‘Brazil was asleep’: as the rains come, hope reawakens for the Amazon

As the clouds roll in across the Amazon there is reason to believe humans might participate in the annual revitalisation of life. Photograph: Jonathan Watts/The Guardian

Awe-inspiring storms roll in almost every night during the Amazon rainy season, replenishing the Xingu River and illuminating the night sky with jags of lightning.

This is a period when the forest swells with life. Lustrous pale green shoots burst from every plant, bustling the canopy upwards and outwards. At night, the volume rises a few decibels as a new generation of insects and frogs join the chorus of the dark hours. Even the howler monkeys’ otherworldly audio undulations last longer and reverberate louder.