True, I was very lucky. And this reminds me of another story (I will probably write a blogpost about it one day) -
Back in 2003 I visited Ecuador. This was my first visit to this country (I visited again since then, and plan another visit next month), and I was very inexperienced in night walking in the jungle. Night walking, as opposed to day walks, is when you really see the forest coming to life.
I decided to search for fire click beetles (Pyrophorus noctilucus) in one of the cloud forests. As usual, I explored the trail by day to learn its difficult parts. But when I went for the walk at night, about halfway into the trail the batteries in my main torch died. Then after 10 more minutes, the batteries in the backup torch died too. I was all alone, in the middle of the jungle, and I could not see a thing. It was a good thing I knew where to go, but the darkness that surrounded me was terrifying. On top of that, when you cannot see anything, the forest noises sound A LOT louder. It is very scary. And if this is not enough, think of all the venomous animals out there: coral snakes, scorpions. Some fern and palm trees have finger-long thorns right at eye level. Not the most friendly environment to be lost in.
The nice thing was, because I had no light I could now see the click beetles better. It was magical. And I discovered that mushrooms and decomposing bacteria can be bioluminescent too - some tree trunks were glowing!
By staying low and walking slow with my arms spread forward using the tiny dying LED I had, I managed to get back to the station, but I will never forget this experience.
The moral of this and the previous stories is - go hiking at night BUT take plenty of light sources, water, a cell phone and tell someone where you are going. Preferably, go with another person (not always possible, but it will keep you safe and you will find more critters this way!)
