Belluda Caño & the Dorado River
The sun rose at almost exactly 5:30 a.m. I could see it from my window coming up over a flat, tree-lined horizon. A low fog hid behind the front row of trees, but others behind stood taller against a clear sky. It would be a warm day. But temperatures never get much higher than the low eighties; it is the 77-80% humidity that makes it feel oh-so-warm.
There were kayakers ready at 6:00 a.m. who went up a delightful creek called “Belluda Cano,” a recently flooded ravine that can be explored now, but not two weeks ago because of river levels. In the skiffs we went downriver in search of the big blue and yellow macaws…and found them! These birds prefer areas in flood forest where moriche palms grow—dead moriche palms—because they provide the ideal nesting sites. Several pairs were flying around noisily. All parrots mate for life, and we almost always see them in pairs. If in a threesome, that means last year’s adolescent is still trailing behind the parents, but not for long!
After breakfast there was another choice to be made between a walk across the river to look for pygmy marmosets, or skiff up the creek for those who missed out the first time. Because it was getting warm, I also threw in the option of a swim in the Ucayali River, or rather a float down the river with noodles. All options were successful including the swimming/floating down the Ucayali River. Unlike the Marañon River, the Ucayali River isn’t rising, but holding its own. This means there are no branches or trees to dodge as we cruise back and forth on our visits. All of us who chose to jump in were quite happy with our one-mile float!
We are exceptionally fortunate to have on board as National Geographic Expert, Kitty Coley. And today was a presentation on the geology of the Amazon basin, with an addition by one of our guests, a professor of hydrology who explained the sandbars visible along the edges. Together with Kitty, Jim Hoffman had collected some samples and carefully explained to the rest of us the significance and composition of the uniform grains of sand and their possible origin.
By mid-afternoon we were well rested and ready for an excursion up the Dorado River.
“Dorado” means golden, and the river lived up to its name in many ways. A great look at squirrel monkeys climbing a vine, black-collared hawks perches low at sunset, parrots and macaws overhead….two scarlet macaws sat atop a tall tree for the longest time…viewing their kingdom, no doubt.
When it became dark, we sat for the longest time listening to the sounds as the day duty creatures handed over their jobs to the night shift. When it was really dark, lightning bugs lit up the forest from bottom to top, matching the stars coming out in the night sky. One group got a quick look at two capybaras before they disappeared into the trees, and all saw black and spectacled caimans they came into the water to feed. Using strong searchlights, we found them by their eye-shine; mostly young, and some just recently hatched it seemed.
We returned to the ship in time to shower and change for dinner, which was livelier than usual with a birthday and music…and afterwards promptly fell asleep in preparation for the big day tomorrow!
