Rio Tambopata Peru

Two-plus hours by boat on Rio Tambopata, a river as wide, flat and brown as the town we passed through, lined with green, orange-ish water dotted with islets of dark, volcanic-looking rock, and finally we arrive at Wasai Lodge.  Our boat is long, low and covered as almost all others on this river. Most carry tourists but one can still see locals, their boats loaded with bananas and headed for market.

Our first event was a night walk in what our guide, Guermo, told us is actually secondary rainforest. His eye was amazing, catching every movement, spotting every insect, spider and frog. One sighting was of a tarantula with her young that he lured out of her nest with a stick in order to give us a better view. On a later walk, Guermo pointed out and explained the uses of many medicinal plants and trees. Later he told me that he loved the jungle because every time he went into it he found something new, different and exciting.

At last, the event I signed on for, a trip to the macaw clay licks. We had to get up at 3:30 am, pile into the boats and make our way to a reserve in order to be there at dawn. We were cautioned not to wear blue or red as those are the colors these birds associate with predators. We stood with our cameras on an island across a waterway from the clay cliffs where the macaws go every morning to dig at the clay with minerals that neutralize toxins, according to our guide. The birds arrive in pairs and put on quite a show, some showing bright yellow as they flew in, perching in the trees, assualting the clay licks, groups taking off in a flurry of feathers, then settling again...and the noise! These are not songbirds and their raucus cries were as exciting as the visual event. This was the highlight of my trip to Peru.

Our next big event was a trip to Lago Sandoval where we hiked a long trail before boarding a canoe for a short ride down a swampy channel into the lake. Our objective was to find caymans and otters, and we did, but more exciting to me were the birds and many colorful butterflies. As we hiked back from the river, the monkeys who are still during the heat of the day became active, leaping from tree to tree in some sort of mass migration. Very entertaining.

Back in Puerto Maldanado, a low, dusty town of flat buildings, a square with an odd Japanese-styled monument, and new steel bridge spanning the river and headed for the Atlantic. This town is not distinctive. On the outskirts are the poorer folk living in the usual peruvian adobe huts and, further out, pole huts sided with rough wood or tarps and groves of banana and papaya. It is very basic yet somehow it doesn't appear to be a such a terrible life.