Marañon River: Amazonas National Park and Nauta Caño, 5/15/2023, Delfin II
Aboard the
Delfin II
Amazon
On our first full day on Delfin II, we took a great hike in the Amazonas National Park. We tied together two canoes to make a catamaran and paddled across a lake to a trail that took us to a chain of suspension bridges. We observed rubber trees, leafcutter ants, bullet ants, saddle-back tamarins, various hawks, owl butterflies, and lots and lots of jungle critters. After crossing the canopy suspension bridges, trekking through rainforest, and paddling back across the lake, we found a “jungle mall” set up where we could purchase jewelry and keepsakes.
In the afternoon, we explored Nauta Caño in skiffs. We found more saddle-back tamarins, three-toed sloths, night owl monkeys, pink river dolphins, blue-and-yellow macaws, and various birds.
R. Aaron Raymond started his career as an underwater photographer, which blossomed from his love for the ocean. He grew up on a sailboat diving for abalone off the coast of California. He loves to photograph landscapes, nature, and wildlife - anythin...
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After a few days along the Ucayali River, this morning we explored the other side of the Pacaya Samiria Reserve in Peru. The Ucayali and Marañon Rivers are two of the three main tributaries of the majestic Amazon River. The Upper Amazon in Peru comprises 60% of the country; with 782,880 square kilometers, Peru has the second-largest portion of the Amazon Rainforest (after Brazil). The Amazon is not only its amazing wildlife, but also the people that inhabit the riverbanks in small villages — like the one we are visiting this morning, called Amazonas. As soon as we put our feet on land, a few locals came to give us a warm welcome. They invited our guests to explore the village, to see their houses, to learn of their culture, traditions, food, and way of living. Our guests enjoyed this visit; the interaction with locals is an incredible way of learning and discovering. Around the little town are many kinds of birds and wildlife, and the artisan market is a great spot to see. They make multicolored handicrafts with local materials like fruit rinds, the straw of certain trees, and various seeds. In the afternoon we visited Casual, a varzea forest that is a seasonal floodplain area. Here the trees are humongous — especially the ceiba tree, which is considered the tallest one. It is home to many types of birds, insects, monkeys, and epiphyte plants. Walking further into the jungle, the symphony of hundreds of sounds was simply magical. Our intrepid guides found many species of medicinal plants that the local people use to cure different illnesses and medical situations; here the pharmacy is the jungle! At the end of this enriching experience, the rain poured and the winds blew for a few minutes; it added a special touch to our incredible journey.
Today, as usual in this paradise, I woke up in high spirits. I had the feeling that it was going to be an extraordinary day, and luckily, I was not wrong! We had a wonderful day of exploration. We went to the skiffs after breakfast to explore the Yarapa River. From the skiffs we had great encounters with wildlife, including kingfishers, tanagers, and other birds of prey. We saw some mammals as well, including night monkeys and a rainforest tree rat. Late in the afternoon, after resting, we went for a short but meaningful walk. We visited a short trail, located close to Jose de Paranapura community, that led to a pond where we observed the famous giant water lilies. Later, we celebrated the arrival of our ship at the confluence of the Marañon River with the Ucayali River: the geographical place where the Amazon River takes its name. With a glass of champagne in our hands we toasted the torrential rains, reminding us that we are visiting the mighty Amazonia, one of the wettest areas in the world.
The Amazon forest is an amazingly complex system of biota, rivers, creeks, millions of acres of trees and plants; there are thousands of animal species of all types, like sloths, jaguars, pink dolphins, fishes, harpy eagles, frogs, storks, snakes, caimans, monkeys, bats, and millions of insects and microscopic animals and plants, indeed! Plankton is also present in these rivers, which represent one of the biggest reservoirs of fresh water on our planet. The amazon basin is the main “organ” that sustains life on our planet. Some of these creatures work by day, and others at night. Yesterday we explored the Pacaya River at night and it was a great experience, but today was astonishing. The Pacaya area is very remote in the jungle of Peru, and the abundance of wildlife is incredible. We came out early in the morning, at 5:45 a.m., to spot more wildlife — the majority of the creatures are early risers, so we are too. We saw hundreds of storks, jabirus, neotropical cormorants fishing on armored catfish, herons, egrets, many varieties of kingfishers, horn screamers, herons, turtles, caimans, and hoatzins; we saw howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys, white-fronted capuchin monkeys, pink and gray dolphins, and big anacondas. Wow! Truly this place is amazing, marvelous — like no other place on earth. We spent six and a half hours on a tiring journey, but we were very well rewarded! At noon we came back for lunch and siesta time to recover our energy. The food on board our ship is exceptional; we enjoyed a ceviche of local fish to fuel up for the rest of the day. In the afternoon we navigated for four hours to a nice beach along the coast. We disembarked to spot some shoreline birds such as black skimmers, yellow-billed terns, and sandpipers. One very special event of the afternoon was the jungle bar that our crew opened on the beach. Our guests rested and enjoyed coconut water, some tropical fruits, and pisco sours. The “Jungle Spa” was also opened, as some of our guests enjoyed relaxing mud therapy on their bodies and faces. We enjoyed the sunset and chatted together about the amazing experiences of our day.
