Today was our first day in the heart of the magnificent Amazon rainforest! We started our day of exploration as soon as the rain stopped after breakfast. Minutes after we began our outing, we had to return as the rain started again. This is the rainforest…it rains! On board, we had a talk about the Amazon River, the people of the region, and the geography of the basin. In the late morning, we boarded our fleet of skiffs. The rain had stopped, and there was plenty of sunshine. We explored the forest, and we had many interesting sightings, from raptors to parrots to monkeys!
After lunch, we headed out again in beautiful weather. We admired the size and volume of the Ucayali River, the surrounding forest, and the roadside hawks perched on Cecropia trees. Our exploration of the flooded forest took place at Supay Creek, which might be thought of as a river somewhere else due to its size and volume of water. Among the surrounding giants, though, it is just a creek. This place is home to many types of trees and animals.
Farther into the forest, we spotted our first sloth sleeping on the top of a tree. It looked just like a giant bird’s nest. As we moved into the forest, we observed dramatic landscapes and discovered more birds. The most conspicuous were the sightings of a flock of hoatzins and a large flock of sand-colored nighthawks! I considered this the highlight of the day, as it is not common to spot hoatzins and nighthawks.
Just an amazing day!
