The Pitch for the Money

Ladies and Gents! Explorers and Armchair Explorers of All Ages! Adventurers in Spirit! Joyful Partners of Mystery and Discovery! Lovers of Uncharted Waters and Possibilities Only Hemmed in by the Limits of Imagination! And the Rest of Youse People, Too!

This is the official notice that Peter Gorman, explorer, journalist, and and so forth and so on is finally fully prepared to make his long awaited return to the Javari River, the no-man's-land border between Brazil and Peru. This will be Gorman's third trip in his own boat the full several hundred mile length of the river. It will be the first with his expedition partners Devon Wright and Matthew Haddock, long time associates who have spent a considerable amount of time on shorter expeditions in the Amazon with Gorman.

Purpose of the trip threefold: to record the changes that have occurred on the river since Gorman's last trip in 1994. Secondly, we will be collecting plants — herbarium specimens and live plant material — for two major botanical research institutes. And then of course, we're going in the hopes of discovering something new to the Western World. That is not entirely far-fetched, as years ago Gorman was gifted with a frog whose protective secretions are used by the local indigenous as medicine. Gorman's account of his first use of the medicine opened the door to the study of all amphibians as potential healing medicines to the Western World. Who knows what we might be gifted with on this trip if we keep our eyes sharp and listen carefully to the indigenous on the river.

Here is the thing: This is a fairly huge expedition. The entire team will come to 17-18 people, which includes a medical doctor, three people, including two indigenous Matses, who speak the various dialects spoken on the river, a videographer, a drone pilot, cooks, plant collecting assistants, guards to fend off river pirates, and the people needed to keep the engine running smoothly.

The trip is expected to last between 40-45 days and the costs of the boat, crew, fuel, food, and equipment is high. We need roughly $80,000, of which we have already raised $51,000. So we are looking to raise $29,000 in the next week or 10 days. Know someone who would love to have an emotional stake in this adventure? Pass the word. Friends with change buried in their couch? That works.

I know this is a tough one: It's Christmas time and a lot of us go broke making sure our kids and grandkids have lots of presents. And if there is a little left over, most of us have charities that could really use the money. But there are lots of people who could drop $10, $20, $50 or $1,000 on this trip and never notice it.

We'd certainly appreciate you passing this on, along with the official trip webpage, which has our budget, gift rewards, and lots of details, which is here: https://gormanexpeditions.com/