DAY 1:
On Sunday 27th July, we were up and out bright and early again – this time to head to the airport for our flight to the Amazonian city of Puerto Maldonado, southeastern Peru. We’ve booked a 3 night stay with an ecotourism company called Rainforest Expeditions, a more luxurious option than we normally take, so a huge treat. No complications with LATAM this time and soon we were up in the air heading East.
We arrived around noon, straight off the plane and into the humidity and heat of the Amazon! Martin’s watch informed us it was 33 degrees, but would feel like 40 due to the humidity. Time to rid ourselves of layers!
We were soon greeted by Luis, our guide for the next 4 days. He got us loaded onto a bus (with aircon!) and off we went to the Rainforest Expedition offices where we could sort our bags and freshen up.
Next up was an hour and a half bus ride to the river, during which we were given our lunch. This was incredibly scrummy, but also packaged beautifully – in leaves and a wicker basket. Gorgeous.
With the bus ride over, we’d reached the Tambopata River in the Amazon rainforest!
Once we were all loaded into the boat, it was off down the river for our hour long journey to Refugio Amazonas. Along the way we saw a few Capybara, our first lot of wildlife!
Here are a few pics from our arrival at the lodges, plus some more wildlife that welcomed us in…
We were greeted with cold towels and fresh drinks and snacks, and then got the keys to our rooms. A quick unpack and chill and then we were off out on a jungle night walk… lots of creatures and insects to see, but sadly no sloths this time.
We also had showers with a friendly frog and found this guy right by Sylvie’s head (outside the net!) – look at the size of him!
DAY 2:
Another day, another 3:45am start! We met with our guide at 4:30am, ready for a walk to the boat and a nearly 2 hour ride up the river to the Macaw Clay Licks. These clay licks are exposed riverbanks where clay deposits are rich in minerals; the birds consume this to neutralise toxins in their diets. This one in the Tambopata National Reserve here in Peru is one of the most famous in the world.
It was truly amazing – the sounds were incredible (sometimes enhanced with Howler Monkeys from the Forest!) and their colours were so vibrant.
Once we’d had our fill of the birds (although the only reason we were keen to move was because even at 7:30am the heat from the sun was intense), we were given a fresh breakfast in the shade of some trees. Granola, yoghurt, fruit, boiled eggs, ham, rolls, omelettes, milk … delicious.
Then it was time to hope back aboard the boat and make our way back to the lodge.
Back at the lodge, we had some free time to chill, shower and have lunch. We then tried to nap (adults) and explore (kids)… the girls made bracelets out of seeds and enjoyed the area.
4pm saw us getting back into our “jungle gear” and heading off with Luis to the canopy tower. Here we were aiming to get a very different view of the jungle!
What a day!
Ending with an amazing sunset from the canopy tower, a talk about how camera recorders are being used here (and how citizen science can help!), a delicious dinner and a rather uninspiring game of Uno… 8:30pm and it was time for yet another shower and for us all to get some much needed sleep.
DAY 3:
A more respectable 6:30am start this morning, and we awoke to the sounds of rainforest rain, which had continued through the night.
Our guide met us at our breakfast at 7am and explained that due to the rain, we’d need to shift around our activities for the day… this led to a slightly more chilled start – we did some natural tattooing! Using fruit dye, we had loads of fun drawing Amazonian creatures on each other…
After the tattooing we were invited to help with some food preparation, using the big leaves that we had two days ago on the bus. Several of us had a go – the trickiest bit was folding the leaves so they didn’t break.
Just before lunch, the adults (plus Elijah) went off on a Brazil nut tree trail with Luis, making the most of the fact that it had stopped raining. We learnt lots about the trees and nuts themselves, as well as several other medicinal trees here in the forest.
Lunch was its usual deliciousness, and afterwards we got prepped for our last excursion – a jungle hike to the Oxbow Lake and back in the dark.
We set off in our borrowed wellies (suggested by Luis because of the recent rain but also better for avoiding army ants and vipers) and hoped for adventure… within minutes we heard monkeys overhead so we were off to a good start! We also saw various fungi, a crested eagle nest, leaf-cutter ants and learned about the açai berry tree.
When we arrived at the Oxbow Lake (these are u-shaped lakes that are formed when a part of a river is cut off, creating a free standing body of water), we were greeted with a beautiful tranquil scene, enhanced with various bird calls.
Apparently the lake is home to many different fish (including piranha), electric eels, caiman, anacondas and many more! We did see an electric eel, which was exciting, but sadly no other water-based creatures.
After our catamaran-canoe around the lake, we headed back in the dark, torches in hand. Night hikes are definitely a bit more wild in the rainforest, you never know what you’re going to see…
The bird-eating tarantula was a highlight – the first video shows the two babies that came out first, and then the size difference to the mum (who wasn’t fully grown yet!) who came out last. The second video was one Luis took using Kate’s phone of the mum tarantula.
We also saw fireflies and an orb weaver spider on the way back – all in all a very successful trip.
All too soon we were enjoying our final supper here in the rainforest, and saying goodbye to our wonderful guide Luis. Here is a pic of us all, with our newly-wed pals Kate and Matthew – who must’ve drawn the short straw in group selection and ended up with us lot!!
DAY 4:
Our departure day began at 5:45am, with a howler monkey alarm! Time to scramble to finish packing and get to our early breakfast. It was delicious as always. We then met some others travelling back today and all hopped aboard the boat that would take us down the river for an hour.
A quick transfer from boat to bus saw us leaving the river behind. In an hour and a half we’d be at the airport, ready to leave the Amazon behind. We’re definitely not ready to leave yet but have had the most incredible time here, something we’ll never forget.
Coyle Family Adventures 