After two early mornings the last couple of days, we gave ourselves a bit of a rest today and started our skiff rides after breakfast in the Yarapa River. We enjoyed incredible sightings of blue-and-yellow macaws perched in the canopy and flying overhead. We spotted a sloth, long-nose bats, and a big male woolly monkey in the trees above. Along the way, we stopped to visit a family building a small lodge for ecotourism and got a closer look at some of the jungle animals they have as free-ranging pets, including an uakari monkey, a peccary, and two small capybaras. It was a fascinating window into the human-wildlife relationship here among communities living within the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. Back on board and underway, we celebrated entering the official start of the Amazon River with a special drink from our bartender at the point where the Ucayali and Marañon Rivers merge. After lunch, we sailed down the Marañon and visited the community of Amazonas to get a look at life for people living in and near the reserve. We learned about traditional foods and handicrafts from a number of women in the community before hearing their stories during a presentation on Minga Peru. This local nonprofit spearheads many important projects for the communities in the Upper Peruvian Amazon. Many of us took home memories we won’t soon forget from our first day, which we spent connecting with the people of this special place.
7/25/2024
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Delfin II
Ucayali and Dorado Rivers
Today we had the great opportunity to start exploring the riverbank of the Ucayali River. We loaded the skiffs right after sunrise. As we cruised along the riverbank, different species of birds were seen. A highlight of that early exploration was the sighting of a tayra, a small omnivorous creature in the weasel family, that didn’t stay long in our view. After breakfast, we walked through Yanallpa flooded forest. Here our naturalist explained to us the importance of the floods for the Amazon forest. They also pointed out the effect of climate change over the area and how it has changed the use of the soils after the floods. It was a morning of learning about how the forest has manage to adapt to the seasonal floods and how fish and other animals depends on those events. Our late afternoon activities were held on Dorado River. Our naturalists brought out spotlights after sunset. Black caimans and spectacled caimans were the major attraction for our guests. Other night dwellers were also spotted by our naturalists, such as fishing bats, boat-billed night herons, night jars, and many other animals were seen by our guests. It was another awesome day exploring the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve.
