Arrival at the Tahuyaou Lodge

We arrived at the lodge after a four-hour boat ride. It should have been a little quicker but we got caught in an awesome downpour and lightning storm, so had to hunker down for 20 minutes or so. Not complaining though, near enough saw lightning every few seconds lighting up the jungle. We voyaged down the Amazon for some of the journey, which was incredible...it is just so so big!

You know it will be of course because you read about it, but seeing it with your own eyes is something else. The water levels are lower this time of year too, so it gets even bigger. In fact at one point we were looking at what we thought was the bank on the other side of the river, it looked like it was miles away, and then as we travelled further along it became clear that this was in fact just an island in the middle of the river and that, actually, the other side of the river looked like it was basically an ocean away! We found out that during high water much of that island would be submerged.

We eventually turned down the Tahuyaou River, an Amazon tributary, towards the lodge. This was a much narrower and calmer river, with dense bush and trees either side. I also have to say that aside from the views, this part of the ride was not so pleasant for me. Never have I ever needed to pee so badly with no place to go. After two hours contemplating how I might be able to solve this problem (peeing over the side had seriously crossed my mind) we finally arrived!

We pulled up to the end of a long wooden jetty which led up to a massive wooden structure on stilts that was the centre. It is incredible to think that during the high water season, you pull up to the entrance at the top of the stairs instead, a good ten metres above the ground. After been shown around the lodge we were taken to our room, an awesome two storey wooden lodge on stilts, with a balcony overlooking the trees to the back of the lodge. The whole place is amazing, lovely beds, really nice bathroom, feels like five star! I'm glad it isn't like some of the proper luxury jungle lodges though, with the stilts and banana leaf roofs, it blends in perfectly to its surroundings.

Within half an hour of taking in the amazing sounds of the jungle around us, the sound of rustling branches had us rushing outside Richard's room, to see what creature we might find. This was where the whole thing became even more exciting, because the rustling was being made by monkeys!!! MONKEYS!!!! right outside our room in the trees overlooked by the balcony. There were two or three and they were climbing and leaping through the trees, we found out later that they were squirrel monkeys. There really is nothing like seeing them where they belong, free to just leap through the trees across amazingly large distances. They seemingly just fall between leaps, grabbing hold of the next branch they find and then climbing so quickly before leaping again, it's just incredible.

What a way to begin the trip!

Next up was dinner, and the buffet was a very welcome sight indeed. A fantastic spread of food for us all, we definitely won't be starving here.

Next up Rich and Rob found a giant spider just outside the mesh of our room. We asked what it was and someone said banana spider, our guide took a look and was unsure so still non the wiser! Ah well, it's not like a banana spider can kill you in 36 hours....oh wait!

And now to fall asleep to the amazing sounds of the jungle, whilst we hope it doesn't find a way in.Read more