Amazon Natural Park & Yanayaquillo Caño
Our expedition took us today to a brand new private reserve found in the outside boundaries of the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve, the Amazon Natural Park. The large area that protects this reserve is so well managed by the owner of this place that the Peruvian Government recognized its conservation value declaring it a national private protected area as recently as in June 2011. This reserve has many attractions including a catamaran ride and a long suspension bridge.
We started our activities at around 8:00 in the morning by rowing quietly aboard three catamarans in a peaceful lagoon. After landing we went for a walk that allowed us to see first-hand the beauty of a well preserved primary forest. The trail leads to a very long suspension bridge, which is approximately a quarter of a mile in length. The bridge is a state-of-the-art piece of engineering; it is composed of several sections all connected by small resting platforms stations built in the thickets trees of the area. The bridge led us to a thrilling and exciting walk in the middle strata of the rain forest. We were several feet, in some places close to 60 feet, above the ground watching the rain forest from a completely different dimension. Today we saw some vultures and hawks soaring at a close range from the bridge.
In the afternoon we had a late exploration of Yanayaquillo Caño. It was raining softly but steadily for several hours contrasting the hot and sunny morning we had earlier in the day. We delayed the outing for approximately forty-five minutes waiting for the rain to stop. We came out when the rain was over. After the rain many creatures were out and even though we had a relatively overcast afternoon we truly enjoyed this outing. This narrow black water stream locally known in Spanish as “caño” (roughly translated to English as a creek), is covered with thick vegetation where our expert naturalists spotted many species of birds like toucans, tanagers, aracaris, herons, parrots, hawks, and egrets. We were lucky enough to see a couple of sloths and a couple of monkey troops as well.
Finally, at around 18:00 o´clock we came back aboard with many new memories and experiences that will give us precious material to talk about the wonders of the Amazon region for many years to come.
