Our day started with an early morning visit to Pahuachiro Creek. This is a relatively narrow creek that gave us the proper introduction to what the Amazon forest is all about!
Within just a few minutes of our arrival, we were entertained by two species of monkeys as they foraged through the tress along the river. We stopped and enjoyed the views and the occasional jumps performed by both types; it was delightful!
Just when we thought we should move on to look for more wildlife, our skiff driver spotted a little head behind one of the tress; it happened to be the elusive anteater, or locally known as tamandua. I couldn’t contain my excitement, as this is the very first time I have seen this beautiful mammal! Anteaters are hard to find, as they cover large distances looking for food. However, once you find them, they are the least concerned animal regarding humans; we were able to position our skiff ridiculously to the anteater, without him even acknowledging us.
After observing and photographing the tamandua for a long time, we continued our ride even further into the creek, encountering our first three-toed sloth perched on the tip of a tall tree, among many other species and colorful birds, including the purple-throated cotinga!
After breakfast we headed out for a bit of exercise, to a nearby trail known as Casual. This trail goes through a very healthy forest, which led to many more wildlife sightings. With the help of some of the locals from the nearby village, we found tarantulas, poison-dart tree frogs, an anaconda, a boa constrictor, and we even had a much closer view of the famous tree-toed sloth!
Our afternoon outing took us far into a different section of the Marañon River, where we enjoyed a nice skiff ride looking for more wildlife. We also enjoyed seeing how the local people live around here, as this area is occupied by a couple of small settlements along the Yanayacu-Pucate Rivers. The “rivereños” as they are known, depend on their abilities to farm the land and to obtain fish from the river. They are all very welcoming people, and many hands were waving “distant hellos” as we cruised by on our skiffs. It was truly an enjoyable first day in the Amazon!
