An adventure-loving Brit has told how he backpacked around South America - and ended up living with an Amazonian tribe.
Marwan, 26, spent five days hunting with the tribe, hiking through rainforest and even eating small crocodile-like caiman.
Marwan had been travelling in Costa Rica, central America, when he decided to fly down to explore Ecuador 800 miles away.
Whilst he was staying in a hostel in Tena, Ecuador, he bumped into a local who started chatting about the country's Waorani tribe.
The local said Marwan would be able to spend five days with the tribe so the pair set off on a nine-hour coach journey to Orellana, Ecuador.
He said the tribe welcomed him with "open arms" and he ended up hunting with them.
Marwan, from Wembley, London, said: "I didn’t know what to expect and I only seen them on tele. My first thought was that this is crazy. It was like being inside of a National Geographic programme.
“I was itching to try something new, I couldn't wait to go hunting and explore the forest."
After making the journey from Costa Rica to Ecuador, on the 2nd September 2024, Marwan spent the night in a hostel in the country's capital Quito.
He made friends with other travellers and got chatting to a local who knew members of the Waorani tribe.
Cost of the trip - £350 between three backpackers
Plane: $220
Transport: $90
Food: $25
Hostel: $16
Marwan, 26, spent five days hunting with the tribe, hiking through rainforest and even eating small crocodile-like caiman.
Marwan had been travelling in Costa Rica, central America, when he decided to fly down to explore Ecuador 800 miles away.
Whilst he was staying in a hostel in Tena, Ecuador, he bumped into a local who started chatting about the country's Waorani tribe.
The local said Marwan would be able to spend five days with the tribe so the pair set off on a nine-hour coach journey to Orellana, Ecuador.
He said the tribe welcomed him with "open arms" and he ended up hunting with them.
Marwan, from Wembley, London, said: "I didn’t know what to expect and I only seen them on tele. My first thought was that this is crazy. It was like being inside of a National Geographic programme.
“I was itching to try something new, I couldn't wait to go hunting and explore the forest."
After making the journey from Costa Rica to Ecuador, on the 2nd September 2024, Marwan spent the night in a hostel in the country's capital Quito.
He made friends with other travellers and got chatting to a local who knew members of the Waorani tribe.
Cost of the trip - £350 between three backpackers
Plane: $220
Transport: $90
Food: $25
Hostel: $16
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FunTranscript
00:00I spent a week living with a tribe in Amazon Rainforest and this is a day in their lives.
00:04This was my first full day there and I missed the morning catch but the leader woke me up
00:07at 7am to show me the dinner that he caught and insisted that I take a picture with it.
00:11While they prepared breakfast I went to get ready and checked on the monkey because I
00:14don't know about you but I was not feeling monkey for breakfast.
00:18After we ate breakfast they prepped us for our first catch, did a bit of target practice
00:22and off we went into the jungle.
00:23They basically told us that we have to wear boots just in case we run into any snakes
00:26and pray that we don't run into any jaguars.
00:29Anyway this is when they decided to tell us how they traditionally catch and I realised
00:32that I was worried about the wrong snake.
00:33They showed us the different trees they use to make unliving serum, anaesthetic, food
00:37and even perfume which actually smell really really good.
00:40We ran into so many blood ant colonies which apparently have some of the most painful stings
00:44in the world.
00:45The leader kept calling out to the animals and we decided to take a break when we found
00:53this natural jungle rope swing.
00:55We cleared out some trees to make some space for us to swing freely, made some upgrades
00:59to the swing and started playing Tarzan.
01:07We ended up swinging around for about an hour and then we decided to head back, have a shower,
01:11grab some lunch and get ready for fishing.
01:12We left straight after lunch to go fishing but the water was super murky so we ended
01:16up just chilling and swimming.
01:18Bro said he knew another spot but first the boat came to pick us up to go foraging and
01:21they took us to this natural banana farm.
01:23And honestly these were the sweetest and tastiest bananas I've ever had.
01:27Once we had enough we loaded up the boat, took everything back home, monkey check and
01:31then left to go to a new spot.
01:33They took us to a piranha lake in the jungle but we stopped on the way to make rods.
01:36Because I don't know about you but I did not want to swim with the piranha.
01:38I went to look for a spot by the lake and next thing you know I sink to my knees in
01:42quick mud.
01:43But the boys managed to get me out and we found a nice log to sit on.
01:45We caught one piranha but decided to call it because the flies and mosquitoes were horrible
01:48but the leader decided to treat us to some jungle pasta.
01:51We went home and rested up before heading out again to catch some caiman.
01:54We found this tepe and I think we blinded it with a torch because it ran into our boat
01:57and almost tipped us over.
01:59We let it go because it was too big and carried on the search for a caiman.
02:01We found a baby but let it go again and spent the next hour looking for its parent.
02:05We finally decided to go home and I was just about to go to bed and then the leader shows
02:08up with this.
02:21I don't know what to do.
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