Recently, Bruno Roos took an all-day hiking trip with a few friends through the lush forests leading to the summit of Brazil’s Mestre Álvaro mountain.
Arriving to the top, where they’d planned to camp for the night, the group was rewarded with a stunning vista.
Instagram/bruno_.roos
“All the effort was worth it when we saw the view above the clouds,” Roos told The Dodo.
But that wouldn’t be the only thing to take Roos’ breath away on that trip.
Instagram/bruno_.roos
The next morning, Roos woke up early in his tent in hopes of taking photos of the sunrise cresting the distant horizon. His phone needed a charge, so he grabbed his flashlight to locate it in the pre-dawn dark.
That’s when he noticed something else — the fact that he wasn’t alone. There was someone just outside.
“The light from the flashlight hit the tent canvas, and the shadow of a spider appeared,” Roos said.
Here’s that moment on video:
Was it spooky? Yes, it was. But Roos knew the spider, identified as a Brazilian wandering spider with a span of over 7 inches, meant him no harm.
“I wasn’t afraid,” he said. “On the contrary, I like contact with nature.”
That said, to avoid accidentally hurting the spider as he moved in and out of his tent, Roos coaxed her onto a stick and relocated her to a safer spot.
Getty Images/Steffen Wachter
For Roos, encountering the spider was something special, akin to the view from the top of the mountain. It was an experience that had to be earned.
“Being that size, she’s a very old spider,” Roos said. “To get to the top [of the mountain], you have to walk several kilometers through dense forest, and the trail is narrow. That means that it has older wild animals [living undisturbed], like this spider.”
Instagram/bruno_.roos
Responsible camping practice is to leave no trace, taking only memories. And on that trip, Roos got his fair share.
“I love animals,” he said. “I take great care [with nature], and it always reciprocates.”
