Marañon River
After a long journey from Lima, to Nauta village, we boarded the Delfin II last night and immediately started our expedition in the Amazon ecosystem. Today was our first full day in the tropical rain forest of the Marañon River in Peruvian Amazonia; traveling on board the Delfin II gives us the chance to explore this remote area in a confortable way. There isn’t such a thing as anchoring in the rivers, we basically arrive to our destination, gently hit a riverbank and tie our ship to a tree.
Early in the morning, before breakfast, we used our fleet of skiffs to explore the Marañon River for the first time. Early morning is ideal since during this time of the year the river rises allowing up to explore deeper into the rain forest. During the ride birds were the highlight, it was a great diversity of swallows, caciques, and hawks.
After a well-deserved breakfast we had our first hike in the tropical rain forest. All the different species of plants one can see at this place are countless; many were used by the native communities of the area as medicine. We saw miniature poison dart frogs, bats were also spotted, and at the end of the walk a group of native people gave us a very friendly greeting offering handicrafts.
In the afternoon, after lunch and a general introduction about the Amazon ecosystem by our expedition leader, we went on a skiff ride towards the Pucate, in the Marañon. Wildlife was very abundant in the area, and we found three-toed sloths and saddle-back tamarin monkeys for the very first time; they were singing and for a moment sounded like a big flock of birds.
Late in the afternoon it was very sunny—a very warm light perfect for photographing wildlife, the amazing emerald forest, and the reflections in the black waters.
