Canoeing the Reserva Nacional Pacaya-Samiria

The Reserva Nacional Pacaya-Samiria of northern Peru is the largest seasonally-flooded lowland rainforest of the Amazon Basin. It is a massive wilderness area with large populations of rare wildlife. Our goal was to reach the reserve and view some wildlife from a canoe. Just getting there was an interesting trip in itself.

To reach the reserve, we started our Amazon journey at the Amazon port town of Yurimaguas--after a collectivo ride down from Tarapoto. It was quite eventful; we ran out of gas, skirted steep rainforest cliffs, and hit a mototaxi during a rainstorm.

In Yurimaguas, we arranged for a cargo boat to take us downriver to the small village of Lagunas, where we hoped to find dugout canoes and guides for visiting the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve. The boat carried cattle on the lower deck and had hammock space on the top deck. We reached Lagunas in the middle of the night.

In Lagunas, we hired two guides to take us downriver in a dugout canoe for 5 days...

Some of our animal sightings:
* Pink River Dolphin
* Black River Dolphin
* Giant River Otter
* 5 types of monkey (Brown Capuchin Monkey, White-fronted Capuchin Monkey, Common Squirrel Monkey)
* Brown-throated Sloth (3-toed)
* Two types of pit viper (Black Bushmaster & some sort of tree viper)
* Two types of alligator (Black Caiman & Common Caiman)
* Two types of Turtles
* Scarlet Macaw
* Blue and Yellow Macaw
* Tui Parakeet
* Great Egret
* Cocoi Heron
* Tiger Heron
* Vultures
* Hawks
* Toucans
* Jacana
* Muscovy Duck
* Woodpeckers
* Ringed Kingfisher
* Smooth-billed Ani
* And countless unidentifiable fish and insects

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