Ecuador

Next week I'll travel to Ecuador and the Llanganates National Park as part of the Search for Gold 2011 Expedition team led by Ken Hames and Jacki Hill Murphy. www.searchforgold2011.com. Below is an image of the region we're heading to and my recent blog post on the website.





So this is it. The Search for Gold 2011 Expedition is about to begin. I’m on a train gliding through rural Oxfordshire on my way back to London Town, gazing out the window and reflecting on what kind of adventure lies ahead. Just a few days left to go before I board the flight to Ecuador and join up with the rest of the team.

I’ve just picked up my share of expedition food from Mr Tinker for the trip: 24 hour survival rations, comprising of tightly packed freeze dried food. Right now I am resisting the temptation to break out the chocolate pudding. Powdered muesli… mmm tasty! I keep reminding myself at least it’s endorsed by Ranulph Fiennes. I bought a George Foreman grill once. I trusted that guy…surely Sir Ranulph wouldn’t let me down?

I’m buzzing with excitement, anticipation, and a mild amount trepidation to be fair. I know that Jacki Hill Murphy and Ken Hames have poured a lot into this trip, literally years of planning and preparation. We have amassed a wealth of information about the Llanganates, the legend of buried Inca gold, and the various treasure seekers that have tried and failed to locate it. And yet despite all this, nobody really knows exactly what to expect. And that’s part of the fun! That’s what these trips are all about. At present I’ve only met half our team but we might well call ourselves an eclectic bunch of thrill seekers, from various backgrounds, of various ages, each of us bringing something to the table.

My role on the trip is that of the official photographer. A trek of this magnitude and difficulty presents me with a conundrum over what kit to take out. We face treacherous conditions: high altitude boggy terrain, razor sharp vegetation, and freezing rain accounting for an annual precipitation of up to twice that of the Lake District. I’ve decided to take my Nikon D3s, with three lenses: two primes 20mm F/2.8 and 50mm F/1.4 and a telephoto zoom Sigma 70-300mm F/4-5.6 APO Macro. These I will carry in a Lowepro Inverse 200AW beltpack (with all weather cover!) on me at all times. It’s not ideal but the best compromise I could find. I’m interested to see how my D3s handles the weather although I will be taking some extra waterproofing in case it gets hairy.

I hope to document the trip and the team effort while working on my own photo stories along the way. I’ve heard a lot about the biodiversity, and I’m looking forward to doing some Macro photography, training my long lens on the various fauna, flora, and fungi we encounter along the way. Luckily we have two Belgian wildlife experts on board. I’m relying on them to advise us on the how cuddly these creatures are.

Part two of our expedition involves climbing the Sangay, one of the most active volcanoes in South America. That’s about all I know about it at the moment, but it does look pretty damn impressive on Google Earth. I’ll be blogging more about this as we go along.

More to come!