Pacaya River and Magdalena River, 1/11/2019, Delfin II
Aboard the
Delfin II
Amazon
Today we decided to mix it up a bit. We still went out early in
the morning, but this time we took breakfast with us! Breakfast in the
rainforest surrounded by birds and monkeys is the perfect way to start the day.
We had more amazing wildlife sightings today and even got to swim in a lake and
have pink river dolphins swim within 10 yards of us.
Mike learned early on that the best way to escape Ohio was to become a marine biologist. During college at Wittenberg University he attended a semester at Duke University's Marine Lab — that time only confirmed his love for all things oceanic and ma...
We were up with the sun this morning and out for an exploratory skiff ride. It rained for most of the night but miraculously we didn’t see a drop of precipitation during our exploration. All the birds were drying themselves in the early morning sun! After breakfast we hiked on terra firma, one of the few places we can walk when the river levels are so high. We encountered quite a few critters, everything from a two-toed sloth to an Amazonian mata mata snapping turtle who had just laid a clutch of eggs and then buried them on high ground. Our afternoon was filled with more birds and even a few gray river dolphins playing in the confluence of the main Marañon River and the Pucate River. The dolphins were busy catching fish in the mixing black and brown waters of the two rivers. Time and again they surfaced, but never where we anticipated them to be, frustrating even the most seasoned photographers.
The first light of the morning woke us up accompanied by an array of loud and bodacious sounds. Welcome to the world of neotropic birds! Soon after, we took to the skiffs for our first exploration and, after a nutritious breakfast, we headed for a hike in the forest. In the afternoon we explored another caño (tributary) searching for, and finding, additional interesting wildlife.
Leaving Delfin II at 06:00 for our morning skiff ride, we explored the Marayali River, a river that bisects the Pacaya-Samiria National Park. Coppery titi monkeys and a plethora of birdlife rewarded our efforts. After a scrumptious breakfast, we visited the village of Amazonas to see how local people live and flourish along the mighty Amazon River. In this community of people, there is a very strong presence from Minga Peru, an NGO that empowers women to create artisan crafts as well as manage fish farms to raise fish for sale. Our day was topped off with a cruise along Piranha Creek which emptied into the Ucayali River. Going downstream we met up at the junction with the Marañon River, the very beginning of the mighty Amazon River! We stopped and raised a glass to this amazing river!
