Looking for Lake Edib T e following morning, Star Boy and I set out into the forest. We were overloaded. I carried my cameras, photo aquarium, gill nets, dip nets, and all the odds and ends I knew I’d need in the fi eld. Star Boy carried the traps, our food supplies, and my 20-liter jug of ethanol for preserving fi sh. We did not bring “nonessentials," such as tents, sleeping bags, towels, or a water fi lter. Shortly aſt er leaving the village, rain began


to fall. For the rest of the day, we hiked through the rain forest in the rain. Aſt er a long day, Star Boy and I spent the night in a hunting camp. We huddled for warmth around a meager fi re until morning came. It was still raining. T e next day, I fi nally got my fi rst view of


Lake Edib from the crater rim. It was beautiful. It was tucked into a rocky crater, surrounded by forest. T e lake was shrouded in mist. T e terrain was so overgrown, we had


to hack our way down into the crater. At the bottom, we found ourselves blocked by elephant grass. It was taller than I am. As we pushed our way through the swampy grasses, the water level began to rise. First, it topped our rain boots, then our belts. Before long, we were chest-deep in the water. Finally, we reached the edge of open water and pushed the grasses aside to get a view of the lake itself. T e water was black and still. I couldn’t


have been more excited. I reached out and touched the water. I watched the ripples spread out across the lake. I was the fi rst scientist to sample this lake. I turned back to get my gear to begin. But when I looked down, I realized I was covered with leeches! Star Boy and I knocked the blood-sucking


slugs off our legs. We helped each other remove any other leeches we found. It was nasty, but at least we got them off of us. T en it hit me: I hadn’t begun my sampling


yet. I would be spending the next week at Edib, getting in and out of the water, and dealing with those nasty leeches. I suddenly became much less excited about sampling Lake Edib.


22 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER


Sampling the Lake For the next week, we searched for fi sh. I used traps, dip nets, cast nets, and gill nets. I placed my traps around the lake edge and threw my cast net from the banks. T en I waded into the outlet stream and worked the vegetation with my dip net. T ere were no boats or canoes at Edib.


So I swam my gill nets across the lake and checked them twice a day wearing my mask and snorkel. I spent three days scraping the banks and lakebed to study the insects living in or near the lake. I collected hundreds of creepy crawlers. Of course, every time I went into the water, I came out with a fresh coat of leeches. We camped on the lakeside, in the marsh. It


rained every day, and it rained most nights. We had nothing to eat except dried cassava, sugar, and peanuts, all of which ran out by the fi ſt h night. We spent all week working, but we didn’t catch a single fi sh. Not one. It turned out Lake Edib was fi shless. T at’s bad news for a guy who studies fi sh.


WORDWISE


aquatic invertebrate: small animals, such as insects, crustaceans, mollusks, and worms that live in water


crater lake: a body of water fi lling a circular, steep-sided volcanic crater


ichthyologist: a person who studies fi sh speciation: the formation of new species


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24