This is our first day of exploration in the Amazon Basin. It is green all around us and there is water everywhere! Brown silt-rich waters on the main rivers and black tannin-rich waters on the smaller rivers that flow through flooded forests. It is a nice cool morning and we are ready to explore the forest!
We boarded the skiffs at sunrise before breakfast for our first outing. We headed to Pahuachiro Caño, which is a black water creek with forest on both sides. At the very beginning of our ride we started to spot the local organisms that make this region unique. The songs of the birds were music to our ears and the colors of their feathers were stunning!
At this time of the day life in the jungle is vibrant, birds are carrying out their courtship displays and others are gathering nest material and building and transporting it to their colonies. Squirrel monkeys are busy feeding, making sounds and jumping among the branches of trees.
In the afternoon we moored the Delfin II at the intersection of the Yanayacu and Pucate Rivers. This place of black water happens to be a foraging ground for the majestic Amazon pink dolphins. We gathered on the top deck to watch and photograph these mysterious creatures as they surfaced for air.
Later in the afternoon we visited the Yanayacu and Pucate Rivers. This place is full of wildlife such as birds, monkeys, and sloths. In a given moment we are watching birds when suddenly the monkeys takeover the show and then—on the secropia trees we found the sloths. Some of them were sleeping and others slowly moving in search of food.
At the end of the day with a pisco sour in hand we celebrated an amazing day of exploration.
