Over and Under the Amazon Rainforest

In the morning we walked through the rainforest to a canopy lookout built into a Kapok (Ceiba) tree. The platform was built for researchers to monitor the fauna of the forest canopy. Since 2004, over 150 species of birds have been recorded from this platform.

Along the way to the platform, Alejandro pointed out more interesting trees and plants. The ‘garlic tree’ perfumes the air around it with a pungent smell. The sap of the dragon’s blood tree, which starts out as deep red drops can be rubbed into the skin where it is emulsified into a cream for treating wounds. The walking palm tree, which we learned about in Australia, sends out leg-like roots above ground to move the tree closer to water sources.

We also spotted our third species of monkey of the trip, the Tamarind monkey. There is a better photo of this monkey that we saw at the rescue center in the afternoon (see next entry).

The swinging walkway to the canopy platform was long and a bit scary, but the view over the forest is spectacular.Read more