"Glad to be out of the
woods. Are we there yet?" Yup. This is classic habitat for the giant Amazonian leech. These savannah swamps fill with one to four feet of freshwater in the wet season. Mark's already up to his knees; soon he'll be up to his waist, and so will you. Look at the bright side—your lower extremities will be unavailable to the bugs. Leech expert Roy Sawyer, who grew up in the swamps of South Carolina, wrote after coming here in 1975, "I had never experienced such intense attacks from mosquitoes and biting flies." Mark already has three to four dozen chigger bites; he'd show you, but they're in, he whispers, "the nether regions." Perhaps that's why he looks a bit uncomfortable. Or maybe he's just thinking about all the creatures in this swamp that can injure or kill a person.
