Atun Poza Lake & Pacaya River
What a day! We were on the skiffs at 7:00a.m., after a short ride in the Ucayali River we went into the calmer waters of “Atun Poza.” It was once again confirmed that the river level is decreasing; it is possible to see the riverbanks in many areas. The big amount of vegetation debris floating down that we had in the last months is practically gone.
Once inside “Atun Poza,” which can be roughly translated as “lagoon of fish,” we could see many locals laboriously fishing. It is a great time of the year for them to do it for many fish are coming out of the seasonal flooded forests into the big rivers and lagoons. It was a delight to see the fishermen in action in the lagoon or while pulling into the bank with their precious catch. “Palometas” and large spotted or striped catfish were the prize catches, but we also got to see an armored catfish, locally called “Carachama.”
After watching some birds here and there all the three exploring skiffs gathered under a shade. We were ready to have our breakfast outdoors! We had our meal served in the most fashionable way covered with the rain forest. Exotic Amazon juices as “taperiba” and “camu-camu,” coffee and teas were served together with sweet potato bread and cassava bread. White gloves in the hands of our crew, ornaments, ceramic plates and fabric napkins, included we had a memorable meal with the green surroundings and a concert of sounds as companions.
After this treat we came back to the ship to listen to naturalist Adonai Rodriguez stories about the indigenous people that live in the reserve. We practiced our skills with a blow gun and learnt how to prepare a local Amazon Peruvian delicacy that was served as a side dish during lunch.
In the afternoon the Pacaya River was truly a wonder. Many egrets and cormorants accompanied us during the first hour of our ride. Hundreds of these birds were seen flying or standing all over along the river edge. The Pacaya River has clear, tannin-rich waters that provide amazing reflections, and the various shortcuts that have been cut through between the river’s meanderings lead us into several lakes filled with beautiful landscapes and bromeliad-laden trees. We didn’t dally much on the way into the reserve, because we wanted to get far enough in that we might have a better chance of seeing the largest monkey species in the reserve yet shy red howler monkey.
In the way we spotted a wonderful Brown throated tree-toed Sloth that was resting on his back on a thin branch without using his limbs. It looked very comfy in its precarious position. Some Squirrel monkeys were around as well making this observation one of the highlights of the afternoon.
As the day was very hot it was a relief for those who opted to swim in a huge lake called Yanayacu. The temperature of the water was almost perfect, not cold no hot and we did have the company of several Pink river dolphins. One guest had one just a couple of feet away and felt the bubbles in her feet! After the swimming we went to look for the elusive red howlers. In the three skiffs we had different luck watching these monkeys in their high perches. Some had relatively good sightings while others just saw the howlers as round balls in the thick vegetation.
On the way back after watching the sunset we made our way to a green maze full of shortcuts and floating grass patches. The night came down and with the aid of a powerful spotlight we arrived to our home away from home this week, the Delfin II.
