Yarapa River and Clavero Lake, 9/23/2024, Delfin II
Aboard the
Delfin II
Amazon
We began our first day in the Amazon by taking a skiff ride with grey and pink dolphins in the confluence of the Marañón and Ucayali Rivers, the starting point of the mighty Amazon River.
Anahí grew up in a small house by the beach in the Galápagos Islands. Along with her best friend, she used to wander during the days around mangrove trees, becoming a different animal every day. She used to camp on solitary beaches, snorkel with shar...
The Upper Amazon is a wonderful place to explore, and today was our first full day here on board Delfin II. We learned about the river’s dynamics, now that the level of the Amazon is at its highest level. We also got to join in a ceremony with Carola, a local medicine woman. Today we also had our first skiff rides along some of the tributaries of the Marañon River. We had our first encounters with pink river dolphins, saddleback tamarins, squirrel monkeys, and even poison dart frogs and ringed kingfishers.
The Pacaya River is the most remote destination of this journey. With less inhabitants and the protection of the park rangers, this area is a real wildlife mecca. We invested the entire morning searching for wildlife. To make the experience even more special, we had breakfast at “The Jungle Café”, a very nice plated breakfast on board our skiffs, surrounded by wilderness. We took this opportunity, so we didn’t have to interrupt our wildlife experience of exploring a remote area away from the ship. Since the level of the Amazon has reached record high levels in this area, the quality of our wildlife viewing opportunities was exceptional. We had great sightings of multiple red howler monkeys, three-toed sloths, and many species of birds. We ended our morning by swimming at Yanayacu Lake. Here, a few pink river dolphins showed up, curious about their visitors.
After having sailed upriver in the Ucayali, this morning we were in the vicinity of Yanalpa Creek. We explored it with our skiffs and the high waters allowed us to go further while searching for wildlife. Several monkey species were seen, including Isabel’s sakis, squirrels, and saddle-back tamarins. Bird enthusiasts were also very happy with numerous interesting sightings, like the cobalt-winged parakeets, the mealy parrot, the slate-colored hawk, and not one but three different species of aracaris: chestnut-eared, lettered, and rare ivory-billed. Everyone’s favorite sighting was a group of several scarlet macaws. Many large green iguanas and a spectacled caiman represented the reptiles this morning. Back onboard, we enjoyed a couple of presentations by our staff and eventually arrived at the mouth of the Dorado River, where some went kayaking and then all of us explored by skiff. We watched more birds, including some awesome close encounters with an Amazon icon, the hoatzin. We stayed in the river after sunset and made our way back in the dark, searching for creatures using powerful spotlights. We found fishing bats, spectacled caimans, and beautiful common potoo, and we admired the beauty of Amazonia at night.
