It is our first day of exploration at the Upper Amazon. We are visiting Casual, a place where we found a wide biodiversity of animals and plants. To walk into the jungle is a unique experience; every step you find wildlife, from a little butterfly to a big anaconda. The trees are huge and tall and it is difficult to see the sky; each plant plays a very important role to the wildlife or even on the life of local people. You find some plants that are medicinal, some to build houses or boats. There are fruits for animals and people, and others are shelter and protection for some species.
At 8:00 a.m. we went to explore the jungle, with the leading of our fearless guides and some locals that are helping them to find creatures that are hidden in the greenery of the ecosystem. Wearing rubber boots on our feet we walked on land, suddenly from the vegetation came a local boy holding a big leaf, and on the top of it a big tarantula, they are not poisonous he said, with a big smile on his face. They also found frogs that are colorful and measure as the size of our fingernail, among other creatures. We were lucky that morning, we found a boa constrictor, an anaconda snake, and a baby sloth. Rubber trees are also interesting to see and to learn about the rubber boom few years ago in the Amazon, when synthetic rubber was not yet invented and the real source of this material was Mother Nature. Part of our exploration was under the clear sky, but then a heavy rain came. It is the rainforest and here it might rain virtually at any time, but it may not last a while.
In the afternoon we motored along the Marañon River for about three hours arriving to Yarapa, which is one of its tributaries. Here we went on our skiffs to explore along it. We spotted monkeys, several types of tanagers, kingfishers, herons, sloths, and some members of the raptors found in the jungle such as kites, hawks and falcons.
At the end we returned to our ship safe and sound, happy guests having had a great day in the jungle. And just it is the beginning of a great week. Every night our knowledgeable guides prepare a Recap session of what we have seen during the day, then our expedition leader explains the program regarding next day activities, then we enjoy dinner with local components and the food is just great.
