As the morning light broke through the sky early today, it revealed the calm waters of the Marañon River and its dense forest in the distance. We are currently visiting the northern limits of the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve, taking advantage of one of the very few places available for hiking. This place is known as the Amazon Natural Park, though it could not be further from the concept of what a “park” means to us.
As we disembarked, we found ourselves immersed in pristine, primary forest and surrounded by giant trees. After crossing a lake via “local catamaran”—two canoes tied together—we started our walk in a forest covered by foliaged-dense canopy. Although sunny above, the walk was pleasantly done under the shade of the trees surrounding us, and it didn’t take too long until we found a troop of Saddle-backed monkeys searching for food.
We then started along the second portion of the trail that consisted in a series of hanging bridges—a canopy walk. There were nine of them of different lengths and heights, and they provided us with nice views from above.
The weather was very nice, but the Amazon is always hot and humid, so after our hike we were ready to head back to our comfortable ship for some rest time and lunch.
As soon as we were back aboard, we moved the ship to a location known as Nauta Caño. Our options for the afternoon were kayaking or a nice skiff ride up on the creek. As expected, kayaking was the popular choice…the idea to paddle along the riverbank listening to the sounds of the forest was very appealing. For the rest of us the ride on the skiffs was a chance to learn more about the forest and its intricate ecosystem, to take pictures of the abundant photo opportunities, and for the eager birdwatchers aboard to add quite a few new species to their memory databank!
