Jungle is Massive

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Just made it back to Iquitos from our lodge in the jungle and had a brilliant time. The scale of everything is just beyond imagination, the main channel of the river itself must be over a Kilometre wide and the jungle is endless. Visiting in the dry season (only relatively speaking as it rained at some point most days) meant that the tributory that our lodge was on was quite low and the jungle wasn´t too boggy. Being such a large area of unbroken forest, it quickly became apparent that seeing wildlife is not so easy as the wildlife programs have you believe and it was going to require patience, luck and a lot of energy.

Each group was assigned a guide, and for better or worse Rach & Me were assigned the top man from the lodge, Moses, an ex-soldier born in the jungle, soon to be nicknamed Rambo amongst guests. The usual day consisted of 4 possible sessions (one before beakfast, morning, afternoon & evening). Most people did a selection of sessions, but Rambo was intent on sharing as much of his jungle knowledge as possible and show all the other guides to be novices, so our program was relentless.

His army background meant we were knocked up if we were a minute late to start and all his early morning sessions started between 5.45 - 6.30am to maximise the chances of seeing as many species as possible. In fairness , it was unbelievable how important he was to seeing anything as everything in the jungle is so camouflaged, we would probably have just stepped on monkeys rather than see them. His eye for anything that moved (or didn´t) was incedible which meant we saw a load of stuff the we wouldn´t have done otherwise. Activities included boat trips, swimming in the Amazon with dolphins, Piranha fishing, spear fishing, and various hikes including a 12 mile full day walk to a remote lake. In the end we managed to tick 126 species on the large list we were given at the lodge, but the highlight was to see the fresh tracks of a Jaguar and cub which got the adrenaline pumping (even though we knew that it is almost unheard of to see them due to size of range and their ability to avoid humans). We felt quite relaxed anyway as they are only likely to kill you if you are on your own (and Rambo´s machete was massive).

All in all, a cracking trip and a great insight into the Amazon and the people that live there, even though we both got eaten by the mosquitos despite hardcore repellent an inch thick.

We head back to Lima tomorrow and get a bus in the afternoon (20 hour trip) to the border with Ecuador for the last country before heading back to reality.

Ciao for now.

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Comments

[Dad]

Jungle is massive
It makes me feel tired just reading about your endurance test - or holiday depending on interpretation - but it sounds fantastic. Glad to hear that you filled in your work sheet with 126 sightings (out of how many?). Keep enjoying it and keep safe as its the last lap now and we can't wait to see you to hear all about it in greater detail. Dad P.S. Are you absolutely sure it was a Jaguar and not an Audi ?