Rainforests are loud places, hot, humid and crawling with wildlife. Some of the jungle creatures don't care much about humans, while others might see me as a threat, or a tasty morsel. In most cases they will steer well clear, but the presence of potential danger heightens my senses and helps me be fully immersed in the landscape without allowing my mind to wonder.
I've thrown myself into rainforests head-first many times. From the relative safety of a frontier town I drove right into the thick of the jungle. When I ran out of road, I took boats, planes or I simply hiked for days to reach parts of the jungle that had barely seen humans. The first few experiences were pretty overwhelming. My ears were registering the soundscape but my brain decided this was the least of my worries when I was swarmed on by bees, wasps, mosquitoes and other thirsty critters.
Once I arrived at camp and was sitting in a hammock in relative calm, I could finally listen. At first everything was a wall of sound but eventually it started to make sense. Each creature has its own little place in the frequency spectrum or time domain. The apparent chaos is random only when looked at (or listened to, rather) for very short durations. As soon as you zoom out by listening intently for anything longer than half an hour, you start to see patterns emerge. Listen for longer and you will immerse yourself into the ebbs and flows of the rainforest.
Soundscape recorded with Sony PCM A10 and Lom mikroUsi microphones in Corcovado NP, Costa Rica. Enjoying the videos I upload on here? Feel free to support me by:
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