Additional reporting by Tristan Wallace
A Kent documentary-maker has spent more than a month delving into the depths of the Amazon to capture some of the world’s rarest animals on film.
Andy Evans, from Gravesend, travelled through the Peruvian rainforest for five weeks, where he waded waist-deep in water to encounter extraordinary species, including the pink dolphin.
Andy spent more than a month exploring the depths of the Amazon
The 31-year-old set off on his journey at the beginning of April, inspired to show the “pristine” side of the ecosystem, rather than logging, forest fires and poaching often shown on TV.
Andy, who is also a freelance security engineer, said: “I went there last year for a two-week reconnaissance trip to look at what the area was like and what I could find.
“I saw that it was an area of the rainforest that is quite pristine and decided I wanted to highlight the good that is in the Amazon rather than us constantly seeing the bad.”
Despite relentless bites from swarms of mosquitoes, ants, wasps and spiders, he was able to have incredible encounters with endangered animals, including pink river dolphins.
Wildlife filmmaker from Gravesend, Andy Evans
Also known as the boto, they live only in freshwater in the Amazon and river basins in South America.
Looking back, he said: “It was crazy, I didn’t expect to see them. I didn’t on the first trip.
“This time we saw eight of them together and they surrounded our boat at one point.
“Luckily, we had the drone with us, and my assistant actually got in the water to try and get some underwater footage.”
During the expedition, the filmmaker also came across pygmy marmosets, the world’s smallest monkey, weighing around the same as a bar of soap at just 100 grams.
To reach them, Andy and his crew had to sail by boat through a flooded forest for an hour before reaching dry land, where they then had to lift and carry the vessel through the jungle.
He said: “It was just the four of us – our guide, the boat driver, my assistant and I, and we had to carry it on and off a few times.
“After that, we ended up where the pygmy marmosets were.
“We were about waist deep in the Amazon River, and we had to walk through the water to get to this particular tree just to get a glimpse of them.
“The whole trip was probably around an eight-hour day just for about a 15-minute encounter.”
Andy and his crew spotted pink dolphins which at one point surrounded their boat
Though some locals have reported not spotting one in over 10 years, Andy also saw an Uakari – very rare and elusive monkey known for their bright red and bald face. He saw one eight times during the trip.
Despite a few hiccups, including three of his hard drives getting corrupted, leading to a loss of over a week’s worth of footage, Andy called his expedition “amazing”, saying it “could not have gone any better”.
The documentary, Lungs – inspired by the term Lungs of the Earth often used to describe the Amazon – is set to release in January 2027.
Andy hopes the 40-minute film will encourage viewers to take an interest in wildlife and conservation.
The Pygmy Marmoset is the world’s smallest monkey
It will be submitted to various film festivals, and a showing at The Woodville in Gravesend is being organised. It will be published on his website after.
But his plans don’t stop there.
Andy, who quit his company job to become a self-employed security engineer, is hoping to continue his passion for capturing wildlife on camera.
It comes after he has been travelling the world since 20, visiting over 42 countries.
The filmmaker recorded for his documentary Lungs, set to release early next year
In September, Andy is heading to Sweden, where he will explore the country’s waterways and film the wildlife that live there, which most do not know much about.
A trip to Cambodia is also in the works for a documentary inspired by the Mekong River.