PAUL Marshall is pretty pleased with the "rainforest" he and his team have created at Manor Heath nurseries in Halifax.

The fascinating Jun-gle Experience has been a regular feature for many years at the Savile Park moor nurseries but it's only in recent weeks that estates manager Paul has come to realise just how authentic it is.

At the end of last year, Paul and his wife, Margaret, took a once-in-a-lifetime trip to a real rainforest, where he encountered hot and humid temperatures, exotic wildlife, torrential downpours, rivers filled with flesh-eating piranhas and even a tarantula in the toilet block.

He may now be back at work and the delights of Ecuador and the Amazon Basin thousands of miles away, but at least, to some extent, he is still in the jungle.

"The day I came back to Halifax it was dark and drizzly so I went straight into the jungle area and it struck me how it really did smell and feel like the real jungle. There was a shaft of light just falling over the pond and I thought 'aren't we lucky to have this here in Calderdale'.

Paul joined Manor Heath eight years ago.

He always wanted to travel to the rainforest but Margaret took some convincing.

"We started travelling about five or six years ago. Before that it had been caravan holidays with the kids. But we decided to do something more exotic. We've had cruises to the Antarctic and South America, seen the land of the Midnight Sun and then it was me who suggested the Amazon basin. I don't think the idea of the jungle at first appealed to Margaret but she loved it."

The couple flew to Quito, in Ecuador, the second highest capital city in the world.

From there they saw the giant tortoises that make their home in the Galapagos Islands, the magnificent Bella Vista Cloud Forest, to the east of Quito and then on to Coca, where they sailed on a river boat along the Napo River, a tributary of the Amazon.

"The sunset was magnificent and once we had moored up our guide said we'd be going for a walk in the jungle. We all said 'What? In the dark?'
"We got into canoes with just a torch for light before the guide said to turn them off. It was amazing what you could make out once your eyes adjusted and the noises were even more distinct, a constant croaking of the jungle frogs, the hoot of owls and the sound of a rare fish-eating bat chirping as it flew above the water."

The trip has inspired Paul to bring some new ideas to Calderdale's Jungle Experience.

"We have always grown the tropical bromeliad plants here but in the jungle I saw them growing naturally out of tree trunks from which they take all their nutrients. That's something I'd like to try here."

Paul says global warming has given planting a new twist. "We can grow things here now which wouldn't have survived some years ago. The planet is definitely warming up. The crocuses on Savile Park are a good yardstick to use. When I first came to Manor Heath eight years ago they used to flower at the end of March but they're in full bloom now," he says.

"The polyanthus are also nearly in full flower."