After sailing for a good portion of the night, we found ourselves early this morning by the Ucayali River, for our pre-breakfast morning outing. As the sun came out from behind the thickly-forested shoreline, we all began to gather around the coffee station, eager to get out and explore.
Here in the tropics, we always try to take advantage of the early hours of the day, when the light is best, and the temperatures are lower, so before breakfast we got into our skiffs to venture deeper into the narrower channels of the Ucayali. We had an exceptional outing, and we accomplished all of our objectives for the excursion: we spotted colorful long-tailed macaws, we found the elusive monk-saki monkeys, and we saw the famous Amazonian giant lily-pads. It was a fantastic morning, thanks to our speedy and maneuverable skiffs and the expertise of our local drivers and naturalists. After we had all returned, we had another delicious lunch onboard the Delfin II as we sailed to our destination for our late afternoon activities.
We had a leisurely afternoon at Dorado River, exploring in our skiffs, and at dusk we went out again to look for some of the night creatures of the flooded forest. Our goal for the evening was to spot the caiman, one of the largest reptiles in this area. Using a powerful light to highlight the reflection of their eyes, our guides where quick to find the caimans well hidden in the floating vegetation.
We had several other spectacular sightings this evening as well, including the always interesting and very photogenic night owl monkeys. We spotted them high in the forest canopy along the river’s edge, as they attentively looked back at us with great interest from the safety of a hole inside of the tree.
The Amazon is certainly an incredible place!
