Rainforest creative writing

I slowly, walked through the forest floor of the Amazon rainforest, trying to
be quiet. I could hear the rain hitting the leaves above my head. The
rainforest smelt earthy, it had rained so much the ground beneath me had
turned to sludge. I was on a solo expedition to find the rare Pacarana. I was
sure it existed but all other scientist believed it was extinct. I was
determined to find it.

Although, it was raining, I was boiling as the temperature was 32°c. I was
getting some shade from the emergent layer and the Canopy, the canopy trees
grow between 30-40 metres tall so they helped to block the sunlight.

As I looked around, something peculiar caught my eye. It was a strange

looking vine which was rooted into the soil and uses the trees to climb towards
the emergent layer for sunlight. I looked in my journal to find out what it was.
It was a liana. I carried on walking through the damp forest floor, not
concentrating on where I was stepping. I stumbled of something. I turned
around to see what it was. It was a buttress root, a major root system above
ground to stabilise large trees and gather nutrients and water from the soil.

I continued in the same direction as before. I started concentrating on the

leaves around me. I noticed some epiphytes on a tree to my right. Epiphytes
are a sort of leaf which draws or is attached to a living plant. They use their
support and nutrients. I also saw some Drip Tip leaves, large heart shaped
leaves which funnel water down to the ground to make water accessible to the
forest floor and so the impact of the rain doesn’t break the leaf. I leant
forward to touch the leaf; it felt moist from all the rain it had funnelled.

As I was walking, I looked up at the emergent layer, the trees can grow
between 45-55 metres tall, I could see the trees fighting for sunlight, I
listened to the birds, flying high above the emergent layer.

Suddenly, I heard something snap, I looked around to see what it was. I was

terrified it would be a jaguar or an alligator. Then, I noticed, I had just stood

on a twig. I felt so stupid. This rain forest was 5,500,00km², it could’ve been

anything.

I carried on through the forest and came to an opening. In this opening there

was a circle of small huts, mad from materials from the forest. It was a tribe

called the Kayapo tribe; they are a group of Amerindian people who use the

rainforest for materials to live. The men wear a circle wooden disc below

their bottom lip to stretch the lip. The Amerindians use a type of farming

called shifting cultivation which is where they move their crops from place to

place so they don’t have to wait for the soil to be ready after each harvest.

In the end, I didn’t find the rare Pacarana but instead I found much more.

By Eve Taylor 9w