The rains from last night lingered as low overcast clouds this morning.  This was the perfect weather for our walk in the Parque Nacional Amazonico.  This private park has many facets to appreciate:  pristine forest, diverse wildlife and a springy canopy walkway.  We started with a re-acquaintance to the tropical rainforest ecology.  Highlights along the trail included rubber trees with a residue of gooey latex clinging to the bark, a group of hundreds of caterpillars creating a huge furry mass, a yellow-billed jacamar and an anaconda with a suspiciously large bulge in its midriff region (indicating a recent meal currently in the digestive phase).

A favorite amongst everyone though is the suspended canopy walkway.  This positions us for a mid-canopy eye-view and an opportunity to walk with a quiet bouncing step through the forest.  On the catamaran ride back to the skiff landing, we found two batches of long-nosed bats roosting upside-down on the trunks of inundated trees.

The Delfin II was tied to a tree at the mouth of Nauta Creek or Caño just after lunch.  For those of us on the upper deck, the gray and pink river dolphins put on a frothing, frolicking show.  Areas where the black water of the forest creeks meet the white water of the river tend to be favorite spots for the dolphins to forage.  There was plenty of activity with a variety of dolphin body parts periodically sticking out of the water, including some contortionist move that made a dolphin pop up belly first.

In the afternoon, Nauta Caño was our destination, and activities included kayaking and skiff rides.  It was a very hydrating ride as the skies let loose with a gentle afternoon rain.  This didn’t seem to bother the two troupes of squirrel monkeys we observed, the 16 black-collared hawks we found or the elegant capped heron pictured here in our daily expedition report.

Our day ended with one more walk, a night walk in the forest.  Surrounded by the chirps, squeaks and rhythmic striations of the night denizens, we experienced a different appreciation of the rainforest, in the realm of sound.