Yesterday our guests arrived to the ship late in the afternoon after traveling from Lima to join a Lindblad-National Geographic expedition in the Upper Amazon in Peru. We all went to bed after dinner dreaming about all the new adventures and experiences that this amazingly bio-diverse region of our planet will bring to our lives in this week’s expedition.
After breakfast we went for an introductory walk in the rainforest. After a short skiff ride we visited a “terra firme” forest in a place known locally as “Casual.” “Terra firme” is a term used in tropical ecology to describe a terrain that never gets flooded. In the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve, the largest flooded protected area in South America, most of the surface area is under water, therefore this kind of ecosystem is of great interest for our expedition. Along the trail our naturalists explained some aspects and details of the fascinating ecology of the rainforest of the Neotropics. Three native scouts came with us as well, their trained eyes helped us a lot in locating wildlife. Several rainforest creatures were spotted, including colorful poison arrow, a clown frog and even an anaconda snake - one of the most iconic reptile species of the tropics! We all had the thrill to observe these amphibians and reptiles that were admired and photographed.
As the day was getting hotter and humid, and we were sweating a lot as proof of it, we came back to the ship to have cold drinks and cool down with a well-deserved shower before participating in a couple of presentations. One was my introduction to the Amazon including many details about its geological formation and its overwhelming facts and biodiversity. The second talk was about the Pacaya Samiria Reserve.
After our mandatory emergency drill, the ship was repositioned to the confluence of the Marañon River and the Yanayacu River. In the afternoon, even though we had a constant rain at the beginning, we explored this area by skiffs. This outing was very successful as well, for we spotted a couple of three-toed sloths, several bird species as well including yellow billed terns, ringed and Amazon kingfishers, and several birds of prey like black collared hawks and yellow headed caracaras.
Our first day of our expedition on the beautiful Upper Amazon in Peru had a golden finale after dinner with lively music played by the talented ship’s band.
