This page is dedicated to DICE students old and new who will be visiting / have visited Peru to undertake research. My trip to Peru was no doubt life changing (I am now dedicating at least 3 years of my life to research in this area!) I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did. I think there is much to be learned from this opportunity and its very important that information is passed from one year group to the next.
Please email me any comments and questions you may have I will endeavour to reply to them with useful information 🙂
My email address is ku25@kent.ac.uk
The following is some very general information which may be useful. Here are some photos of DICE students hard at work in the amazon:
What to take…
Right often one of the hardest things is know what to take and what to leave behind, what you need to remember is you will be carrying your bag a lot so keeping it light is essential. Here is a list of useful items:
1) Wellies (good for walking in the forest especially if its wet and muddy these can be brought in Peru if you have a few days before the boat leaves)
2) Jumper (you will get cold!)
3) Equipment for your research (discuss with me / Richard Bodmer or you supervisor as there may be some already out in Peru)
4) Antihistamines (there isn’t much point bringing lots of insect repellent as you will get bitten anyway)
5) Clothes for the forest (long trousers and tops will help to stop the bugs)
6) A cap (useful for wearing in the forest when its flooded and you are in a canoe as many insects will fall on you and its much nicer that they hit the hat than your head!)
What to prepare in advance…
Its very useful to do some reading about your project in advance and get an idea of what you would like to research. It is even more useful to have some back up plans for when it all goes wrong.
The best thing to do is read around the subject / species / location. It is useful to get an idea of the methods used in the tropics so you can apply these to your project if possible. This will also give you an idea of what equipment you may need to take with you.
At the end of the day its your project so the prep you put it will benefit you! Never forget this is where you will be going:
