The Amazon Jungle

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Leaving the highlands of Peru, we flew out of Cusco to the small town of Puerto Maldonado to our last stop in Peru - the Amazon Jungle and Basin. From Puerto Maldonado we took a mini-van for about an hour and a half across a rough dirt road through the verges of the jungle to get to the dock at which we boarded our motorized river canoe to make the roughly two hour trip upriver to our eco-lodge bordering the well regarded Tambopata Reserve.

The Tambopata river is one of the major tributaries that flows into the Amazon, so while it was a surprise to us that we weren't actually on the Amazon River (will have to go to Brazil to see that) we were definitely deep in the Amazon Jungle. The first thing that jumped out at me both on our way to and shortly after we arrived at the lodge was the difference in wildlife viewing between the Galapagos Islands and the Jungle - in the Galapagos, you literally have to watch where you put your feet to avoid stepping on the animals, as they are so numerous and unafraid of humans. Conversely, in the Amazon where the animals have been hunted and exploited for decades (or longer) you have to search them out very deliberately and even then they can be quite difficult to spot as they are so well camouflaged.

While we were at the lodge for a very short time - only one full day - we did manage to get quite a lot done in a short space of time. On arrival we went out for a hike around the lodge followed in the evening by a night walk during which we saw a fairly rare two toed tree sloth, an Amazonian tree snake and numberous spiders and other insects.

The next morning we set off (after dousing ourselves in 98.9% DEET insect repellent) to do a tour and hike around the Oxbox lake of Condenado. These lakes are formed when the river takes a different course and a small side lake is formed that quite often gets cut off from the main flow of water, except during times of flood. These Oxbow lakes then become ideal homes for many types of bird and animal life including Scarlet Macaws, Red & Green Macaws, Great Yellow Headed Vultures, Social Fly Catchers, Tapir (large beast with a small trunk - only saw its tracks) and Tarantula's (and many, many other insects).

On the way back to the lodge we spotted a group of Red Howler Monkeys in the tree canopy and spent some time watching them cavort and swing from tree to tree - it was very difficult to get a good shot of them as they were so high up, but hopefully you get the idea (they're quite big monkeys). I also believe that I saw a giant Anaconda, though this is not confirmed. While in the boat I saw a large, shadowy shape wedged against the river bank, but didn't think enough of it to point it out to the guide until later when we got back to camp and the other group announced they had seen an Anaconda - upon investigation it sounded very similar to what I had seen....DoooHH!!

That evening we went out to go Caiman (Alligator) spotting - while we were not disappointed, it would have been nice to find some larger than those we did find.

Despite the fact that our trip to the Amazon was short, it was very enjoyable - the eco-lodge was great (very relaxing), waking up to the sounds of the birds and other wildlife was very "back to nature" and we did get to see a good amount of wildlife - Capybara, Scarlet Macaw, Red & Green Macaw, Two Toed Sloth, Tarantula, Tree Snake, Red Howler Monkey, Great Yellow Headed Vultures, Social Fly Catcher, Piranha, Caiman, Tapir (tracks) and possibly the giant Anaconda - not bad for a 36 hour stop!!

The next morning we reboarded the boat (after packing our things into the red duffel bag for the final time - why did I bring a backpack again) to head back to Puerto Maldonado and Lima for one more Pisco Sour before saying goodbye to our new friends and heading off to Costa Rica.

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Photos

You Looking at Me
The curious Red Faced Howler Monkey couldn't work out why all these people in a boat kept looking and pointing at him....

Caiman at Night
This small species of Alligator is more active at night than during the daylight hours

Capybara
This is the world's largest rodent and it shares a "special" symbiotic relationship with this bird which is responsible for keeping it free of ticks and lice.

Amazonian Tarantula
Big, hairy and scary.....

Group on Tambopata River
Cruising down the Tambopata River on our way back to civilization....

Sam, Our Tour Guide
This is Sam, our tour guide hard at work (as usual)....

Hoffman's Two Toed Tree Sloth
This creature was very difficult to see.....