Rio Dorada & Atun Poza, Rio Ucayali
At sunrise it became apparent that our mooring at Rio Dorado was a particularly beautiful location. Blue-and-yellow macaws flew overhead while grey dolphins and the Amazon pink dolphins searched for fish in the river nearby. The river itself was always changing with “milk in black coffee swirls” as the tannin-rich black water of the Rio Dorado met the sediment-rich waters of the Rio Ucayali.
Content with these riches, but in search of more, we boarded the skiffs once more to explore the Rio Dorado. At this time of year the risings waters flooding the forest make walking opportunities a rarity, but the skiffs prove to be a fine way to get out and search for wildlife. The morning proved to be very successful for sightings of unusual birds. At the top of this list is the hoatzin, a bizarre bird with a distinctly punk appearance and only a distant relationship to other extant bird species.
After continuing our passage upstream we arrived at Atun Poza and boarded skiffs again to search for wildlife. As we left the river we passed a small settlement where a local fisherman had recently caught a large (about 2ft diameter) stingray in the main river. As well as a point of interest for us, his dog was clearly intrigued by this strange new appearance.
Later in the evening we were back afloat for a successful outing to find spectacled caimans and nocturnal birdlife such as a great potoo. We had been fortunate yesterday to see one of these bizarre birds during the day at its roost, pretending to part of the tree. Their camouflage is so good that to find one during the day requires excellent eyesight. At night, their glowing red eyes in the beam of the spotlight reveal their location rather more easily, but still a special sighting.
