Our journey in the Upper Amazon started by visiting two wonderful locations within the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve: Casual and Pucate-Yanayacu Rivers.
The Pacaya-Samiria Reserve is the largest protected floodplain in the Amazon basin, and it comprises approximately 8,300 square miles of mostly pristine forest. The Marañon and the Ucayali are their main rivers system, and they both are the mayor tributaries to the Amazon River. Our visit to Casual, this morning was full of nice surprises and encounters, as we got to walk in one of the terra-firma areas of this region.
Our enthusiastic group of naturalists was in charge of opening our eyes to the natural wonders of the forest by explaining this intricate ecosystem. It was during this morning walk that we got to see many different species of plants and animals, such as anaconda, giant spiders, frogs, lizards, and all sorts of giant trees scattered along the trail.
Later in the afternoon, after a well-deserved nap, we headed out on our skiffs to explore the Pucate-Yanayacu River area, where many more species of birds were sighted.
The weather played a nice role during this afternoon, as the wonderful light on the horizon make the clouds look on fire. As we stopped the skiffs in the middle of the river to observe the sunset, we could not help but to comment how fortunate we all were to enjoy such a wonderful view in one of the most remote areas in the Amazon, under the comfort of our nice little ship, the Delfin II.
This trip has just started but we already have seen so much that we’ve all found ourselves wondering what else is there to see. The answer, of course, will come with the many more days we have to enjoy the mighty Amazon!
