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Published: August 6th 2007
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This was such an amazing day! It began with an early start for breakfast. Considering the lack of electricity we were really spoilt by the quality and variety of delicious food they provided. Our first activity of the day consisted of a 5 k walk through the jungle to the oxe bow lake, where a family of giant otters live. Armed with wellies we set off. The walk was perfectly flat but was pretty tough due to the humidity and the constant cloud of mosquitoes that hover around your head. Despite the boiling heat, you have no choice but to wear long sleeves as they stop you being eaten alive!
The walk was fantastic! As you can see from the pictures, the thick jungle hosts some of the most colourful flowers we have ever seen. We saw so many different species of insects of all different shape and sizes. Gino was hilarious upon spotting all the different ants (though obviously not all as there are over 800 in total), he spoke with such affection for the tiny creature that he picked up. He didn’t seem to mind that it ripped a chunk out of his skin. Neither of us had
ever seen so much blood caused from a tiny ant!
What was really amazing was the way Gino could talk with various birds. He would create the noise and a few seconds later we could hear the birds responding. A favourite moment was when a family of small monkeys came towards us. One of our group spotted one and suddenly there was about twenty all around us. What they wanted was some food. Luckily one of our group had a banana in her bag and we were all able to feed the monkeys.
When we arrived at the lake we took a boat round part of it. There were six in our group and the two big, strong men rowed! (Dom and Gino) We weren’t fortunate enough to see the otters as they are very shy. We did however see some amazing Hoatzin birds. They are similar to a pheasant apart from a very exotic skirt shaped tail and colourful crown. We also stumbled upon a family of large howler monkeys. These were highly entertaining as they clearly were not comfortable with our presence. We edged closer to them and instead of disappearing they started to urinate and
Kanya Kanya flower
This plant is actually used as a nest for ants. The flower and the ants have a symbionic relationship, the ants protect the flower and the flower provides a home. drop faeces around our boat. This was a defence mechanism to make us go away! On the walk back Dom was feeling very peckish. Much to the disgust of the other girls in the group, Dom and Gino stumbled upon a termites´nest. Gino broke in to it and the two of them ate a delicious starter!
After a much needed lunch there was a choice between resting and going to see a local house and their way of life. Seen as we wouldn’t be visiting the Jungle again in a while Dom and I went a long with a couple of others to the house. You couldn’t really call it a house. It had one bedroom with an open plan kitchen and no bathroom. Unfortunately the family was not at home due to bad health. What was really interesting for us was following the path the family would take everyday to earn their living. We learnt about the various exotic fruits they gathered to sell, including coffee and cocoa beans. We were then led to the largest tree in South America! It was absolutely enormous and over 700 years old. This tree had spiritual meaning for the local people,
who often visited it to pay it homage. They believed it protected them and gave them good weather.
In the evening at about 7 o’clock we all went on a night time watch for Caimans (a small type of crocodile). They come out at night and are spotted by their eyes that shine very bright red in the spot light. We saw at least three or four but unfortunately for us, we were always on the wrong side of the boat when we got close so we never actually got to see their bodies. Other people say they saw them though. I guess we’ll see a fair few in Australia and New Zealand though. On the way back to the lodge the boat was left to drift without the motor so we could listen to the sound of the Jungle. It was really awesome!
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rrruss
Russ Pearce
Great Photos
Great blog. I am disappointed I didn't get to do this trip. It looks fantastic. By the way, I think the unkown flower is known as patuju in Bolivia. Russ