Yesterday we traveled from Lima to join a Lindblad-National Geographic expedition in the Upper Peruvian Amazon. We arrived to the ship late in the evening and went to bed after dinner dreaming of all the adventures on the magical and amazingly bio-diverse Amazon region of our planet.
We started the day off with an early skiff ride along a small creek locally known as “caños” the Parahuachiro Caño. This pre-breakfast outing was of great success for we spotted several bird species including ringed kingfishers, black-collared hawks, tanagers, several flycatchers. And a couple of troops of squirrel monkey.
After breakfast we went for an introductory walk in the rain forest. After a short skiff ride we visited a “terra firme” forest of a place known locally as “Casual.” “Terra firme” is a term used in tropical ecology to describe a terrain that never gets flooded. In the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve, the largest flooded protected area in South America, most of the surface area is underwater, therefore this kind of relatively dry ecosystem is of great interest for our expedition. Along the trail our naturalists explained some aspects of the fascinating ecology of the rain forest of the neotropics. A couple of native scouts came with us as well. Several rain forest creatures were spotted, including colorful poison arrow and leaf frogs, and even an Anaconda snake! One of the most iconic reptile species of the tropics. We all had the thrill to observe this large snake that was admired and photographed.
As the day was getting hotter and humid, we were sweating a lot as a proof of it, we came back to the ship to have cold drinks cool down with a well-deserved shower and to participate in a couple of presentations. One was my introduction to the Amazon including details about its geological formation and its overwhelming facts and biodiversity. The second talk was one about the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve.
After our mandatory emergency drill the ship was repositioned to the confluence of the Marañon River and the Yanayacu River. In the afternoon we explored this area by skiffs. This outing was very successful as well for we spotted several three- toed sloths, several bird species as well including yellow billed terns, ringed and Amazon kingfishers, and several birds of prey like black collared hawks and yellow headed caracaras.
A glorious sunset was a golden finale for an extraordinary first day of our expedition on the beautiful Upper Amazon in Peru.
