peru #Travel #Nature #Instatravel #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #Wildlife #Rainforest #Indigenous #Andes #Conservation #Expedition #Adventure #Rivers #Quechua #Amazon #Music #Inca #Trees #Deforestation
@ ascentoftheamazon . Nov 4
Music, an integral part of life of Andean people🎶🪈
The eternal sound of an ocean shoreline accompanied by ancient music of the Andes. These were the final sounds of the expedition at Camana on the Pacific coast of Peru.
“During the third millennium B.C., well before the adoption of ceramic technology in the Andean area, groups of musicians used wind instruments made of bone at the ceremonial center of Caral on the central coast of Peru. Caral was the seat of various ritual activities, as evidenced by the discovery of sunken circular plazas suitable for mass public assemblies, shrines with ceremonial fire pits, and caches of offerings. Thirty-two tubular horizontal flutes were discovered in Caral. These instruments, made with pelican and condor bones, could produce seven different sounds. Most flutes were decorated with engravings representing stylized monkeys, snakes, birds, and anthropomorphic figures. The discoveries at Caral proved that music was an integral part of the ritual life of Andean people 5,000 years ago.” ~ Met Museam.
📸Brendisi Peru 2022
#AmazonRiver #Trekking #PacificOcean Mountains #Brazil #Peru #Travel #Nature #Instatravel #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #Wildlife #Rainforest #Indigenous #Andes #Conservation #Expedition #Adventure #Rivers
Music, an integral part of life of Andean people🎶🪈
The eternal sound of an ocean shoreline accompanied by ancient music of the Andes. These were the final sounds of the expedition at Camana on the Pacific coast of Peru.
“During the third millennium B.C., well before the adoption of ceramic technology in the Andean area, groups of musicians used wind instruments made of bone at the ceremonial center of Caral on the central coast of Peru. Caral was the seat of various ritual activities, as evidenced by the discovery of sunken circular plazas suitable for mass public assemblies, shrines with ceremonial fire pits, and caches of offerings. Thirty-two tubular horizontal flutes were discovered in Caral. These instruments, made with pelican and condor bones, could produce seven different sounds. Most flutes were decorated with engravings representing stylized monkeys, snakes, birds, and anthropomorphic figures. The discoveries at Caral proved that music was an integral part of the ritual life of Andean people 5,000 years ago.” ~ Met Museam.
📸Brendisi Peru 2022
#AmazonRiver #Trekking #PacificOcean Mountains #Brazil #Peru #Travel #Nature #Instatravel #Ashaninka #Sea #Jungle #Wildlife #Rainforest #Indigenous #Andes #Conservation #Expedition #Adventure #Rivers