At seven o’clock, on the dot, we jumped into our skiffs to explore Zapote Creek, where we have planned to have breakfast at what we call “The coffee jungle”. As we started to explore the creek, we quickly spotted a Snail Kite, a very uncommon bird that was sitting on a branch just preening its feathers. We proceeded quietly along the creek, looking for flashes of color or camouflaged creatures in the jungle brush, and suddenly we spotted two scarlet macaws, a white-throated toucan, and also chestnut eared aracaris. These three types of birds are usually very hard to find, and we did it in about 20 minutes. What a lucky morning!
This has been an unusual week in the rain forest, in that we have had no rain, and this worked out well this morning, because we had the chance to have breakfast in the jungle. Our galley team did a great job! They brought a delicious selection of food, including fruits, juices, yogurt, coffee, bread and more, to the three skiffs that are strapped them together, and then “the coffee jungle” restaurant is ready. Our guests enjoyed the experience of having breakfast surrounded by trees and sounds of animals.
After our unique breakfast, we continued our activities, with more skiff riding and kayaking for our intrepid explorers. We saw more birds along our way. When our guides spotted an animal that was very hard to see, they would often yell the name of an animal very loudly, so we all jumped to attention when Adonai, our fearless guide exclaimed, “Monkeys, Monk Saki Monkeys!” Four of them were making their way through the trees, jumping from branch to branch. It is very difficult to find these monkeys in the jungle—many years ago they were hunted until they were close to extinction, but now they are protected and populations are recovering. They travel in small groups of four to six individuals, they have a very thick-big tail and are black in color.
Later in the afternoon, we moved to Magdalena river, which is a great place for exploration. We found many types of birds such as tanagers, flycatchers, caciques, orioles, hawks, cara caras, and a few green iguanas were spotted on the branches of the trees. Horned screamers were seen nesting on the top of the bushes; we found a nest with a couple of eggs and one little newly hatched baby. Also we found many dusky headed parrots living in the holes of dead trees.
We came back to our ship after the sun had disappeared behind the horizon. The far off lights of the ship led our way back, where our bartender was waiting for us with cool Pisco Sours. As always, it was another spectacular day in the emerald forest of the Upper Amazon.
