Our first day within the Pacaya-Samiria reserve was a total success! After a well rested night, we eagerly started our first skiff ride by six in the morning. It might sound a bit early, but here in the Amazon is the right way to do it! All animals start their foraging activities as early as possible, and it was a real advantage to be there to observe the first flocks of birds crossing the sky heading to their foraging grounds. As heat and humidity builds up, both prey and predators are incline to become lethargic and usually look for hidden areas to avoid these intense, harsh conditions.
Fortunately for us, the morning was quite fresh –according to Amazon standards-, and we enjoyed searching for wildlife along the Pahuachiro creek mud banks. Our first monkey sight of the trip was a group of friendly squirrel monkeys foraging away on one of the nearby trees. Both scarlet and blue/yellow macaws kept passing over our heads, producing the loud sounds we are so use to hear in movies or documentaries, only that here it was for real!
It was a busy morning, as when we returned to the ship we could already count over 20 species of birds for our master list!
The after breakfast outing was on a different location known as Casual Trail; here not only the naturalists were unveiling the rain forest for us, but we had the expert eyes of some locals to help us out finding the well-hidden wildlife. From time to time, these men guided us through off-trail shortcuts where all sort of wildlife was observed. Anaconda, boa constrictors, poison-dart frogs, tarantulas and even a rare encounter with a “two-toed sloth” was part of our morning encounters.
As for our afternoon, we cruise with the ship further into the Marañon river area to reach a couple of tributaries known as Yanayacu-Pucate Rivers. The confluence of these two black water tributaries created the perfect settings for our afternoon excursion, which was quite exiting as well. Pink river dolphins and three-toed sloths were definitely the highlight of the afternoon outing, but we don’t want to take away the merit of the forest itself and its incredible landscapes!
