4th November – A Bird’s Eye view of the Forest

Stinking turkey

Today we were woken up at 5.30am (although I’d been awake at least an hour by then) and we left camp at 6.30am.  We set off through the swamps in our canoe and eventually they gave way to the dark and rather primordial rain forest.  We spotted some monkeys in the trees overhead and a white hawk on route. Of course, there is also the constant huffing and puffing of the commonly seen and heard stinking turkeys which sit in trees close to the river and get annoyed if you get too close to them.  I think they’re quite attractive looking birds and love their snorting noise.  The reason they’re common is because they eat only leaves which taint the taste of their flesh so have never been hunted.

Red bellied macaws....

After a short paddle, we disembarked and put on the hated wellies which are like a form of torture in this heat.  A short trek through the forest got us to the foot of a majestic kapok tree with a metal enclosed staircase beside it which led to a platform in the top of the tree some 40 metres above the ground (just over 200 steps!).  We ascended the staircase at various speeds and eventually came out on to the platform.  Wow!!  What an amazing view over the surrounding canopy.  The climb was worth it for the view alone.  We spent about 2 hours up there observing the beautiful butterflies and lots of different birds – most through the bird spotting scopes that were pointed out by the guides who have the most incredible eyesight.  Probably the highlights were seeing the white throated toucan, the largest in the area, going into its nest, which was a hole in a palm tree, and a small flock of red bellied macaws fighting for fruit with the golden mantled tamarind monkeys, which are exclusive to this park.

Amazon forest dragon

After 2 hours, it really was very hot and the sun was very intense and I could feel my skin starting to burn.  So, I was quite relieved to descend back to the forest floor which felt very cool in comparison to the tree platform.  We declined the 2 hour walk through the forest back to the lake and instead retraced out steps back to the canoe for a much easier journey back to the camp.  We passed an Amazon forest dragon resting on a branch plus spotted a fearsome looking caterpillar on a tree trunk that kept rearing up towards my camera lens like a leech when I tried to take its photo.

We’re now resting in our rooms before lunch and then in the afternoon we have another water based activity and are exploring a creek we haven’t been down before in the canoe......

Squirrel monkey

As we had a torrential downpour in the early afternoon, we delayed our outing until 4pm as none of us wanted another soaking.    By 4pm though, it was lovely so we happily stepped into our canoe for our last outing.  Jairo’s mission was to show us red howler monkeys so we were going to an area of flooded forest full of very tall palms, some 30 metres tall, closely related to the brazil nut palm which the howlers love.  Our 1^st wildlife sightings were of the very cute and tiny squirrel monkeys (max. weight about 1kg) – at this time of year there are a lot of mothers with babies, so we saw a lot of this combo. with various size babies gripping their mothers backs tightly.  They needed to mind you, as the huge leaps they did were incredible onto tiny branches and palm leaves that swung wildly as they landed on them.  They really are amazing acrobats.

Red howler monkey and incredibly ugly baby

Next we got a glimpse of a very rare spider monkey and then saw some more capuchins.  Finally, we saw some red howlers incredibly high in the foliage - a huge male (about 12 kg) with a baby and another member of his troupe.  They are the loudest monkey in the world and although these were thankfully silent, we had heard them during our 3 days stay here – apparently the sound can travel up to 3km.

As our mission was accomplished, we retraced our paddles and just enjoyed gliding silently along the creek fancifully imagining dinosaurs crashing through just such forests millions of years ago. Finally, we got back to the lake and did some caiman spotting as they were getting into ambush positions to catch fish for their suppers, before arriving back at the lodge.

The lodge from the lake - stunning!