monkey at Ariau Amazon Towers Hotel

Working Crew on Amazon Survivor pt 8 –

Amazon Animal Sightings & Final Wrap

Throughout the two-month production of Amazon Survivor we crew were very fortunate to see a large variety of wild Amazonian animals.

The easiest animals to spot were the various monkeys and birds enticed to hang around the hotel grounds by trays of food left out for them. Colorful macaws and fuzzy macaque monkeys were always hanging out along the hotel walkways. In fact, we saw them every day. They quickly became a normal part of daily life on crew.

The talkative macaws often blurted out loud obnoxious calls. At other times they chattered under their breaths and seemed to bicker among each other.

macaws hanging out at Ariau Amazon Towers Hotel

The monkeys were equally noisy and rambunctious, running, jumping, climbing around the board walks and chasing each other around. Luckily for us, they had so much food that they never bothered us, even if we were carrying food or drinks. They seemed perfectly content eating what was provided.

python sighted on hotel grounds

Other animals were much more elusive and were spotted only on occasion.

Once a massive anaconda snake was seen swimming in a stream on hotel grounds. Large pythons were seen several times around the hotel grounds.

The most exciting land siting for me was the sloth.

I’d been trying to see that sloth for an entire month, ever since my pal Wendy spied one along the hotel walkways. Several other people had seen it and I’d been looking nearly every day for four weeks.

Finally I saw it during one of my midday breaks. It was surprisingly active, climbing slowly around in the trees and chewing on leaves. I watched him for a long time, totally enraptured.

Out on the rivers, my Dream Team sighted many wild animals during our various boating excursions. Counting our daily work trips to various filming locations, several expeditions to Manaus city, and our specially-arranged guided tours, we must have made at least 50 river trips in the Amazon.

Over the course of the production we spotted cayman, crocodiles, snakes, tropical birds, and various fish as well as beautiful jungle plants, flowers, and trees.

Dream Team heading out to rehearse a challenge game in the Amazon

Once we spied a monstrous crocodile swimming in the wide Rio Negro. It must have been at least 12 ft long with a thick thorny hide. Gulp. In smaller river tributaries we often saw caymans, smaller cousins of crocodiles, lounging along the shores or swimming midstream.

Those regular sightings certainly chilled us from any thoughts of swimming in the Amazon, despite the intense heat & humidity. If anyone needed further discouragement, there were continual warnings of piranhas lurking within the muddy brown waters. In fact, initial Challenge Game ideas involving the rivers were quickly nixed by local experts.

Amazon white dolphins in Rio Negro

Our most amazing animal sighting during those river trips was an extremely lucky sighting of rare Amazonian white dolphins. We sat in amazement watching graceful sleek white backs arch up out of the murky waters, then disappear as if they’d never been there at all.

But the most amazing sighting of the entire production was a wild leopard. A crew member spotted the leopard swimming in a small river while they were boating upstream. The crew followed it, taking several photos and a video as well.

Quite unfortunately for me, I wasn’t in that boat. But I did get to at least watch the video. It was utterly jaw-dropping.

Meanwhile, as the production drifted into its final week everyone started getting a bit nuts… stir crazy. Loud and raucous. Drunk. There was a definite wildness in the air.

on set of Amazon Survivor

Even on the sets, the normally serious directors, ADs and camera guys were getting a bit whacky, joking around rather slap-happy. A festive mood ensued and intensified during the final days of production.

I suppose everyone was becoming exhausted from two months of intense 12-16 hour work days. It was mid December by then, so everyone was about to go home and reunite with friends and family for Christmas, which was just around the corner.

Adding to the excitement was the upcoming Art Department’s famous and much-loved wrap party. Not surprisingly, the party theme that time around was ‘Amazonian animals’. Everyone began excitedly preparing their costumes.

On the evening of the party, the air was astir with contagious excitement as everyone frantically cut, sewed, painted and otherwise transformed themselves into animals and Amazonian Indians.

I became a spotted leopard. I made leather ears then painted the ears, my body, even my hair, all in leopard print using acrylic paint. I had a long heavy rope tail. I made whiskers of mono-filament line, which I attached to my face via my septum nose piercing. (I never knew that piercing would come in so handy!)

Art Department workshop - Survivor TV Show

Art Department workshop where our party was held

At the appointed time, we all made our way to the big event, held at the Art Department workshop on a barge in the middle of the Rio Negro. Soon the pier leading out to the barge was crammed with crazily-costumed giddy party-goers. Since we’d been working on production all through October, we treated the party as a belated Halloween bash.

The crowd was thick with jungle cats, birds, bats, Amazonian Indians and other creatures. A group of the art crew dressed as a football team called ‘Amazon Animals.’ Checking out everyone’s costumes all night was half the fun. Sadly, I have no photos of that fun event.

One of the art crew guys was also a dj. He thrilled us with killer dance music all night. The production treated us to open bar, which we took full advantage of. Needless to say, we all had a blast partying until early morning, when many of us stumbled off to bed in the dim dawn light.

Then suddenly our life in the Amazon came to a screeching halt. When I awoke the next day, our home at Ariau Amazon Hotel was eerily deserted and silent. Much to my amazement, nearly everyone had already packed up and left on a double-decked Amazonian boat down the Rio Negro to Manaus.

Ariau Amazon Tower – upriver from Manaus – Brazil

Two days later, I and the other Dream Team members and production crew caught that same double-decked river boat downstream to Manaus where we boarded flights home to all corners of the globe.

The show was over.

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You might also enjoy the other stories in this series:

Working Crew on Amazon Survivor Series

My Amazon River Cruises

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