Amazon Jungle 17th - 18th June 2009
Trip Start
Dec 28, 2008
1
73
90
Trip End
Jul 25, 2009
Puerto Maldonado, Madre de Dios, Peru
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
After a few hours kip we were up at 6am to shower and pack our bags for 3
days in the jungle. We met down stairs for breakfast at 6.45am and
waited for our transfer to the airport at 7.30am. We flew from Cusco,
high in the Andes, to Puerto Maldonado, deep in the lowlands of the
Amazon jungle. The flight was only 35 minutes so we landed at 9.40am
where we met our tour leaders, and then went by mini bus to the
office.
After a 1 hour drive from the office to the port, we traveled by motorised
canoe to our lodge in the Tambopata Rainforest area, which holds the
world record for the most bird sightings in one area. The journey
down the river took 3 hours, stopping to spot different wildlife on
the way and eating lunch from a large leaf. We arrived to the lodge
at 3.15pm, choose some wellington boots, checked into our rooms and
then had a briefing before going for an hours walk through the
forest.
About half of Peru is located within the Amazon basin, however, due to its
isolation, not a lot of it is available to the casual traveller.
Puerto Maldonado is the region's principle city and is situated at
the confluence of the Madre de Dios and Tambopata Rivers, and is a
bustling, booming tropical frontier town.
During our afternoon walk we spotted different bird species typical of the
river and forest edge, such as Black Skimmers, Pied Lapwings, Capped
Herons, Jabiru Storks, Roadside Hawks and several species of
kingfishers, swallows, parrots and flycatchers. The area is renowned
for its diverse plant and animal population and include over 1300
bird species (including 32 parrot species – 10% of the worlds
total), 200 mammal species including 4 species of primates, 90 frog
species, 1200 butterfly species and 10,000 species of higher plants –
all protected within the reserve. Some of the more famous residents
are the Harpy Eagle, the prehistoric looking Hoatzin, Tapir, Peccary,
Jaguar, Ocelot and playful river otters who live in the area's oxbow
lakes.
The lodge was much greater than we expected and combines native
architectural style and materials with low-impact eco-friendly
technology. The rooms were simple but comfortable, with mosquito
netting for each bed, flush toilets, cold showers, kerosene lamps as
no electricity and only 3 walls. The 4th wall opens out on
to the forest to make you feel more at one with the jungle ,
surroundings and its residence. After our walk we took an afternoon
nap from 5.30pm to 6.45pm, ready for tea at 7pm. The food was buffet
style and was always really good, we got to try a few traditional
dishes.
After tea we went Cayman watching at 8pm down the river with just our
torches. We managed to spot a few which was really cool and then
returned to the lodge at 9.15pm and went to bed at 10pm.
18th June 2009
Early wake up call at 4am for other group around us was not much
appreciated, we managed to get back to sleep just before our wake up
call at 5.15am. We walked to the canopy lookout tower, climbed all
the way to the top for a panoramic view over the rainforest. We were
lucky enough to spot 2 different species of Toucan, a Scarlet Macaw,
white breasted parrot and a blue head parrot along with a bird of
prey and many other species of birds. We returned to the lodge for
breakfast at 7.30am and then had 30 minutes to relax before part two
of the morning.
At 8.45am we set off on a medicine trail, to learn about the forests
extensive practical uses for medicinal plants and resources. We tried
some of the natural medicines and learnt how they were used. During
the walk we spotted Dusky monkeys and watched them play for a while,
before continuing on to the next part of the tour.
We caught a boat across to the other side of the river to a fruit farm,
where we had a tour, tried some different fruits, sugar cane and
herbs. After the tour we returned to the lodge for midday, had a cold
shower which was really refreshing after the hot humidity of the
jungle and then went for lunch at 1pm. Our next activity wasn't until
3.15pm so we had an afternoon nap before.
We set off on a 40 min walk to an Oxbow lake, which took us 1hr 20 mins
as we kept stopping to spot different wildlife. We crossed the lake
to see some trees, but with it getting dark we had to rush, however
we got stuck trying to turn the boat around on the lake to head back.
By the time we got back across the lake it was very dark, we used our
torches to walk back through the forest, making it all so much
scarier.
On the walk back our guide pointed out a forest tarantula and a cross
between a spider and a scorpion, none of which we really wanted to
see when walking in the dark!! We made it back just in time for tea
at 7pm, and enjoyed a drink or two before another cold shower,
however this time sharing the shower with a rather large frog. After
an early start and very tiring day it was an early night at 9.30pm
for all.
