Blogs from Amazon Rainforest, Puerto Maldonado, Madre de Dios, Peru, South America - page 5

After going bird mad when Gary the birdwatcher was here a couple of weeks ago, we have since changed our recent mania to herptiles (reptiles and amphibians) due to the arrival of a rather mental Swiss herpetologist called Conrad Mebert PHd. He is really a genetecist back home, but evidently has enough money to go on a mad snake frog spree in the Neotropics, catching as many things that creep as possible and taking photos of them. We went out numerous nights in swamps and on trails and came back with backpacks full of snakes and frogs for him to photograph. We also took a fair few, and these are on the blog. We´ve also been to carnival, which takes place every sunday of February in puerto and where people can throw water and paint at ... read more

Hola los todos!! As we arrived by plane to Puerto Maldonaldo via a short trip - 45 mins, we quickly saw the canopy of trees covering the earth. And yes there was the RIO winding continuously throughout the jungle. We stepped off the plane expecting the slam of humidity and heat, yet it wasn´t that bad at all. The airport building was open air, we loved that it was very small and unassumming. Outside the taxis were 3 wheeled motorcycles with a bench seat in the rear. Our flight was late so we had to wait a bit for our transport. Then our open air safari-like bus appeared and took us through the city of Puerto Maldanaldo- that was an experience in itself. There are 2 rivers that come together at PM- Tambopata and Madre de ... read more

1/8 We got up early this morning to try and see the famous clay lick that the TRC is known for. It then began pouring rain. After getting up at 345 to see them, we watched the clay until the boat came back instead of the birds. That was the only rain we suffered, for which we´re really lucky during rainy season! On the walk to the clay lick, we saw a tarantula which we later visted twice more. Very scary looking. We also scared and smelled an armadillo, without actually seeing it. Tarantula- http://www.enjoyperu.com/multimediagallery/photos/img/puerto-maldonado/tarantula.jpg Clay lick- http://peru-travel.com/Hotels/trc_lodge_tambopata/Tambopata_Research_Center10.jpg That afternoon we took a hike, starting to use the cumbersome tall rubber boots provided by the lodge. We got to see a very rare mammal, the black tayra, which looks kind of like a river otter. We ... read more

Hi Just to let you know we are having a great time and seeing loads of animals. We work in the rainforest every day and get free run of the jungle. We have pet macaws (one nice and one evil) and can hear the howler monkeys every morning. If you would like to get in touch you can write to us : Explorers Inn Fonavi H-15 Puerto Maldonado Madre de Dios Peru (the one i sent out in the first email to some of you is spelt wrong) Unfortunately we will be able to get to the phone and the internet very rarely as lightening hit the satelitte at the lodge 4 weeks ago and I doubt it will be fixed any time soon. We can only use the internet when we come to Puerto Maldonado, ... read more

Hello everyone, Apologies for the delay, its been a very busy couple of weeks on the tour and so its been difficult to get anywhere near a computer for more than 1/2 hour at a time and then impossible to find one thats capable of downloading photos! So this message is an amalgamation of the Peru trip... I hope I explain it all OK! So, its been a busy couple of weeks! So from Nazca we continued South to Puno and Lake Titicaca, we spent the day hiking around a smaller island on the lake and being shown the local traditions, (which included the men showing us their knitting!!.. traditionally women weave and men knit on the islands) before travelling to Talique island where we stayed with a family there. Walking into the family´s house was ... read more