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Published: October 21st 2008
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The pampas tour is the best chance for seeing animals, travelling by motorised canoe along the Rio Beni into the Yacuma grasslands. We´re told we´ll see caiman, turtles and snakes, capybara (the world´s largest rodent), as well as pink river dolphins, monkeys and birds. Now maybe I´m a little naive, but I just didn´t realise how teeming with life it would be. I was expecting to maybe see a couple of each animal at best, having experienced the patient and sometimes fruitless waits of Kenyan safari, but as soon as our boat sets off, it´s like we´ve wandered into the best zoo in the world, ever!
Caiman crocodilus, hundreds of them, stand like sentries all along the river bank: literally more of them than you can count. Some, looking like plastic models from Disney´s jungle river ride, stand completely motionless in the sun, smiling jaws agape. Others slide languidly into the water as our boat passes watching us closely with unblinking eyes, and bubbles tell of many more below the surface. It´s been said that in London you´re never further than a metre from a rat, well it´s caiman here, from babies to 2.5mtr males, they´re everywhere and they´ve got
us surrounded!
Turtles stack up together on logs like plates on a drying rack, straining their necks to the sun. As our boat passes the wake knocks them off into the water like dominoes.
Eagles soar overhead, and all along the bank assorted riverbirds from big white cranes to small bright blue kingfisher are catching their lunch, whilst crested birds of paradise sit in the trees. Jabirureally storks which look like a no less ugly cousin of the African Maribou, stand shoulder height in full hideous glory...a ragtag mix of crane, pelican and whatever scraps could be found at the bottom of the evolutionary genepool.
And the capybara; I´d heard of these giant rodents and had imagined some ratty creature the size of a spaniel, I wasn´t prepared to be charmed by huge hairy Moomins! With their dumb docile faces they are so cute, the babies bigger than a spaniel, the adults more the size of an old english sheepdog. As prolific as the caiman, they sit happily in the water, mud pools or on the the bank in family groups contentedly chomping on grass.
The sheer numbers and closeness of all these amazing animals is
overwhelming, I´m so happy I could cry.
The tour is excellent, our guide Juan Carlos is knowledgeable and clearly cares about the animals and environment. The lodgings are great too...simple huts built on stilts high up on the banks above a bend in the river, we can sit in hammocks watching and listening to the animals.
We wake early for a sunrise so beautiful it´s not even ruined by an American claiming loudly that we´ve all been reborn. Knob. We´re lucky though as our group of 6 is a good one: Kiran from Begium, Renate from Netherlands and Ben & Jen from England. We get on and the group bonds well...I wonder if they´d help if me and Ritch fall in amongst the crocs?! Back at the huts I watch about 20 bright yellow squirrel monkeys play in the trees behind our hut as I wait for an excellent breakfast that might just make it into my Bolivia food blog.
Later that day as we travel down river watching all those smiling snappers, it seems total madness that in minutes we will be jumping in to swim with the pink river dolphins. But that´s exactly what we´re
doing, Juan Carlos assuring us that the caiman keep away from the dolphins. I just hope he´s right and am suspicious of his position as he remains on the bank.
There are 6 dolphins in this deep section of the river and the 6 of us join them in the muddy water...if anything nasty is down there too, you wouldn´t see it coming. The dolphins play together and surprise us constantly with where they´ll next surface...the closest they come to me is about 2mtrs. They move too much to get photos, but we see them really close up...they are grey/pink with a long ridge above their nose...maybe not as pretty as their salt water cousins, but no less playful as they flip around us happily. I´m loving the experience and getting braver and ever further into the river until Kiran points out a caiman slipping into the water. My courage runs out and I return to the boat faster that you can say ¨I´m not a celebrity, get me out of here¨.
Finding anacondas on the bank and then a trip piranha fishing also makes me reflect that perhaps this wasn´t the wisest place for a swim...if the
dolphins keep anacondas, caiman and piranhas away then what do they know about river dolphins that we don´t?! Piranha fishing is apparently very easy...except for me it seems. Whilst all the others are pulling them out the water without even losing their raw steak bait, I set about feeding the fish 😞
On one ride up the river we all lounge on the boat stretched out with feet dangling over the edge, so relaxed we´ve become. Ritch is using the side of the boat as a neckrest when I spot the eyes and snout of a caiman snapping distance from the top of his head. My yelp of fear makes Ritch and the caiman jump out their skins and shows the caiman is plenty big and quick enough to handle Ritch´s head...that´s big! It´s funny how relaxed and secure you become in such an extreme environment. We witnessed a few times how fast the caiman move...most of them ignore you, but the odd rogue flips towards our boat with frightening speed. We also see the lightening fast snap of jaws as they catch fish. And at night, shining our torches from the boat, the light beams pick out hundreds
of them...given away by their eyes glowing orange.
This trip to the pampas has been such an enexpected bonus. All my thoughts had been of jungle and I´d initially dismissed visiting the grasslands. To think we might have missed this experience...the opportunity to see, so close up, so many different animals in such large numbers. We even come out with just a couple of mozzie bites despite out fears after tales of swarms of biting insects on the river. It´s been just incredible and I feel so lucky.
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joe
non-member comment
How very interesting
Enjoying very much your blogs of places I'm 99% sure I'll not be able to visit - what a gift you give.