Casual and Yanayacu & Pucate Rivers
With great eagerness, the vast majority of newly-arrived guests were ready and waiting to board the skiffs at dawn. At 6:00 a.m. we were boarded and leaving the ship, binoculars handy, breathing in the coolness of an Amazonian morning on the river. What didn’t we see! A sloth snoozing, black-collared hawks, ringed kingfishers, Amazonian kingfishers, kiskadees both great and lesser, tropical kingbirds, seedeaters, vultures, roadside hawks, parrots overhead, martins and swallows galore, and an impressive look at the banks along the Maranon River getting ready to collapse as the waters rise.
After breakfast we were once more on the skiffs, this time to cross over to the north bank of the Maranon River to visit a “terra firme” site. Land that never floods, a location named Casual, for the community nearby. It was from this community that we picked up a few locals to guide us through the forest. Our naturalists are very knowledgeable, but the residents know their forest better than anyone. Poison dart tree frog, sloths and the highlight…a red-tailed boa! Beautiful animal, relatively small, briefly captured so many could see, it was then released to climb a tree and disappear into the leaves. Another fabulous find was a great potoo; a nocturnal bird that sits on the end of tree snags looking like an extension of the branch itself. At night they wake up and catch insects with an enormous mouth. The small beak is tremendously misleading!
Before lunch we had a talk from one of the natural history staff; a useful introduction to the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve, the who, why, and how of this enormous flood-forest of 5 million acres, or 2 million hectares (the same conversion rate as for Peruvian soles to the U.S. dollar)!
As the Delfin II worked her way upriver, I noticed that there were more trees, bushes, and general forest material floating down the river. This is an unmistakable indication that there has been significant rain somewhere above us, probably in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. When the ship pulled up to the mouth of the Yanayacu-Pucate Rivers, the difference between the “white” waters and “black” waters was obvious. In fact this is where we found several pink dolphins and a few grey dolphins actively fishing. So while we ate lunch, we watched the dolphins dash around having lunch, all while looking out the huge picture windows of the Delfin II dining room.
“Black” water rivers drain from the Amazon basin, whereas “white” (really café-au-lait) drain from the Andes and carry a heavy burden of sediments and minerals. Black-water rivers are not very nutrient rich as opposed to the white waters; the tannic acids have leached out of the vegetation on the soggy forest floor, turning it a deep red-orange color.
By skiff we head up the river, ever on the lookout for movement and color. Our search was successful as we found loads more bird species to add to our master wildlife list, and the late afternoon light was ideal for reflections.
By the time we returned home, the lights of the Delfin II were reflecting in the smooth water as well. Home! Showers! Drinks! Staff intros! And finally…another exquisite meal before bed.
