Ucayali River and Rio Dorado, 11/5/2019, Delfin II
Aboard the
Delfin II
Amazon
Today the plants of the tropical rainforest were our focus, both for photography and exploration. We walked in forest that is normally flooded, only accessible by boat, for several months of the year. Sandro, one of our local naturalists, gave a presentation on the medicinal uses of the local flora.
Later in the afternoon, Javier spoke of, and gave a tasty presentation on, the local rainforest fruits which included palm fruits, brazil nuts, tagua nuts and wild mango. Our day ended with a late afternoon skiff ride that stayed out past sunset. We came home riding under a star-studded sky after a riverside search for caiman.
Born in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Linda and her Air Force family moved extensively throughout the U.S. when she was a child. Linda continues to travel and explore a broader spectrum of the world as a naturalist with Lindblad Expeditions-National Geogr...
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The Pacaya River is the most remote destination of this journey. With less inhabitants and the protection of the park rangers, this area is a real wildlife mecca. We invested the entire morning searching for wildlife. To make the experience even more special, we had breakfast at “The Jungle Café”, a very nice plated breakfast on board our skiffs, surrounded by wilderness. We took this opportunity, so we didn’t have to interrupt our wildlife experience of exploring a remote area away from the ship. Since the level of the Amazon has reached record high levels in this area, the quality of our wildlife viewing opportunities was exceptional. We had great sightings of multiple red howler monkeys, three-toed sloths, and many species of birds. We ended our morning by swimming at Yanayacu Lake. Here, a few pink river dolphins showed up, curious about their visitors.
Clavero Lake was our morning’s destination. In the early hours of the morning, we watched pink and gray river dolphins from our skiffs. Later in the day we explored deeper along the lake and some of its tributaries. We had our first kayaking experience, as well as our first opportunity to take a plunge in the refreshing Amazonian waters. Supay Lake was where we explored in the afternoon. Here, we found three-toed sloths, hoatzins, a variety of birds, and small primates. All of this was enjoyed while surrounded by the wilderness of the Amazonian Rain Forest.
Our second full day exploring the Peruvian Amazon was a great one, full of wonderful wildlife sightings and a few surprises. We started very early in the morning navigating the narrow Pahuachiro, a small tributary of the Marañon River where we quickly discovered a number of interesting bird species, like the slate-colored hawk, the wattled jacana, and the red-capped cardinal, and had a lucky encounter with an arboreal anteater. After breakfast we boarded our skiffs again and explored another tributary called Nauta Creek for more interesting bird sightings, like the great potoo and the black-tailed tityra. We watched several primate species, starting with a large group of squirrel monkeys (which included numerous females carrying their babies on their backs), Isabel’s sakis, red howlers, and the odd-looking night monkeys. Some of us were very fortunate to see one of the area’s top predators, a rare crested eagle! Later, we sailed around the easternmost portion of the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve and entered the Ucayali River where we explored the Yarapa, one of its tributaries. We enjoyed more amazing wildlife encounters, ending with a spectacular sunset, concluding another awesome day exploring the world’s largest tropical rainforest, Amazonia!
