Title: Wild Amazon: A Photographer’s incredible journey

Author: Nick Gordon

ISBN: 1901268306

Publisher: Evans Mitchell Books

Edition: Hardcover

Review: The late wildlife cameraman Nick Gordon presents his incredible adventures in the heart of the rainforest in the awe-inspiring Wild Amazon. Although many would rather curl up on the sofa than travel along on his often-dangerous quests, Gordon’s lively writing doesn’t always leave you much choice. You experience his exploration as he intimately tells tales of tasting roasted tarantula and hearing the guttural grunts of Matis warriors.

Gordon’s amazing array of photography begins with the jaguar, the animal that first ignited his passionate affair with the rainforest. Moving up through the ‘ocean of trees’ and down to the depths of the ‘flooded rainforest’, you cannot help but be inspired by the range of rare, and often unique, species he finds, and the emotions he captures. What’s even more inspiring are the lengths Gordon goes to capture these images. He builds giant tree towers, suffers from malaria, and even snorts ‘yoppo’ – a powder made up from seeds – with Piaroa Indians to gain respect.

Wild Amazon captures Gordon’s undying love for this wilderness. He is mesmerised by all that inhabit it, and passionately talks about his time with the natives (including the story of watching a shaman use a tarantula fang as a toothpick). Ending the book with a humbling account of the endangered fate of his beloved Amazonia, Wild Amazon serves as Gordon’s compelling posthumous eco-message to preserve this ‘powerhouse of biodiversity’.

What Digital Camera Score: 90%