August 3rd, 2015
After a somewhat scary turtle poacher incident in the middle of the night, we’re glad we chose not to set an alarm in the tent, and also glad that Jose and Pepe are almost an hour late picking us up due to a boat malfunction, allowing us a few precious more moments of sleep before we climb into the little boat and head back to the lodge for some porridge before our daily morning jungle trek. We’re all a little sad, knowing it’s our last full day on the reserve and tomorrow will be filled with the long journey back.
After a short ride downriver we climb into the jungle and though the rest of the group walks past I quickly find a sleeping frog on a proper huge jungle leaf and call them back. The frog doesn’t seem bothered by our gawking pictures and just keeps right on sleeping, an unwitting participant in countless selfies because that’s what we’ve come to as a species.
We head deeper into the jungle and before long Pepe is pointing at some mud on the ground. only after a moment do we understand, it’s jaguar poop. While the Jaguar is undoubtedly the animal we’d most like to see, they are nocturnal, very shy, and incredibly rare to catch sight of. The poop alone is a triumph. (Never thought I’d be able to work that into a blog entry.
We walk on through the thick jungle, our heads constantly turning up to the canopy in search of the source of various bird and monkey calls, but that’s the frustrating thing about the jungle, so many places for the animals to hide, and so many shades of green to sift through. We don’t find much before coming to a huge tree, my favourite of them all so far, it’s roots twisted and gnarled, with huge sections of them above ground giving it an Entish feel.
Not far past the tree we settle in for second breakfast on a log (I’m practically living in middle earth now) and then keep heading deeper into the Amazon Rainforest. This time it doesn’t take long for the action to explode as Pepe hears something and leads us off the path through the thick undergrowth. in the distance the branches move in a way that reveals monkeys, though we still cant see the little scamps. Eventually I catch a few distant glimpses of the fearless canopy jumpers, though capturing them on film is impossible.
Still Pepe doesn’t give up, hacking our path clear with his Machete as we all move as silently as possible, tracing each others footsteps and slowly drawing closer to this group of squirrel monkeys, some who pause on a branch bridge to pose for a few distant photos before continuing deeper into the jungle at a speed we couldn’t hope to match.
We slowly return to the path using Jose’s trail of snapped bushes made on the way, and the angle of the sun hitting the canopy to direct us as these monkeys led us on a merry chase.
As we retrace our steps back towards the boat some hours since we’ve left it we stumble onto tapir tracks right on our muddy path, tracks that weren’t there just an hour before. Pepe looks at them for a long second before telling us they belong to a full grown Tapir, probably a female, and that if we’re lucky we might catch sight of her. Sadly it’s not to be but the footprints along our path for the next ten minutes are pretty cool.
As we draw close to the boat though we realize quickly that the excitement of this morning’s walk is not done as more monkeys seem to flood the trees around us, these ones strangely not afraid to draw much much closer to us than all the groups before. It’s off but we actually find two species very close to each other, both the squirrel monkeys and the white fronted capuchin’s surround us, I guess we’re just that much fun to look at. We lose ourselves amongst them for the next half hour or so, snapping photos and returning curious glances with smiles. It’s pretty amazing.
One particular squirrel monkey exhibits no fear sitting just a few yard away on a narrow branch and watching us as he satisfies a pressing need to scratch behind his ear. Monkeys, though I’ve seen many of them through India, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, and Ecuador, never seem boring to me, perhaps because their likeness to us is fascinating. Or maybe just because monkeys are awesome.
As we head back to the boat drenched in sweat but still excited over the monkeys we find the same frog which started our day, still sleeping away on the same leaf. Must be a nocturnal frog. We also find some banana trees which refresh my appetite for lunch after another perfect swim in the river.
The plan after lunch is more fishing, but since no one in the group is really that into it, we ask, despite our exhausted legs (Each morning walk has been about 6-7 hours including stops and breaks), if it might be possible to go for another walk instead. Pepe shrugs and agrees, suggesting we go back to the three wimba’s trail from day one, as it is where the red faced Huakari monkeys are most often seen. We all agree though I barely make it out of bed after a half hour resting period, the intense heat of the day making it even harder to do. Allie fails where I’d succeeded and decides to stay at the lodge with the american volunteer Arianna who actually travels with a jaguar suit and mask (awesome) so it’s just the boys who head out into the jungle this time, with both Jose and Pepe.
We land and head into the jungle and not twenty minutes later we get our first spell of trouble. In the distance the sounds of the jungle are overwhelmed by what sounds like a thousand jet engines all dropping bombs. We stop in our tracks and look back as a wall of rain advances, and I’m made to think of Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive (Books you really should read) and the storm wall that circles the world. In the few moments it takes to reach us the entire world seems to change and the jungle erupts with more noise than I’ve ever heard. It was amazing, and as the rain pours down soaking us to the core, it even proves a welcome respite for the heat. Sadly, it does seem to drive the animals into hiding somewhat, at least for the time being. Still we do find a log which serious cuts in it and Pepe tells us a jaguar has been sharpening his claws there since the last time we were on this trail two days ago.
Eventually, with Pepe sniffling from all the rain and still no sightings of animals Pepe suggests we turn back, the rain has all but stopped but he seems to think any animals we might find will be closer to the river now. We’re a little sad to cut our last work short but trust his judgement and start heading back, and boy am I glad we did. Our first sighting is the biggest species of cappuchin monkey here, a single one looking down at us from a high up branch and shaking down water droplets at is, looking very confrontational. Sadly some of his water hits me straight in the eye before I can snap an even better photo than this one.
Next we spot some of the little black monkeys whose name I’ve unfortunately forgotten that we saw in the distance on our first day. These little things look on cautiously and are anything but confrontational, though still fascinating.
Next though Jose reappears from his fishing expedition and tells us he’s just seen a group of howler monkeys up ahead near the lagoon. He leads us quickly and silently through the jungle but sadly by the time we get to where they were, there’s no sign of them. Still a few moments later more monkeys reveal themselves, the bravest and biggest group yet, dozens of the white fronted cappuchin monkeys dancing in the branches just above us, some just a yard or two away.
The monkeys eventually leave us behind continuing their search for food and drier jungle, but Jose isn’t done showing us some final wonders of the jungle, spotting an impressive hawk perched out near the lagoon.
After taking the above photo we head down to a viewpoint of the lagoon and Jose start imitating the call of a large water fowl to attract caimans from the lagoon, who indeed become suddenly visible swimming across the lagoon towards his call. I just hope they figure out we’re not prey before reaching us, though there is thankfully a good chunk of distance between us and the water.
In the trees to one side of the lagoon comes the shrill and always loud call of parakeets, a huge flock of the little green birds suddenly springing in to flight from one of the trees and making circles of the lagoon above us, chirping loudly the whole way. It’s a fitting goodbye to the jungle and we find ourselves very glad we opted to push our legs and go for one last jungle walk.
We head back to the boat and motor back downriver to lodge, a few dolphins appearing in the waters along side us. The sun disappears behind the trees and I’m more and more resolved to return to the amazon in Bolivia. It’s famous for a reason.
