Amazon Rainforest 2

Just as the sun was rising we left the lodge and continued down the Madre de Dios River until it met the Manu River, where we headed upstream. It was a long day on the boat with no stops, breakfast and lunch were both taken on the boat. After the little sleep we had the night before I really struggled to stay awake on this leg! However, I still managed to see capybaras, turtles, crocodiles, and countless birds including cormorants, herons, and kingfishers.

The basin of the Manu River is a reserve zone with limited tourism allowed to preserve the pristine rainforest. We were staying for two nights in a lodge in this zone. At the lodge after a rest and dinner, we took a guided night walk, where we saw frogs, lizards, insects, spiders, and a tarantula. In the morning we headed out early to take a trip on an ox-bow lake where we were hoping to see some giant river otters. On that trip we didn't get to see them, I guess they were still sleeping in their nests. Still, the scenery was beautiful in the early morning light, and as the boat was being maneuvered by pole it was very peaceful. As always we also saw some many more interesting birds.

In the afternoon we hiked to another clay lick, this time to try to see macaws! Macaws in the wild are very cautious of humans and also very intelligent, so you have to be very careful if you want to see them. As we got closer to the clay lick we could hear them calling, so we silently crept to the hideout. As we got there there was one red macaw up in a tree, but it quickly flew into the thick canopy. But we could still hear them in the trees above us, so we knew that we hadn't scared them away. We waited for two hours, but unfortunately we didn't see another macaw, although we did see parakeets which was still cool. We also saw a wild peccary, a type of wild pig, which was very lucky.

After a break for lunch we headed back to the ox-bow lake for another chance at seeing the giant river otters, and this time we were much luckier and got to see a family playing on the shore. We stayed on the lake until sunset, seeing more birds such as hawks, eagles, and even an osprey flying with a fish.

We hiked back to the river in the dark and saw some more interesting spikers and frogs, including one that even the guide was excited to see because it was rare. The next two days we had to repeat the long trip back to Madre de Dios River, and then to the boat port, seeing yet more caimans, birds, and capybaras. We almost saw a jaguar, one of the boat crew saw it but by the time he could point it out it had run off into the jungle! We also saw macaws flying overhead, always in pairs, and always distinctive by their constant cawing.Читать далее