Sapuena Village area
We awoke to our first day on the Ucayali River to a cloudy morning that kept it cool for our early morning skiff ride. We left early at 6:00 to enjoy the forest waking up and the dawn chorus from the birds along the river’s edge. Birds are very active at this hour because they lose a significant amount of their fat during the night due to their small size and relatively large surface area. Therefore, they wake up very hungry and must replenish their fat stores. Consequently, our early morning skiff rides are a great time to see birds and hear the dawn chorus and this morning was no exception. Flocks of parakeets were leaving there nightly roosting areas and flying out across the forest and river to feed. Quite a raucous exodus and beautiful to watch. Colorful tanagers were darting in and out of the riverside vegetation and several raptors were perched high in the trees scanning for food. A green iguana was stretched out on a branch attempting to bask and warm up on this overcast day. One highlight was a Black-throated Mango hummingbird sitting in her nest. The female makes the nest and incubates the eggs. Her nest was constructed of spider silk and incorporated bits of lichen and moss! Amazing to think she makes her intricately woven, tiny cup nest all with her bill.
During our skiff ride we encountered a raft with an attached rectangular area or mesh fish pen. The 4 men camping on the raft were headed down river to Iquitos, which would take them several days. Here they would sell the 6,000 armored catfish they estimated they had in their fish pen that had taken them a week to catch. After selling them in Iquitos they would disassemble and sell all the parts of their raft and then head back upstream by local ferry returning home. They were happy to show us their catch, primarily armored catfish. One guest gave them fish hooks and line in appreciation. What a production to catch and sell your fish!
After breakfast we visited the village of Sapuena. This large village floods every year when the river rises during the high water season. Consequently, the houses are elevated on stilts. In front of the village at the water’s edge several residents were out in their dugouts fishing. Others were harvesting their rice crops on the riverbank as the rising river would soon inundate them. After walking through the village and learning how the people lived, we ended up at the elementary school. The children shared with us their aspirations and sang songs for us. We brought school supplies, which we passed out and which were very much appreciated.
In the afternoon, we had several choices. Some of us went by skiff along the river wildlife viewing and others took a walk through some Terra Firma forest, a portion of secondary forest that doesn’t flood. It was fascinating to see some larger trees and understand some of the strategies trees and plants have evolved to live in these lower light conditions in these less disturbed forests.
Those of us that went by skiff ventured up a small side creek. A tree was leaning into the stream and on its underside were 6 tiny long-nosed bats! This is their favorite roost, over open water such as streams. They were so cute and they have an elongated nose that points down the tree. They hang in a characteristic straight line with each bat spaced about 2 inches apart. They are so well camouflaged, they look like leaves! But beware if you are an insect at dusk as these are one of the more common bats!
As we slowly motored up the creek, we encountered a sloth lazily hanging from a high limb and scratching its belly watching us. A bit further, a dark fuzzy bundle high up in another tree turned out to be a couple of very fluffy monkeys called Monk saki. A toucan flew overhead. At one point we turned off our motors and just drifted. The solitude and peacefulness of floating along the creek, observing and listening to the forest noises, makes man’s outside world seem so far away and meaningless. Life doesn’t get much better than this. Dusk was descending so we returned to the Delfin II ending another amazing day exploring the Amazon.
