We started the day early to explore an area of the Marañón River by skiff. This time, instead of a small tributary, we ventured into an extension of the main river, which offered a different view of this environment. A wide opening of the river, with islands and floating vegetation, gave us the opportunity to find different species of birds that cannot be found in the jungle. We saw white-headed tyrants, oriole blackbirds, and black-bellied whistling ducks—three new species to add to our growing wildlife list.
Later in the morning we had our first outing to visit a local community. The human aspect of Amazonia is equally fascinating and important as the natural world. The Pacaya-Samiria Reserve has a considerable human population. These people live in both the reserve, and the buffer zone. We visited the village of San Jorge, where we learned about life in the Amazon. We saw many of the plants that villagers use for food, medicine, or handicrafts. We saw houses built on stilts, and a sheet metal church. We met with a local NGO called Minga Peru. We learned about the valuable work they do with the local communities, and listened to three of the community promoters of the program. At the end of the presentation, guests had the opportunity to buy handmade crafts, made with all local and natural materials by the women of the Minga Peru community.
We left the Marañón River behind to head briefly into the Amazon proper. To celebrate, we had a pisco sour toast and then Delfin II sailed towards the Ucayali River, for the second half of our voyage. Clavero Lake was the destination for the afternoon. We went on a fantastic skiff expedition through an oxbow lake, and then into one of the streams that feed it. We saw the world’s smallest primate, the pigmy marmoset, the primitive looking hoatzin, three-toed sloths, festive amazon parrots, and many other species of animals.
The day ended with a beautiful sunset, which painted Amazonia orange, red, and gold, as Delfin II navigated upriver through the Ucayali.
