At this time of year the upper Amazon is flooded. No cause for alarm though. Although this does not seem normal to us, it is perfectly normal for this flood forest or Varzea. And many species, fish and trees alike even depend on it. The great thing about this time of year is the amazing exploring we can do by skiff.
We landed at one of the few sections of “terra firme” that we will see this week, a hike called Casual. For some of us, the solid ground was not as solid as we would have liked, but the rubber boots provided plenty of protection against the mud. Today was a wonderful opportunity to see the forest up close. We learned about the trees and flowers from our guides, including natural history and medicinal uses still practiced today by people that live along the river.
A highlight of the hike was the “finds” from our local scouts. We had three extra assistants along. These men, with their machetes in hand, went off the trails and came back to show us some of the more hidden inhabitants of the forest. A four-foot long anaconda was one of the first critters we got to admire and photograph. Then we saw a tarantula, a tree frog, leaf frogs, and eventually the bright colored poison dart frogs of red, black-and-blue, and blue-and-yellow—each of them smaller than the size of a thumbnail and brightly advertising their toxicity! A final surprise was the rainbow boa that was wrapped around the arm of our scout. It was not out for a meal, just hanging on.
At lunch we had our first views of pink river dolphins. Although they sound and look like mythical creatures, they are very real indeed. They have bulbous heads, long beaks, small eyes, and pink color and have no knowledge of their ocean cousins. They are over two thousand miles upriver from the Atlantic.
Our day was bookended with skiff rides during the somewhat cooler part of the day. We have seen many new birds, three-toed sloths, and a few lizards. Our naturalists have amazing eyesight and can pick our iguanas and sloths in the distance from a moving skiff that then take us minutes to see even when it pointed out to us.
As a final treat to an already amazing day, four of the crew showed off another one of their talents—music. While we dined on dessert of homemade ice cream, they serenaded us with guitar, local flutes, drums, and voices.
