Our second full day exploring the Peruvian Amazon started with a very interesting and fun visit to the Amazon Natural Park, a private reserve located on the northern shore of the Marañón River, opposite to the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve. There we boarded small wooden boats and paddled our way across a lake, which is also a fish farm, to reach the beginning of a trail. The private reserve is located in a slightly elevated area that never gets flooded during the rainy season. We hiked through the rainforest and learned about many plants and animals, like the aguaje palm tree, the leaf-cutter ants, the beautiful morpho butterfly and a myriad of others. We rubbed little drops of natural rubber with our fingers, taken directly from the sap of rubber trees, and watched a hive of wild bees. Then we explored the mid-canopy environment by taking a series of elevated bridges between high trees, getting a different perspective of the whole environment and enjoying a bird's view of the rainforest. We took turns to avoid having too many us on the bridges at the same time, and admired numerous butterflies, dragonflies, praying mantis, and colorful birds.
During the evening we arrived at a small black-water tributary of the Marañón River locally known as Nauta Caño, and divided into two groups to explore it. Some of us boarded the skiffs to look for wildlife, while other adventurous souls decided to do the same from kayaks. We all had a great time and were fortunate enough to see numerous bird species, monkeys and three-toed sloths. Black-collared and great black hawks, cocoi herons and great egrets, as well as green, pygmy, and ringed kingfishers were some of the many birds that we watched and photographed. We even saw the amazing pink river dolphin!
After dinner, we decided to go ashore for a short hike to experience the thrill and mystery of the tropical rainforest at night. Our naturalist found several frogs and interesting insects and we all had a great time listening to the countless different sounds and calls made by cicadas, frogs, toads and only-the Lord-knows what else, making for the perfect ending of a great day exploring the Peruvian Amazon.
