Peru Day 5

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22nd September

Although we were afforded a relative lie in, we were woken by the dawn chorus, and breakfast was at 7.30am.

We had picked to visit Gamitana Creek which is a waterway that flows into the Madre de Dios river. Packed lunch was provided, and we had a half hour boat trip to reach the mouth of the creek which was our starting point.

We followed a really narrow trail for 3.5km, with palms and trees that overhung the trail. Our Guide led the way, machete in hand, to clear a path for us to follow her through the forest. The palms at the start were all those that produce varieties of the Bird of Paradise flower. This was our most challenging day so far, as the temperature was over 35 deg, and the trail was not used very often so was quite overgrown.

We almost had a slight disaster, when Karina stopped dead in the middle of the trail, and we all nearly ran into each other. Karina carefully with her machete moved a Thorny spider, and its web, to one side which had been stretched across our path. The spider had a blue colour to it and was poisonous, and whilst its bite wouldnt kill you, it would certainly make you ill.

Further along the trail, we heard lots of squarking from above in the trees, wich Karina identified as macaws. It was quite difficult to spot them at first, but our Guide was excellent and found a place where we could all see them. Our Guide showed us a burrow hole which by its shape, she could tell had been made by an armadillo. She showed us a clearing in the undergrowth which a quail had used as a dust bath, and a good example of a fire ant tree which had no other vegetation growing round its base.

When we reached the end of the trail, we were greeted by two locals used by Inkaterra to assist us, one in a motor boat, and one in a canoe. They had brought with them cold flannels, and then offered us a cold beer, which we gratefully accepted.

We got into the canoe and were paddled downstream. At the halfway point, we stopped to stretch our legs, and there was a rope swing out over the creek. Russ insisted on having a go. We continued down the creek, and saw lots of butterflys on the banks taking in the salt from the mud. We even had a couple of hitchhikers of our own.

Not far from the rope swing, our Guide spotted a dwarf cayman under a log which as we tried to get closer flicked its tail and swam off.

Back at the start of the trail, we had our packed lunch, and the Lodge had provided everthing including a tablecloth, mustard and even salt and pepper.

Karina then took us round the Lodge farm, where all the fruit it grows is used by the Lodge kitchen. We were able to see lemons, limes, papaya, pineapples, two sorts of bananas and star fruit. We also tried sun dried bananas which are a local snack.

We returned to the Lodge for a cold shower and an unwind before we were meeting for the nocternal trail walk. The walk was close to the Lodge, and was actually a little disappointing. We had a different Guide who seemed to rush us a little. We did however see bats, a rat and couple of chicken spiders, which are big and hairy.

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Photos

Big Bug
This was on our Room number as we left our Cabin

Fire Ants
This Tree was crawling with them.