It’s an amazing feeling when one sets a foot at the river bank and at the same time one is at the foot of giant trees. Some few steps forward and it seems like the jungle swallows us. It is possible to hear the songs of the insects and birds all around there is no quiet moment in this world of creatures, trees, palms and vines.
This was our first outing in the Amazon rainforest. We had great expectations as we explored the trail. Suddenly one of our guides approached us to show a young anaconda! As we continued our walk we were marveled to see the diversity of life forms regarding plants of all sizes. Now underneath the trees with dim light we saw another of our local guides walking towards us to show a red tailed boa! Then, a tarantula and many other creatures of the forest. this half mile walk was just amazing wit so much to see and photograph.
In the afternoon we explored another location close to the Marañón River. This is one of it’s many tributaries and it is called Yanayacu. In the local language it means black water. Here, the first creatures you find are river dolphins, this is our first encounter with these enigmatic creatures! Locally there are many stories about river dolphins, one of them is about the dolphin turning into a handsome white man with blue eyes that comes to the villages and seduces young ladies! There are stories for almost every creatures and giant tree.
As we explored the floating grasses and secropia trees along Yanayacu River we had the first sightings. There were exotic creatures such as the black collared hawk, yellow rumped cacique singing and nesting, there was also a white throated toucan being chased by a fly catcher. Maybe the toucan was trying to invade the fly catcher’s territory. This place is a foraging ground for egrets and also the skittish king fisher.
