amazon boat trip
2 - 5 may
post by allana
Today was a full day travelling upriver (12 hours) to reach the Yacuyana river, a main tributary of the amazon. It’s not a national park or reserve, but a community conservation area. The local people, from the small village San Juan, have made an agreement to stop hunting the animals to encourage tourists. So far it seems to be working (although it is early days yet) but our guide Julio says that he has noticed increased populations of capuchin monkeys and mawcaws over the last 8 years.
Our lovely wooden boat, called ‘Dawn on the Amazon’ has a thatched roof and beautiful carvings of jungle animals on the sides. It’s just us and another Aussie couple on board, John and Leslie. Turns out they have spent much of their lives up in the Top End and have explored the Kimberly’s (our dream!) so we chat away about camping, barra fishing and the great wilderness places back home. Once again, it’s wonderful to bump into like-minded people over the other side of the world, and the Aussie accents really are nice to hear again! Also on board is Nora our smiley cook, Edson the boat captain and a local man called Rocket who accompanies us from the village as part of the community conservation scheme.
Our lovely wooden boat, called ‘Dawn on the Amazon’ has a thatched roof and beautiful carvings of jungle animals on the sides. It’s just us and another Aussie couple on board, John and Leslie. Turns out they have spent much of their lives up in the Top End and have explored the Kimberly’s (our dream!) so we chat away about camping, barra fishing and the great wilderness places back home. Once again, it’s wonderful to bump into like-minded people over the other side of the world, and the Aussie accents really are nice to hear again! Also on board is Nora our smiley cook, Edson the boat captain and a local man called Rocket who accompanies us from the village as part of the community conservation scheme.
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This first day travelling slowly up the milky-coffee Amazon was by far the most relaxing day we’ve had since starting travelling. We were impressed straight away with Noras cooking from the tiny galley at the back of the boat.
Sitting out on the front deck we were treated to a marvellous sunset, which would have been even more marvellous enjoyed with a slow glass of red. How could we forget the wine?!?! Oh well, a beautiful experience nonetheless. After dark the bugs and mozzies were horrendous and quickly sent us hiding under our mosquito nets. Our first night we tied up to a tree and settled down in our hammocks to the exotic jungle noises around us… until Julio’s snoring woke up us and the rest of the Amazon. When we couldn’t take it anymore we all yelled and banged but to no avail, he kept it up for most of the night. Looks like we won’t be sleeping much on this trip. |
At first light the roaring of red howler monkeys filled the air and mosquitoes buzzed like jumbo jets around our heads. Although they sounded close Julio informed us that the howlers would have been at least 2km away. Can’t imagine how loud they would be up close! Still in our PJs we got straight into bird watching from the front deck and were quickly rewarded with 12 yellow-and-blue mawcaws, strikingly beautiful birds. We also saw large flocks of parakeets, a few arakaris (a small species of toucan- I managed to get a ridiculously lucky shot of one mid-flight with a seed in its beak) and several different waterbirds and hawks. Three-toed sloths were easy to spot in the bare branches of kapok trees, slowly turning to peer down at us with their permanent goofy smiles.
After brekky we collected Rocket from the village in his dugout canoe, which we used to explore the flooded forest. In the low water season you can hike through all of the areas we visited, but now a dugout is the only way around. It’s great to bump and scrape your way past tree trunks, with the canopy shading you overhead. We saw (and disturbed) a small family of night monkeys, and set off a group of horned screamers, the loudest bird in the amazon, with a bizarre thin horn growing out the top of its head.
In the arvo we explored small dense creeks off the main river, many overgrown with aquatic plants (not many manatees left to keep them in check). Our bird list keeps rapidly expanding, as does our primate list with squirrel monkeys, brown capuchin monkeys and dusky titi monkeys all spotted. The weather is extremely hot and muggy here- I was at the back of the boat having a bucket shower when we emerged into a large still lagoon. You know you are onto something good when you can watch pink river dolphins glide through the water, following you only meters from your open-air shower. |
During our time exploring this small area of the amazon we were able to go piranha fishing from the dugout. Unlike the childhood stories these little orange piranhas were kind of cute, gnashing their jaws as we removed the hooks. For me the real highlight came after fishing, when we were lucky enough to spot (thanks to Scott!) some pygmy marmosets in the wild! Considering these are the worlds smallest monkey, weighing in at a whopping 100g, none of us had high hopes of actually seeing them. But sitting in the dugout under the canopy eagle-eyed Scott noticed some movement, and there they were, leaping about in the branches. Unlike the other primates we’d seen these little guys weren’t scared of us, and actually leaped over the branches directly above us and climbed down the trees, giving us a really good look. Pygmy marmosets are really charismatic and curious little guys, staring directly at you with their little lion-like heads.
It was incredibly hot and humid on the boat, one afternoon it got to 38 degrees and 98% humidity! We were suffering, and a swim was definitely in order. We went back to the lagoon that the dolphins liked so much and stopped right in the middle (far away from the reedy tangled edges where the piranhas like to hang out). We jumped in fully clothed- pure bliss! The water was fresh and cool. Although it is brown coloured, this is purely from the rich muddy bottom, and the water column itself is quite clean. We floated around taking in the lush green banks behind us, half on the look out for dolphins or caimans or anacondas... There’s nothing like a swim in the amazon to refresh the body and soul! We drip dried on the deck of the boat as the light slowly faded and large flocks of festive parrots flew raucously overhead.
it is great to see local villages with very limited means of income making these conservation commitments of no hunting for bush meat, policing fish size limits, and sustainable use of local timber-- all through self-governance. Hopefully wildlife populations with continue to increase in this area, bringing more tourists to support this community conservation initiative. We were able to spend some time in the village on our last day, the kids running around were so healthy and happy. We feel lucky to have spent time in this peaceful, yet wild, little part of the world.
it is great to see local villages with very limited means of income making these conservation commitments of no hunting for bush meat, policing fish size limits, and sustainable use of local timber-- all through self-governance. Hopefully wildlife populations with continue to increase in this area, bringing more tourists to support this community conservation initiative. We were able to spend some time in the village on our last day, the kids running around were so healthy and happy. We feel lucky to have spent time in this peaceful, yet wild, little part of the world.