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Published: July 14th 2007
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Now I see why they call it a "rain" forest! Whilst I was in the jungle it rained every day numerous times. Sometimes for five/six hours non stop. Its also hot so it gets very humid as a consequence. Once wet, its hard to get your clothes dry again. It is the wet season currently which in part explains why I experienced so much rain. The rivers where high and there was much flooding which I understand is usual.
I visited the Cuyabeno National Reserve which is a 12 hour bus ride East of Quito. It is a protected area of rainforest surrounding the Rio Cuyabeno. This river flows into the Rio Napo which itself flows into the Rio Amazon. The whole area is part of the broader Amazon Rainforest.
The Amazon rainforest is estimated to contain roughly 20% of the world´s freshwater. This sort of stacks up when you bear in mind that this rainforest is 6 million square kilometers in area, and has 1100 tributaries. Its the worlds largest tropical forest and is the most biologically diverse ecosystem with 20% of the world´s bird and plant species and 10% of its mammals.´
My trip was
an adventure right from the beginning. The bus departs from the Terminal Terrestre, the main bus hub in Quito and a notoriously dangerous place for robberies. You have to get there to buy your ticket one hour before departure, which means there is 1 hour to try and not get your stuff nicked or pickpocketed! As a back packer carrying 2 big bags you are quite a popular target, also bearing in mind when you are carrying 20kg of baggage you are not the fastest thing on two legs. Fortunately, all went smoothly enough. I boarded the bus and we set off on what was a long 12 hour bumpy journey in a rickety old bus. We set off at 9pm and arrived at a random bridge in the jungle with a small ticket office by it at just after 9 am the following day. We then took a 15 minute ride in a canoe to get to the huts that was to be our home for the next four days.
There were 8 of us that were put together in a small group. Two guys from the US (Josh & Yue), three girls from the US (Anita, Louise,
and Megan) and two Dutch girls (Agnes and Michelle). On our stay we did a number of jungle walks of between 1 and 4 hours. On these we checked out the local foliage and bugs etc, I tasted Lemon ants. Yep, you eat the live ants by licking them off the branches that they live in. Quite a sour taste - but not too bad. We went piranha fishing but caught nothing - nowhere near as many piranhas as in the Pantanal (Brasil). We also went Caiman (crocodile like animals) spotting at night and saw the smallest caiman I have seen on my whole trip at about 1.5 ft long! The theory behind going at night is that you shine a torch and it reflects in their eyes. Not so sure about this tactic myself!
The main part of our tour was a visit to the indigenous Siona tribe which lives deep in the rain forest. To get there we took the only possible means of transport, a big canoe with an outboard motor hanging off the back. Now our canoe was an old fragile hollowed out tree trunk with a small hole in it! Our driver kept bailing
out the back whilst steering. To me the idea of a 4 hour ride there, and 4 hours back, in piranha and croc invested water, deep in the jungle with no means of communication was less than ideal. But, there was no alternative. The scenery on the journey there was stunning. Everywhere is so remote and un-tounched its wonderful. We were very lucky to see 7 of the 10 different species of monkey that live in the area. It was amazing to see them jumping around from tree to tree above the river. We also saw snakes, kingfishers, vultures and got a very quick glimpse of a freshwater dolphin.
Meeting the Siona tribe was interesting. As you´d expect they lead a very simple life. They have small plantations of fruits and cocoa etc which they sell to other tribes and in markets that are a long way away.
Now the journey back was a wee bit scary to say the least. In addition to the old ricketty wooden tree truck of a canoe, the leak, the piranhas, crocs, we spent most of the journey in the pitch black night. Obviously there was no headlights, so our guide up
front flashed a torch so the driver at the back could dodge the many obstacles such as tree trunks in the water and over head branches etc. Now you also need to understand that the river system is complex, a bit like a delta, and quite how our guide could remember the route home in the day, let alone at night, is phenomenal. Every junction looks the same, especially in the pitch black! When we eventually got home, the beer tasted fantastic!
The journey home was an ordeal to say the least and I´ll cover that in a seperate blog entry.
All in it was a very enjoyable trip. The cockroach family that I discovered under my matress was a bit of a downer but apparently its not that unusual for them to make themselves at home after heavy rains!
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