Flies and Flying

As much as it's fun getting up close and personal with the trees with a ladder and a tape measure, it does take some time, and there are a lot of trees in Gabon...

So, in order to gather data over a much wider area, FODEX have an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), or drone, that flies over the canopy with an on-board laser scanning system. 

This video attempts to show in 3 minutes the whole process, from unpacking the boxes at the start of the day through to the triumphant landing. Thankfully, the flies seem to like the camera lens just as much as they did our faces- adding a nice touch of realism to the footage!