Atun Poza and the Dorado River
Our final full day in the Upper Amazon was spent exploring a diversity of things in this land of extreme diversity. The Amazon of Peru ranks amongst the highest in the world for diversity, including numbers of species of birds, trees, butterflies, and ants. On this voyage, we have gotten a taste of what is here, and today, we had many new and exciting discoveries.
After breakfast, we went for walks near the village of Atun Poza. Here a small lake has rice planted on its banks, and quite a number of birds are attracted to this spot. After passing through the small village, we entered a tall forest dominated by trees in the Fig family. Three different groups went in various directions, but all had one main destination, a massive Ceiba tree. This Ceiba is a canopy emergent, sticking up high above all the others. Massive buttress roots hold up this giant of the forest. Trogons and a Dull-capped Attila flitted overhead, while a Great Black Hawk perched on a main branch. We made our way back to Delfin II for lunch and on downstream to the afternoon destination.
Our arrival at the mouth of the Rio Dorado was marked by the many dolphins feeding in the confluence of these waters. Here, we got into the skiffs and slowly made our way up the Dorado. The skies cleared after quite a bit of rain, and wildlife was incredibly active. Many sloths were spotted, with quite a few actually moving! Howler monkeys were resting high in a tree, squirrel monkeys were busy feeding in a fig tree, and saddleback tamarins were jumping from limb to limb. A rainbow of birds were seen, including brilliant blue cotingas, a Green Kingfisher, yellow Kiskadees, and red Masked Crimson Tanagers.
Another gorgeous sunset and we returned to Delfin II for our group slideshow and final cocktail hour. After reflecting on our amazing week, we had a final feast, and of course more amazing music by the talented crew. We went to sleep with images in our heads of all the wildlife and the sound of the pan flute lingering in our dreams.
