Cedro Caño, Flor de Castaña and Yarapa Caño
During the night we traveled 90 miles downstream on the Ucayali River and tied up on the southern bank just before dawn. Once again we had perfect weather for a pre-breakfast outing to search for wildlife: cloud cover, a cool breeze and no rain! We boarded the skiffs and motored into the narrow Cedar Creek (Cedro Caño) where our team of sharp-eyed naturalists pointed out birds, plants and mammals. Rudy found a red-tailed Amazon squirrel, we saw squirrel monkeys too – leaping from branch to branch high in the trees – and we admired two species of brightly-colored trogans. When we turned off the outboard motors the forest was alive with the riotous calls of nunbirds, the soft cooing of pigeons and the trills of antbirds. Ten guests, in our fleet of jungle kayaks, paddled along quietly; they too saw the monkeys and herons and parrots, and were delighted with their intimate and wonderfully peaceful experience on the river.
After breakfast we motored into an even narrower stream mouth, passing stands of plantain banana and papaya trees, to arrive at Flor de Castaña, a village with a population of about 500. We visited the individual houses, learned about their way of life and were free to take photos of the villagers as they worked. The kids gathered around us and were as curious about us as we were about them. They sang us a song of welcome; in return we sang for them. Later, back on board the Delfin II, expedition leader Carlos Romero gave a presentation on primates; we have seen or/and heard a half dozen species already this week in the forest! Naturalist Jesus then went through the wildlife list with us and we were pleased with the number of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians that we have already seen and identified.
At lunch we enjoyed the meal – a heart of palm salad, local catfish wrapped and cooked in a heliocona leaf and coconut ice cream (I certainly do not get to eat gourmet food like this at home!) – while being entertained by both species of Amazon dolphins, gray and pink, which were feeding just off the stern of the boat and could be seen easily from the dining room.
This was our first sunny, hot afternoon so we departed as the day began to cool off, at 3:30pm, for another skiff ride to search for wildlife up the Yarapa Caño. Birds were plentiful and we were pleased to begin to recognize some of the most common species – the kiskadees, flycatchers kingfishers, nunbirds and swallows. We found some new ones too: two chestnut-eared araҫaris and later a scarlet-headed barbet were sighted, among others. Naturalist Luis (and later Jesus and Rudy, too) spied a monk saki high in the canopy of a large ficus and several pairs of blue and yellow macaws flew overhead.
Back on the boat we toasted the rainforest when we reached the junction of the Ucayali and Marañon Rivers where the mighty Amazon is formed. After yet another scrumptious dinner I showed some of our guests the Southern Cross and we star gazed from the decks of the Delfin II.
