Dense, green foliage surrounds us. The river is wide and brings all sorts of things along with it; dugout canoes carrying people, large rafts of green grass, tall trees filled with birds all along the length of the river. I guess now you know what I’m talking about. Yes, it is the Amazon rainforest and its rivers.
This morning, we visited a small community called Amazonas. Here, we explored the village in order to get to know the people of the Amazon rainforest and their life in this remote place. It is very interesting to see that the only connection they have with the rest of the villages is the river. There are no roads, no vehicles nor horses. Their means of transportation is the dugout canoe and the paddles in their hands. Some of these folks are farmers who plant cassava and bananas, others are fishermen. This community has a fish farm that is run by the women and children—this way, they never run out of food.
In the late morning, we navigated onward to a special area: the meeting point of two major rivers, the Marañón and the Ucayali. This is the traditional beginning of the mighty Amazon River! As we reached this iconic geographical point, we celebrated the moment with the traditional Peruvian drink, the Pisco Sour. This is just the beginning of our expedition, as we continued our journey up the Ucayali river to explore Clavero Lake.
Clavero Lake is a connection hub for wildlife of many different types, making it an outstanding place for visitors. It is especially known as a roosting site for great egrets and neotropical cormorants, and we were excited to see what the day’s exploration would bring. At the beginning of the ride, we encountered a pod of dolphins. It seemed that they were fishing, because there were flocks of large billed terns above them. In this feeding frenzy, you always see the dolphins diving and bringing fish to the surface, and the terns wait here to take advantage of the opportunity to score an easy meal. It was exciting to watch this interesting exchange between species.
What a fascinating day!
