Cedro Caño, Flor de Castaña and Supay Caño
After being in the Amazon rain forest for several days, I can already see our guests little by little are getting deeply connected with the marvelous dynamics of this enthralling ecosystem.
A pre-breakfast skiff ride along an small but beautiful tributary gave us some wonderful rewards: Swallow-tailed kites, Masked Crimson Tanagers, Squirrel monkeys and a Plum-throated Cotinga. The latter bird species is a living jewel for its exquisite coloration is astonishing. It certainly looked like a little shining star against the blue horizon. These birds are usually spotted in the highest top of flooded forests, therefore the usage of binoculars is a must.
After breakfast we went to ¬“Flor de Castaña” community. This Spanish name can be translated as “Brazilian Nut Flower” for this is the main product that is produced by the community. This town, due to its privileged location, is one of the few ones along the riverbanks that are not flooded at this time of the year.
It was a wonderful experience, for we observed for a short period of time how the locals live, visited the local elementary school classrooms and distributed the rest of school supplies that our guests brought.
In the afternoon we visited the third location of the day, Supay Caño. In this creek we had a couple of wonderful sightings. We observed at a close range from the skiffs a Brown-throated Three-toed sloth (Bradypus variegatus) swimming! The behavior of this solitary, unusual mammal is eminently curious in many ways. They feed very high in the forest canopy, where they are very camouflaged and difficult to see. On the ground they are helpless, and virtually unable to walk due to their famous slowness. They have a peculiar ritual for an arboreal critter; they descend from time to time (approximately once a week) to the ground to defecate. While hanging down from a tree branch dig a hole with its tail, defecate in it and cover it over! If for some unexpected reasons they fall in the water they can swim fairly well with strong strokes crossing rivers slowly but surely. We witnessed a sloth swimming today! This sighting is not very common and it is just the third time I have seen this event in more than twenty years around the rain forest, therefore as you can deduce, my dear reader, it is a very special sighting. Later on to top the day off, we had the chance to spot another sloth but this time embracing a baby in its belly.
Once onboard we enjoyed a spectacular sunset from the decks of our cozy home this week, the Delfin II.
