Yanayacu & Pucate Rivers
Our introduction to the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve was a delight this morning. The cloud cover provided a comfortable temperature, so with binoculars, cameras and coffee mugs in hand, two skiffs filled with eager explorers set out at 6:00 am. Great black hawks, yellow-headed caracaras, yellow-billed and large-billed terns, green-backed herons, kiskadees, tropical kingbirds, and some new migratory arrivals were spotted: Eastern kingbirds and fork-tailed flycatchers. Pink dolphins accompanied us for a while, tantalizing everyone with glimpses of their unusual color and their backs broke the surface and snorts caught our attention.
The Pacaya–Samiria National Reserve is one of the largest protected areas in Peru with an area of more than 5 million acres (7,700 ml² , 20,800 km² or the equivalent of the state of New Jersey!). It is also the largest protected seasonal flooded forest in South America. The reserve is made up of three hydrographical basins: the Samiria River drainage, the Pacaya River drainage and the Yanayacu-Pucate drainage. Today we are visiting the Yanayacu and Pucate Rivers, although this morning's early-morning bird-watching expedition didn't get too far because there was so much to see. Also folks were getting used to their binoculars and practicing pinpointing the small moving objects between the tree branches!
After a breakfast that included new and unknown fruits and juices, the skiffs head up the Yanayacu River, which means black-water river. Under beautiful skies, the black-collared hawks, caracaras, Cocoi herons, ringed kingfishers and Amazon kingfishers (of course!) showed their colors. As the sun got hotter and it was time to return, we started noticing the yellow-spotted river turtles were coming out onto floating logs to bask, but every time the skiff slowed, they slipped into the water before a photo could be taken. This morning was also an eye-opener for all those folks who thought vultures were vultures, because in the Amazon, that's just not true...we have black, turkey, lesser yellow-headed, greater yellow-headed and even a king vulture in these parts. Today seems to a day of “ask and ye shall receive,” because I've been searching the skies for a long, long time now (a few years) to see a king vulture...and we found one!! Big, low-flying (in itself unusual), white and black ...and wonderful.
In the afternoon (after our mandatory siesta), some intrepid explorers went for a short hike while others opted for another skiff ride, but up the other major river named the “Pucate River.” We had a stupendous outings when it came to wildlife sightings: saddle-backed tamarin monkeys (who didn't disappear in 30 seconds), plum-throated cotingas, scarlett and blue-and-yellow macaws and a wonderful sloth who wasn't hidden by foliage and height, but who gave us her right profile, then left profile, then right profile, then left....you get the picture.
Before returning to the ship we stopped by the community called “twentieth of January” in order to see what they had in terms of vegetable ivory carvings, and to give out some school supplies which are always in demand. Pencils and pens, one can never have too many of those!
By sunset we were all on board, and the ship untied from the bank so we could move out into the Marañon River under a glorious pink and blue sky with rain clouds in the distance. Tomorrow's destination is further upriver, and who knew what surprises would be in store for us.
Cindy Manning, Expedition Leader; Horned screamer photo by Len Bergstrom, Guest
