Belluda Caño & Dorado River
When the early birds left, the sky was dark, and sure enough before returning for breakfast the rain started, but gently. Meanwhile we had entered a small, narrow creek where three different heron species immediately made themselves known (capped, great and snowy), then the greater anis with the burbling sounds they make in large flocks, an undulated tinamou eerily called from the interior, mealy parrots crackled overhead with their abrasive but entertaining calls, red-capped cardinals, donacobius, kiskidees, hooded tanagers and masked crimsoned tanagers flit by, and a distant sloth moved slowly under the canopy.
On our way out of this delightful stream, a “wolf-fish” jumped (as they had been doing all morning), hit Sham in the arm and fell flopping into the skiff. Juan Luis, our naturalist, managed to pick it up without getting bitten, and showed us a set of teeth that would do credit to anyone's nightmare and put even the piranhas to shame! On setting it loose back into the water, he then showed us the covering of slime left on his hand after the handling. Apparently they are good to eat. Hmmm.
Later in the morning we had some options, and another skiff ride further up the creek was successful in finding tamarin monkeys and the bizarrely hairy Monk saki (perhaps that is the origin of the name “belluda,” which means hairy in Spanish). On exiting the small stream it was once more impressed on us how much the main river, the Ucayali, had risen in the last 24 hours. Entire trees were now floating down river (some still upright), logs, branches, clumps of vegetation; sections of riverbanks collapse as we drive by, the landscape changing constantly.
Back on board our chef demonstrated the making of a traditional Peruvian Amazonian dish known as “juanes”—rice and chicken packed carefully into a special leaf, tied and steamed and...delicious! And, of course, we got to try our hand as well in the making of a few, which were promptly eaten at lunch. However, before we even got that far, Reni, one of our naturalists, gave a talk upstairs about many of the tropical fruits found here in the Peruvian Amazon region. The tasty part was eating the fruits afterwards. Not only learning about the taste, but learning HOW to eat them—seeds/no seeds, peel/don't peel, etc.
By mid-afternoon, the Delfin II had made her way further up the Ucayali River towards the entrance of the Dorado River. We departed by skiff after a talk on the rains, water and soils of the Amazon which was then followed by a few minutes up-dating our wildlife checklist. Into the Dorado River we went, but not before spending some time at the mouth where vivid pink dolphins (Inia geoffrensis) mixed with the small gray dolphins (Sotalia fluviatilis). With the sunshine coming from behind us at a low angle, it was perfect conditions to attempt photographing these mammals of a hard-to-believe color. Their abrupt appearances and erratic swim paths were the real challenge, but the offer of a free drink to whoever could manage an in-focus picture of a pink dolphin was good incentive. I'll see how many I have to invite in a few minutes upstairs for cocktail hour.
The rest of the trip was a success also–five three-toed sloths (in separate trees), one giving herself an all-over body scratch from feet to head, the others motionless (as expected). Caiman eyes were spotted along the banks as we head home in the darkness, then suddenly around the corner the lights of home–the Delfin II.
