Our first day in the Amazon was a total adventure! A nice cool-breezed morning was a very welcome start to our day, and off we went on the first of many-to-come skiff rides.
Our destination was a long creek known as Pahuachiro, which gave us the first birds and mammals sightings of the trip. Several colorful birds were observed, both perched on the trees and flying continually over our heads. Our expert naturalists displayed their ability to recognize even the smaller of the birds, regardless of the distance!
As if requested, one of our guests mentioned on the skiff that it will be great if we could see some monkeys, and almost like magic, they appeared through the dense green foliage of a nearby tree. This was of course a great coincidence that was celebrated by all of us, and now she is facing lots of challenges, as many guests have started to ask her for more wildlife!
Once the first part of our day was over, we returned to the ship for breakfast and to get ready for the second morning outing. This time we headed to “terra firma” and landed on an area known as “Casual Trail”.
The locals are referred as “rivereños” or people from the river, and several of them were in the area and helped us to find the wildlife that was hidden to our eyes, but for them, it was a piece of cake! They were amazing, as they could spot things that were literally invisible to the non-trained eye, and we were constantly treated to new findings. Snakes, poisoned frogs, lizards and weird-looking insects were among the many things that locals brought to us for observation, explanation from the naturalists and of course, great photo opportunities!
Our afternoon was spent on a different location even further west into the Marañon River. The rainforest decided to show us how it got its name, as a heavy rain fell on us for the first part of the afternoon. As soon as the rain stopped, we were then treated to a nice skiff ride within the merging waters of the Pucate and Yanayacu rivers. The area was great with more wildlife sightings. What more can I say? This is the Amazon and we are enjoying every bit of it!
