Amazon, Peru

Just five minutes after setting off in our dug out canoe our guide spotted a sloth and a pigmy monkey. After all this is why we came to the Amazon basin - to see the wildlife.

After arriving in Iquitos and realising that the options for tours in the jungle were either an ecological amazon experience in tents or the more upmarket lodge, we chose the tents within the Yarrapa Reserve of the Amazon. (On first arrival, we wondered why as the two layers of insect repellent didn't seem to deter the squillions of mosquitoes at our camp.)

On with the story. Our campsite is on the edge of the Ucalyali River - where the Amazon is born. It is nearing the end of the wet season so the river is high and is flowing rapidly. Our campsite is an open air gazebo style construction, thatched roof, no walls, wooden floors about 10 feet off the ground. On the floor are mattresses with mosquito nets suspended in a coffin-style about 4 foot high and the right length. These were our beds for 4 nights. Hammocks strung around the outside of the building and another building semi-covered in gauze is the dining room.

Our guide was at our service. Ricardo, an extremely knowledgeable local and, a young boy from the campsite, Gem, paddled us on 2-3 excursions each day varying from 1-3 hrs through some lakes, backwaters, rivers and the flooded jungle to experience not only the fauna and flora but the daily routine of the native village communities.

Some highlights of this experience:

Coming face to face with a three toed sloth. From the river we spotted a green iguana and a sloth high up in the trees. Gem shimmied up the tree, braking the branch the sloth was on and brought it back to us still sitting in our canoe at the bottom of the tree (See photo). The iguana watched on undisturbed.

As we watched the pink dolphins diving and breaching around our little canoe on a lake, we could hear a troup of monkeys screeching in the forest nearby. We paddled over to see two varieties - the wooly monkey and the monk saki monkey. We had some fruit for our excursion so we were able to feed the monkeys and we exchanged primordial glances.

Moving on a little further down the river we heard the sound of toucans and macaus. Our guide drifted toward these beautifully coloured, raucaus and spectacular birds. The toucan put on an inviting display for us as we watched, cameras poised to click.

Then there were the night excursions. We have to say that the adranalin was really pumping as we weaved our way through the tarzan-like jungle, spotlights searching trees and leaves for tarantulas, insects, frogs and at the same time not being able to touch a thing as most vines and trees had spikes or prickles that would leave one torn to pieces. The noise at night is piercingly loud from the insects and frogs.

One night was set aside for spotting caiman. We were not disappointed as Ricardo spotted a 40 cm alligator, caught it from the canoe, and each of us held it, stroked it and photographed this one year old reptile. Another evening we were having dinner when a yell came from Ricardo in the bush. We rushed to see him tackling a 1mtr caiman in the creek next to our camp. Again we photographed, handled and returned it to its surrounds.

Another excursion took us by foot into the jungle in its intenseness. Our gumboots served us well as we tramped through the thick rotting undergrowth and stopped to observe the life of the leaf cutting ants, spotted frogs and to simply smell the denseness of an almost inpenetrable landscape.

Oh, we must tell you about the piranha fishing sometime.

The jungle is filled with various soundtracks at different stages of the day and night. In particular the evenings would begin with the many birds nesting and the screeching and whistling that brings. This was followed by the symphony of frogs and insects that at times was deafening but beautiful.

Back at the camp, life got better as after a day of rain the mosquitoes seem to disappear - well almost. However, the fake coral snake on the edge of the river that greeted us after night excursions put some of us on edge. The daily cleansing process was a dip in the river, or a bucket, the food was ordinary and we meet some interesting ´young´ people from Denmark, Australia, China and Norway.

The jungle has filled all our senses and this experience will carry with it many memories. Our next adventure, tomorrow, is the beginning of a 5-8 day trip down the Amazon into Brazil.

Following is a list of all the moving creatures we saw - if your interested:

Woolly monkey, squirrel monkey, pigmy marmocet monkey, night monkey, monk saki monkey, common squirrel monkey, dusky titi monkey, yellow tailed wooly monkey, three toed sloth, ocelet footprint, fishing bat, mosquito eater bat, pink dophin, grey dophin, common or white caiman, great anaconda, green iguana, giant false viper, common lancehead snake, coral snake.

Spotted tree frog, rough skinned tree green frog, horned frog, three striped poison frog,

Black banded leporinus, common hatcherfish, sardine, tiger charicin = baracoota, red bellied piranha, slender piranha, fruit eating piranha, emerald catfish

Firefly, leaf cutter ant, horsefly, termites, bullet ant, fire ant, blue morpho butterfly, wandering spider, pink toed tarantula.

Wattled jacana, yello billed tern, cocoa heron, great egret heron, tiger heron, ringed kingfisher, hoatzin, smooth billed ani cuckoo, great ani cuckoo, black collared hawk, slate coloured hawk, yellow headed caracara = falcon, flycatcher, blue gray tanager, red cap cardinal, ari cardi toucon, blue and yellow macau, scarlet macau, military macau, undulated tinamou, tropical king bird, white and blue swallow, brown common swallow, fork taked swallow, hummungbird,

Courtesy of our guide Ricardo Padilli and his assistant, Gendrani Gonsales from the Ecological Jungle Trip.


PS Him Tarzan, me Jane