The Peruvian Amazon
A very easy, if long, journey out to Lima via Madrid - 16.5 hours including a 2.5 hour layover - with both flights on time and no problems with lost baggage! After a night in an airport hotel, immediately opposite the terminal, we were back in the airport the next morning for our onward flight to Puerto Maldonado, about 1.5 hrs South East of Lima, across the Andes and in the headwaters of the Amazon. We were met on arrival and transported by bus….
…to a landing stage on the river, where we boarded a boat to take us down river to the Inkaterra Reserva Hacienda Concepcion. We have been here for the last 3 nights and leave this morning to return to the airport and fly to Cusco. We have had a wonderful stay here in the rainforest. The hotel is all-inclusive (except for drinks) and we have been well-fed! The lodge runs a programme of eco activities, most of which we have joined over the course of our stay here. On our first afternoon, we were led on a guided walk through the forest and then, after a short break, we went out again once it was dark to take a boat along the river. With the help of a big searchlight and the eagle eyes of our guides, we were able to see a number of white caiman and a whole family of capybaras on the river banks. Our iPhones aren’t up to the job of catching good images of what we saw so I am including immediately below and later in this blog some Google images to give you all a better idea of what we saw (albeit the definition in some of the images isn’t great).
On our first full day, we were back on the river in the morning for a short ride down to the start of a trailhead taking us to Lake Sandoval, where we took a canoe in search of black caiman, river otters and the like. The lake was beautiful and whilst we didn’t see the otters we saw lots of caiman, including one which shadowed our canoe for quite some time. After lunch back at the lodge, we were back in the boat downriver to a canopy walkway, built by research biologists. This took us up 40 metres to a viewing platform and then across a series of suspended walkways. Great views of the forest, but no wildlife about that we could see.
On our final day, we were back in canoes and off round a local lagoon, where we saw more white caiman and a lot of birds and butterflies of which the blue morpho is the most spectacular. Then through the forest to a hide where we had a good view of a ‘clay lick’, where animals, birds and butterflies come to lick the clay and absorb vital minerals including salt. Unfortunately, nothing arrived during our spell in the hide so after a sweaty half an hour seeing nothing we abandoned that, and returned for lunch. In the afternoon, we were taken to the lodge’s medicine garden, where we were told about the medicinal properties of various trees and plants. We were also told about the Brazil Nut, which is an important local industry. We had no idea that they come not just in their own shell but in a larger outer case which can contain up to 25 individual nuts and weigh about a kilo.
A final selection of images of some of the wonderful creatures we have seen over the last few days….clockwise from top left 1) horned screamer, hoatzin, sunbittern, American pygmy kingfisher; 2) white caiman, black caiman, capuchin monkey, red howler monkey; 3) blue morpho butterfly.
