After arriving to Iquitos, we started motoring up the Amazon River, and soon we left the city lights behind to immerse ourselves in the darkness of the Amazon jungle.
Our destination was a creek known as Marayali, which comes from the mix of the names of two rivers: the Marañon and the Ucayali Rivers. This location was the perfect place to begin our expedition in the Amazon, as there were so many wildlife encounters from the minute we arrived to the entrance of the creek.
After breakfast, we headed to “terra firma” and hiked over a trail known as Casual. The forest in this area is quite pristine, and as added benefit to our visit, locals from the nearby village were in the area finding the wildlife for us to observe. As we strolled into the forest, the “rivereños” were constantly coming back to us with frogs, spiders and snakes. However the highlight of the morning, and perhaps the highlight of the trip, was a baby three-toed sloth that we spotted near the trail. We have no idea where his mother was, and despite all attempts, we couldn’t find her. The baby was crawling on the floor, which was tremendously dangerous for him at this age. Instead of leaving him to his fate, we decided to put him under the protection of one of the locals, until it grows to be strong enough to be on its own. We all fell in love with this cute creature, however not everyone was too fond of its smell!
After we finished hiking the trail, we headed back to the ship for a well-deserved lunch. During the afternoon, we explored an area known as Pucate-Yanayacu, and had great luck finding more wildlife along the way.
The amount of diversity in this reserve never ceases to amaze me, and I am thankful for all the experiences that we will all be taking back home with us, after visiting one of the most iconic places on the planet, the Amazon!
