Days 16 - 19 ... Four blogs in one day
Day 16... Into the jungle
You may remember that I had organised a taxi driven by a cousin of Alex and Isabel, my previous taxi drivers, to take me to Coca ready for the start of my jungle trip. They arrived promptly at midnight, Lucia and her boyfriend, whose name I don't remember. I hopped in the back and as we started out, I checked that they were taking me the right way... after all, I had no real idea of who these people were. We did take the right road however but that didn't allow me to relax much. I feel the roads in Ecuador are much safer on my bike. We wound up and down unseen mountain passes.. avoiding potholes by frequently driving on the wrong side of the road, hoping that no traffic was coming the other way. Roadworks appeared without announcement forcing us to the other side of the road... and barriers on the roadside often disappeared.... in fact it was probably a good job I couldn't see anything other than the road. It was scary enough as it was. Needless to say I did not get a wink of sleep in the 5 hours drive to Coca. In fact, thinking about it, this was probably more deserving of sponsorship than the bike riding!!!
We pitched up at the marina at 0500, 1 hour earlier than required. I was a little concerned that the guide would not show up, given that this was all arranged through friends of friends last minute but on schedule Patricio turned up, the English speaking guide, followed by Fernando, who turned out to be the main guide, working at Sacha Nãmpi, who didn't speak a word of English. Eventually after 1 hour waiting at the docks we were invited to board our boat to take us to the lodges. This was the Napa river that we were to travel down, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon River. It would take 4 hours to get to our destination.
I soon found out why. As we set off, it soon became clear that this was not a straightforward 'jaunt down the river'. The pilot of the boat had to be very careful, avoiding sandbanks and trees under the water and other debris. This often necessitated a zig zagging across the river.
His skill was evident. He had no depth monitor and was clearly navigating the obstacles through skill and experience alone. I felt pretty safe.
As we zig zagged along, I watched the jungle pass by on the river banks... reflecting how lucky I was to be here. Truly amazing to be in the Amazon basin.
As we went further down the river, Fernando pointed out the turtles sunning themselves on the banks or on trees sticking out of the water. There were literally hundreds there. I spent the entire journey looking at the jungle and the different types of trees and plants I could see. Some of the trees stretched well above the rest of the canopy. They were ecosystems in their own right and I was excited to see what the jungle held close up.
We passed different communities, each with their own little harbour. Many had the traditional looking huts but there were also some concrete buildings with tin roofs. Many communities had electricity pylons stretching overhead. The jungle was not as far from the modern world as one would like to believe.
Eventually we reached our destination... Sacha Nãmpi.. a tourist lodge built to help benefit that community. Most of the communities, like this one, were part of the Kitchwa tribe. Although there were several other tribes in the area, 2 of which were not in contact with other people.
I bounced off the boat, onto some decidedly dodgy steps, health and safety would have an absolute fit out here. I made my way up lots of sets of steps to the lodges, built in traditional style and pretty nice. There was electricity but no phone/internet signal..
phone free for a few days!!! Hopefully SPOT was working!
I was impatient to get into the jungle. Fernando had organised lunch and then an afternoon walk near the lodge. I liked Fernando, despite us not being able.to communicate well. He revealed to me throughout the week just how knowledgeable he was. Patricio was also clearly knowledgeable but I did not like him. He was a bit creepy, but as he was the one who spoke English, I was kinda stuck.
Putting that aside, after a very complete lunch, we headed out into the jungle behind the lodges.
The one thing that stuck out from 5his walk was the number of different types of large spider that lived in the jungle. Many times I saved myself from walking into a web. One web had about 20 spiders in... all large...
We crossed several bridges, one of which was not really for to be called 'bridge'. It was a slightly scary crossing, balanced on one plank of the bridge and trying to step onto the cross beams only. It was worth the crossing however as we came across a tree that was just huge... the roots spread out in a fashion that was taller than myself and the tree stretched straight up... a true giant of the forest, harbouring probably thousands of species within its protective shadow.
We also saw lots of little frogs, most of them a dark brown colour. Disappointingly, we saw no reptiles or larger animals but I reasoned that I had more days to find them.
I collapsed into bed that night exhausted having not slept for a long time. Looking forward to the next day....
Day 17... Life blood
I got up very early this morning to watch the sunrise explode over the Napa river. It was a very beautiful sight, but having forgotten my phone in the lodge, I have no pictures. The horizon was red over the river and the rays of light gradually spread out until suddenly the light burst up and cast over everything. The birds were calling to each other in the dawn chorus each with their own unique calls. Butterflies hovered around the clay of the River bank and there was peace.
After breakfast (a mixture of eggs, veg and fish, I believe), we headed down to the boat, and proceeded to pootle down the Napa river to Yasumi N.P.
The Napa River runs into Peru, and literally at the border, we cut off onto the Yasumi river, the lifeblood of the Yasumi N.P. We cut the engine of the boat where the 2 Rivers Meet and sat and waited... I wasnt sure for what. Fernando pointed.... over there, I looked... nothing. He pointed again to another spot, and rising above the water was a Pink River Dolphin... over there another. Briefly rising out of the water you could see the fin, not the usual shape dorsal fin of other dolphins, a more elongated shape. They didn't surface for long, making it hard to get pictures, but they blew water out of blowholes making them unmistakably dolphins. It was a privilege to be able to see them.
We then pootled down the Yasumi river, keeping an eye out for monkeys and other wildlife. Birds were the main occupant it seemed of the river banks... Herons, many different types gracefully rose up as we approached.
One bird, the 'stinky turkey' as it was locally known, made a huge amount of noise as we passed. They were like the pheasants of the Amazon, essentially a bit stupid.
We then hit it very lucky... Fernando suddenly cut the engine and began paddling. I couldn't initially see what he was heading for but the noise, grunting sounds emanating from up river told me where to look.... just up ahead were three or four giant otters, shouting at us for disturbing them. They barked at us, then dived under to resurface upstream, barking all the way until they disappeared from sight. What a sighting that was!!
It wasn't the last we saw of the otters that day, as we came back they once again started shouting at us, except one, who was in the middle of his lunch. Chomping loudly he seemed generally oblivious to us, until he realised that he had been left behind by his mates. He then dived under the water to resurface upstream with the rest of them. To see them once that close was amazing, twice, unbelievable. And so close to them.
The further we went along the river, the older the jungle seemed to become. The trees larger, the feel more primordial. The smell a more dense earthy smell, of rotting wood and rain soaked vegetation. As we meandered along, the River Dolphins made another appearance. We sat watching them for a while, popping up on the surface every now and again...
Further on down the river, there was in front of the boat a sudden swish of water and a commotion.... Caiman said Fernando... didn't see him at all, just the resulting muddy water!!
We beached the boat and proceeded to follow a trail in the midst of Yasuni NP. It was exceedingly quiet in the forest, like all the animals were having their siesta! We had heard thunder in the distance, but n9w the skies opened and buckets of water came tumbling down. I was soaked in seconds. Fortunately it was still warm. We made our way back to the boat, not having seen any of the animals the guides hoped to find. Its a funny feeling... you want the animals to be instantly available, but this isn't the zoo, this is the jungle, and the animals decide if they are going to be seen or not.
The boat ride back was a cold one, shivering with my lifejacket as an extra layer, I was very happy to get back to the lodge for a shower and to dry off. The number of mosquito bites had increased exponentially since I had arrived and were driving me nuts. Turns out that the Ecuadorian version of repellent is just as useless as deet!
Day 18... Walking on the wild side
Today began by putting on damp clothes... my socks could have walked into the jungle by themselves. My shoes were soaked... it was a horrible feeling but I hoped that the clothes would dry on me. I swapped my wet shorts for my dry trousers, leaving my shorts hung up outside to hopefully dry.
We set off once again for Yasuni NP. The plan today was to go to a lagoon where there was a hope of seeing some different types of birds, maybe seeing some monkeys and then we would wait for it to get dark and search for Caiman by torchlight!!
We stopped where the 2 rivers met again, to see the dolphins once again. They didn't disappoint and we were treated to another display from them.
Then we took a different river branch and slowly made our way to the lagoon. It all seemed very quiet, the usual herons taking flight as they saw us. Then a screeching high above us made me look up...
A pair of blue and yellow mcaws were flying across the lagoon, I was just able to make out the colours. I was very pleased to have seen these as they are not always easy to spot. We saw a few Toucans, high up in the trees but easily distinguishable by their silhouette. I also saw a woodpecker with a bright red head and at least 2 species of kingfisher. All with bright colours and beautiful to see. Once again we then beached the boat and headed into the jungle. Rubber boots required as the first bit, we literally waded up to our knees in stagnant water. We walked along scanning the trees and the ground for any sign of life...
Then Fernando stopped and pointed up.... we stood listening.... a crashing in the trees above gave away their position and we followed the movements above. Glimpses of the monkeys were had, in between branches and as they lept from tree to tree. Apparently I was seeing the white fronted cappuchin monkey. It was fun trying to follow them through the jungle but eventually they outran us.
We made our way back to the boat, where Patricio and Fernando set up their fishing lines to show me what fish were to be found in the river. Yesterday they had caught a couple of piranhas, today they were hoping to show me the red bellied piranha. I was not a fan of this but understood that they caught food this way... I personally did not want to fish and sat and watched as they tried to demonstrate the fishing skills.
Fernando caught 2 red bellied piranha and chucked them in the boat to flap around until they died. It was not pleasant to watch. Worse was to come when he hooked a sting ray. I love rays and wasn't particularly convinced that this was a sting ray. The poor thing was thrashing about on the end of the line and Fernando was unable to get it off the hook. I went to try and unhook it but he was worried it would sting me. In the end, after about 15 mins of struggle, he cut the line, presumably leaving the hook in the ray. I was ectremely upset and slightly traumatised
.. its one thing to catch and kill fish to eat but that poor ray was in pain and now had a hook in its mouth. Fortunately the other 2 also seemed to not have enjoyed that much and the fishing rods were put away.
Sunset was now hitting the river fast, beautiful golden sheen, as a background to the darkening clouds. Very serene. Once it was dark, we lit up the flashlights and began to search for Caiman, snakes and other nocturnal creatures... when you saw red eyes flashing back at you, you had found something.
Firstly we caught glimpses of huge owls sitting in the trees, scanning the river for their prey...
and then we found them... manoeuvring the boat towards the red eyes beaming back at us.... a baby caiman, hidden very well in the reeds... so cute. He was about 30cm long and just his snout was sticking up. Fernando didn't want to get to close in case 'mom' was still around, so once photos were taken, we moved on.
The next set of red eyes looked larger... and indeed the Caiman was bigger.... I got close enough to see a large head and one large eye before he disappeared beneath the water.... too quick for photos, but I was told it was around 2 ft long... excellent.
We saw a few more Caiman that night, the torches giving away their hiding places...
We then made our way back to the Napa River and then back to base, Fernando navigating his way in the pitch black. I sat in the bottom of the boat, staring up at the night sky and the millions of stars.
Day 19... Faraway tree
Today we visited some of the local community, first visit to a farmer who owned some cows and horses, which I guess made her pretty rich in comparison with other people here. On her land we saw some condors, magnificent birds, massive wingspan. We then walked to another community, where they had 2 spider monkeys as pets. Apparently they had found them in the forest alone so had brought them up. They were expecting them to leave soon.to go and find their family.
We were lucky enough on the way to see some tamarins playing in the trees. we were also unfortunate enough to find a dead rainbow boa, whose head had been chopped off when they had trimmed back the jungle to keep the path clear. Very sad, the only snake I saw was a dead one!
We visited a cocoa farm, where they grow the beans to make chocolate... they don't taste great in bean form!!
Once again, we found a tree that was even bigger than the one i had seen before. It reminded me of the faraway tree in the Enid Blyton books.... it looked like a different land up there!!
That evening we went for a night walk, looking for live snakes... no luck at all, elusive little buggers!!!
I did however stop to look in a hole and found myself staring at the arse end of a tarantula!! and more importantly, I found it myself!! It squished further into the hole as I was trying to take a photo... must have been camera shy. It had a reddish abdomen but that is all I saw of it.
We finally gave.up our snake search and went back to the lodge... we were just walking back to the huts when Patricio pointed out a tarantula half.out of a hole near a tree stump! Fantastic... photo of a tarantula in the bag!!
And so ended my time in the jungle... at least for now!
You may remember that I had organised a taxi driven by a cousin of Alex and Isabel, my previous taxi drivers, to take me to Coca ready for the start of my jungle trip. They arrived promptly at midnight, Lucia and her boyfriend, whose name I don't remember. I hopped in the back and as we started out, I checked that they were taking me the right way... after all, I had no real idea of who these people were. We did take the right road however but that didn't allow me to relax much. I feel the roads in Ecuador are much safer on my bike. We wound up and down unseen mountain passes.. avoiding potholes by frequently driving on the wrong side of the road, hoping that no traffic was coming the other way. Roadworks appeared without announcement forcing us to the other side of the road... and barriers on the roadside often disappeared.... in fact it was probably a good job I couldn't see anything other than the road. It was scary enough as it was. Needless to say I did not get a wink of sleep in the 5 hours drive to Coca. In fact, thinking about it, this was probably more deserving of sponsorship than the bike riding!!!
We pitched up at the marina at 0500, 1 hour earlier than required. I was a little concerned that the guide would not show up, given that this was all arranged through friends of friends last minute but on schedule Patricio turned up, the English speaking guide, followed by Fernando, who turned out to be the main guide, working at Sacha Nãmpi, who didn't speak a word of English. Eventually after 1 hour waiting at the docks we were invited to board our boat to take us to the lodges. This was the Napa river that we were to travel down, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon River. It would take 4 hours to get to our destination.
I soon found out why. As we set off, it soon became clear that this was not a straightforward 'jaunt down the river'. The pilot of the boat had to be very careful, avoiding sandbanks and trees under the water and other debris. This often necessitated a zig zagging across the river.
His skill was evident. He had no depth monitor and was clearly navigating the obstacles through skill and experience alone. I felt pretty safe.
As we zig zagged along, I watched the jungle pass by on the river banks... reflecting how lucky I was to be here. Truly amazing to be in the Amazon basin.
As we went further down the river, Fernando pointed out the turtles sunning themselves on the banks or on trees sticking out of the water. There were literally hundreds there. I spent the entire journey looking at the jungle and the different types of trees and plants I could see. Some of the trees stretched well above the rest of the canopy. They were ecosystems in their own right and I was excited to see what the jungle held close up.
We passed different communities, each with their own little harbour. Many had the traditional looking huts but there were also some concrete buildings with tin roofs. Many communities had electricity pylons stretching overhead. The jungle was not as far from the modern world as one would like to believe.
Eventually we reached our destination... Sacha Nãmpi.. a tourist lodge built to help benefit that community. Most of the communities, like this one, were part of the Kitchwa tribe. Although there were several other tribes in the area, 2 of which were not in contact with other people.
I bounced off the boat, onto some decidedly dodgy steps, health and safety would have an absolute fit out here. I made my way up lots of sets of steps to the lodges, built in traditional style and pretty nice. There was electricity but no phone/internet signal..
phone free for a few days!!! Hopefully SPOT was working!
I was impatient to get into the jungle. Fernando had organised lunch and then an afternoon walk near the lodge. I liked Fernando, despite us not being able.to communicate well. He revealed to me throughout the week just how knowledgeable he was. Patricio was also clearly knowledgeable but I did not like him. He was a bit creepy, but as he was the one who spoke English, I was kinda stuck.
Putting that aside, after a very complete lunch, we headed out into the jungle behind the lodges.
The one thing that stuck out from 5his walk was the number of different types of large spider that lived in the jungle. Many times I saved myself from walking into a web. One web had about 20 spiders in... all large...
We crossed several bridges, one of which was not really for to be called 'bridge'. It was a slightly scary crossing, balanced on one plank of the bridge and trying to step onto the cross beams only. It was worth the crossing however as we came across a tree that was just huge... the roots spread out in a fashion that was taller than myself and the tree stretched straight up... a true giant of the forest, harbouring probably thousands of species within its protective shadow.
We also saw lots of little frogs, most of them a dark brown colour. Disappointingly, we saw no reptiles or larger animals but I reasoned that I had more days to find them.
I collapsed into bed that night exhausted having not slept for a long time. Looking forward to the next day....
Day 17... Life blood
I got up very early this morning to watch the sunrise explode over the Napa river. It was a very beautiful sight, but having forgotten my phone in the lodge, I have no pictures. The horizon was red over the river and the rays of light gradually spread out until suddenly the light burst up and cast over everything. The birds were calling to each other in the dawn chorus each with their own unique calls. Butterflies hovered around the clay of the River bank and there was peace.
After breakfast (a mixture of eggs, veg and fish, I believe), we headed down to the boat, and proceeded to pootle down the Napa river to Yasumi N.P.
The Napa River runs into Peru, and literally at the border, we cut off onto the Yasumi river, the lifeblood of the Yasumi N.P. We cut the engine of the boat where the 2 Rivers Meet and sat and waited... I wasnt sure for what. Fernando pointed.... over there, I looked... nothing. He pointed again to another spot, and rising above the water was a Pink River Dolphin... over there another. Briefly rising out of the water you could see the fin, not the usual shape dorsal fin of other dolphins, a more elongated shape. They didn't surface for long, making it hard to get pictures, but they blew water out of blowholes making them unmistakably dolphins. It was a privilege to be able to see them.
We then pootled down the Yasumi river, keeping an eye out for monkeys and other wildlife. Birds were the main occupant it seemed of the river banks... Herons, many different types gracefully rose up as we approached.
One bird, the 'stinky turkey' as it was locally known, made a huge amount of noise as we passed. They were like the pheasants of the Amazon, essentially a bit stupid.
We then hit it very lucky... Fernando suddenly cut the engine and began paddling. I couldn't initially see what he was heading for but the noise, grunting sounds emanating from up river told me where to look.... just up ahead were three or four giant otters, shouting at us for disturbing them. They barked at us, then dived under to resurface upstream, barking all the way until they disappeared from sight. What a sighting that was!!
It wasn't the last we saw of the otters that day, as we came back they once again started shouting at us, except one, who was in the middle of his lunch. Chomping loudly he seemed generally oblivious to us, until he realised that he had been left behind by his mates. He then dived under the water to resurface upstream with the rest of them. To see them once that close was amazing, twice, unbelievable. And so close to them.
The further we went along the river, the older the jungle seemed to become. The trees larger, the feel more primordial. The smell a more dense earthy smell, of rotting wood and rain soaked vegetation. As we meandered along, the River Dolphins made another appearance. We sat watching them for a while, popping up on the surface every now and again...
Further on down the river, there was in front of the boat a sudden swish of water and a commotion.... Caiman said Fernando... didn't see him at all, just the resulting muddy water!!
We beached the boat and proceeded to follow a trail in the midst of Yasuni NP. It was exceedingly quiet in the forest, like all the animals were having their siesta! We had heard thunder in the distance, but n9w the skies opened and buckets of water came tumbling down. I was soaked in seconds. Fortunately it was still warm. We made our way back to the boat, not having seen any of the animals the guides hoped to find. Its a funny feeling... you want the animals to be instantly available, but this isn't the zoo, this is the jungle, and the animals decide if they are going to be seen or not.
The boat ride back was a cold one, shivering with my lifejacket as an extra layer, I was very happy to get back to the lodge for a shower and to dry off. The number of mosquito bites had increased exponentially since I had arrived and were driving me nuts. Turns out that the Ecuadorian version of repellent is just as useless as deet!
Day 18... Walking on the wild side
Today began by putting on damp clothes... my socks could have walked into the jungle by themselves. My shoes were soaked... it was a horrible feeling but I hoped that the clothes would dry on me. I swapped my wet shorts for my dry trousers, leaving my shorts hung up outside to hopefully dry.
We set off once again for Yasuni NP. The plan today was to go to a lagoon where there was a hope of seeing some different types of birds, maybe seeing some monkeys and then we would wait for it to get dark and search for Caiman by torchlight!!
We stopped where the 2 rivers met again, to see the dolphins once again. They didn't disappoint and we were treated to another display from them.
Then we took a different river branch and slowly made our way to the lagoon. It all seemed very quiet, the usual herons taking flight as they saw us. Then a screeching high above us made me look up...
A pair of blue and yellow mcaws were flying across the lagoon, I was just able to make out the colours. I was very pleased to have seen these as they are not always easy to spot. We saw a few Toucans, high up in the trees but easily distinguishable by their silhouette. I also saw a woodpecker with a bright red head and at least 2 species of kingfisher. All with bright colours and beautiful to see. Once again we then beached the boat and headed into the jungle. Rubber boots required as the first bit, we literally waded up to our knees in stagnant water. We walked along scanning the trees and the ground for any sign of life...
Then Fernando stopped and pointed up.... we stood listening.... a crashing in the trees above gave away their position and we followed the movements above. Glimpses of the monkeys were had, in between branches and as they lept from tree to tree. Apparently I was seeing the white fronted cappuchin monkey. It was fun trying to follow them through the jungle but eventually they outran us.
We made our way back to the boat, where Patricio and Fernando set up their fishing lines to show me what fish were to be found in the river. Yesterday they had caught a couple of piranhas, today they were hoping to show me the red bellied piranha. I was not a fan of this but understood that they caught food this way... I personally did not want to fish and sat and watched as they tried to demonstrate the fishing skills.
Fernando caught 2 red bellied piranha and chucked them in the boat to flap around until they died. It was not pleasant to watch. Worse was to come when he hooked a sting ray. I love rays and wasn't particularly convinced that this was a sting ray. The poor thing was thrashing about on the end of the line and Fernando was unable to get it off the hook. I went to try and unhook it but he was worried it would sting me. In the end, after about 15 mins of struggle, he cut the line, presumably leaving the hook in the ray. I was ectremely upset and slightly traumatised
.. its one thing to catch and kill fish to eat but that poor ray was in pain and now had a hook in its mouth. Fortunately the other 2 also seemed to not have enjoyed that much and the fishing rods were put away.
Sunset was now hitting the river fast, beautiful golden sheen, as a background to the darkening clouds. Very serene. Once it was dark, we lit up the flashlights and began to search for Caiman, snakes and other nocturnal creatures... when you saw red eyes flashing back at you, you had found something.
Firstly we caught glimpses of huge owls sitting in the trees, scanning the river for their prey...
and then we found them... manoeuvring the boat towards the red eyes beaming back at us.... a baby caiman, hidden very well in the reeds... so cute. He was about 30cm long and just his snout was sticking up. Fernando didn't want to get to close in case 'mom' was still around, so once photos were taken, we moved on.
The next set of red eyes looked larger... and indeed the Caiman was bigger.... I got close enough to see a large head and one large eye before he disappeared beneath the water.... too quick for photos, but I was told it was around 2 ft long... excellent.
We saw a few more Caiman that night, the torches giving away their hiding places...
We then made our way back to the Napa River and then back to base, Fernando navigating his way in the pitch black. I sat in the bottom of the boat, staring up at the night sky and the millions of stars.
Day 19... Faraway tree
Today we visited some of the local community, first visit to a farmer who owned some cows and horses, which I guess made her pretty rich in comparison with other people here. On her land we saw some condors, magnificent birds, massive wingspan. We then walked to another community, where they had 2 spider monkeys as pets. Apparently they had found them in the forest alone so had brought them up. They were expecting them to leave soon.to go and find their family.
We were lucky enough on the way to see some tamarins playing in the trees. we were also unfortunate enough to find a dead rainbow boa, whose head had been chopped off when they had trimmed back the jungle to keep the path clear. Very sad, the only snake I saw was a dead one!
We visited a cocoa farm, where they grow the beans to make chocolate... they don't taste great in bean form!!
Once again, we found a tree that was even bigger than the one i had seen before. It reminded me of the faraway tree in the Enid Blyton books.... it looked like a different land up there!!
That evening we went for a night walk, looking for live snakes... no luck at all, elusive little buggers!!!
I did however stop to look in a hole and found myself staring at the arse end of a tarantula!! and more importantly, I found it myself!! It squished further into the hole as I was trying to take a photo... must have been camera shy. It had a reddish abdomen but that is all I saw of it.
We finally gave.up our snake search and went back to the lodge... we were just walking back to the huts when Patricio pointed out a tarantula half.out of a hole near a tree stump! Fantastic... photo of a tarantula in the bag!!
And so ended my time in the jungle... at least for now!
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