Our first full day in the Upper Amazon started by visiting a small tributary called Pahuachiro. This caño, as tributaries are known locally, gave us the introduction that we needed to understand the complex ecological system of this region in the Upper Amazon.
Even though it is not my first time here, the number of mini-ecosystems found everywhere you look would never cease to amaze me. The giant trees along the river are home to many plants and animals that, without them, would never be able to survive.
Birds were not only jumping from branch to branch, but crossing the river constantly, giving us a great view of their flying techniques. Every bird species has a special pattern when flying, and it was fun to try to identify them in flight.
It didn’t take too long until we found our first monkeys! It was a joy to see a troop of squirrel monkeys and their incredible acrobatic jumps, as if they had calculated perfectly the distance and the type of movements they should take to reach the next branch. As we followed them along the river we noticed a dark “blob” at the top of a tree, and we quickly realized that it was a three-toed sloth. He seemed to be in full “sloth mode” as there was no movement from his part, but it was still great to find it as they have such an adorable look.
Our ride continued to encounter more species of birds, and at some point, we decided to turn-off the skiff’s motor to be able to fully appreciate the sound of the jungle. Indeed the experience gave us an array of sounds we were not familiar with, and also the opportunity to fully appreciate the beautiful surroundings.
After breakfast we visited a nearby trail known as Casual, which gave us the terra-firma perspective of the forest. It was great to walk among giant trees and plants with incredible adaptations to survive in such harsh conditions. We learned the properties of some medicinal plants, and received a treat from the locals, as some of them started to appear from within the jungle with animals that we would have never seen on our own. Locals from the nearby villages take great pride in showing the animals that co-exists with them, so we were lucky that they found tarantulas, snakes, and even the famous poison dart frogs!
For our afternoon, we navigated up the Marañon River to an area known as Yanayacu-Pucate. It was here that our second skiff ride of the day gave us many more sightings of birds, more monkeys, and the beautiful sunset we were hoping for to end our first successful day of exploration in the Upper Amazon!
