Kapawi - flora and fauna

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Hi - this is the last of the blogs from the rainforest (slightly out of order). Flora and fauna.

First the jungle was very green but there was little other colour which was unexpected. (I can hear Neil sharpening the keys of his keyboard for an acerbic comment along the lines of what an idiot I am, but I did expect a flower or two.) All the flowers etc. are up in the tree tops and so you only get to see them from the river (sometimes). Whilst treking through the jungle you can sometimes smell a sweet scent and that is a flower or flowers up in the tree although you can´t see them.

On the animal front we saw some great things although mammals are hard to come by. We saw some tracks of a wild pig but no sign of it otherwise. No jaguar, no puma - very disappointing. Birds we saw quite a lot of. Herons, toucans from a distance, flocks of Macaws, vultures, fly catchers, kites and some very pretty red birds (cardenals and masked scarlet tannigers). We saw the eyes of a cayman as it lolled in a lake in the forest - but short of sacrificing someone to it (which would have been very interesting provided it wasn´t us) there was no way of getting to see more.

Flying beasties there were a million of. We didn't get bitten too much but the harrassment was worse than the people trying to sell you things in the street in Cusco. We also saw a lot of ants. Every so often the guide would take great pleasure in pointing out a large black ant that was poisonous - one bite and you are in trouble, three bites and you are dead! Also every so often we would come across some army ants. At this point we would have to run through where they were and then check each others wellington boots to ensure that we didn´t have any on us. They are a bit aggressive with a very nasty bite.

The most impressive thing we saw was a school of dolphins in the river. We watched them for about ten minutes whilst they watched us. The most scary thing was around the building where we had dinner, there were huge bats swooping around us. The only bats I've seen in the UK have been teeny tiny ones. These had about a two foot wing span and whooshed by too close for comfort.

Anyway, promise thats the last thing on the jungle. Other boring topics instead from now on.

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Comments

[Neil]

Flowers
Some of those missing flowers bloom at night (to avoid being eaten during the day) and are bat-pollenated, so the two work well together. Not sure about the ants, though. Army ants are easily spotted, as they are green, hang around outside pubs in Catterick and pick fights with the locals. The head Army ant usually joins the Conservative Party to get a seat in the house of Lords. Hope you have lots of photos of the TRF - look forward to seeing them. Love N+D