Our expedition brought us today to one of my favorite locations in the Reserve, the Pacaya River. After breakfast, we went as deep and as far into the Pacaya River as we could. This river is the farthest destination we will be in our expedition this week as well. Remoteness and expecting the unexpected make this day a very special one.
Our three skiffs formed a caravan to explore the Pacaya River. After a couple of hours, we arrived at a large black water ox bow lake called Yanayacu Lake. We stopped there momentarily to stretch our legs and use toilet facilities. After it, we continued with our exploration. All skiffs had a very rare and exciting sighting, a huge green anaconda strangling a juvenile spectacled Cayman on shore at a very close range. In addition, we all had amazing sightings of many Cayman alligators, some black Caymans were huge! Several red howler monkeys troops and the beautiful blue and yellow macaws and hoatzin birds were observed as well.
At midday, we had a wonderfully prepared traditional lunch on the Reserve Rangers’ Station at Yarina Lake. After it we came back to the ship. It was certainly a long day but filled with memorable adventures.
