As usual with wildlife adventures you have to be up early to watch the critters at play, although judging by the noisy nighttime shenanigans the little buggers were partying all night. Aside from birdcalls, frog croaks, and the black caiman crashing into our lodge during its nocturnal hunting soirees, the curious pirarucu fish (a common and large beastie hereabouts) jumps out of the water every 30 minutes to breathe. Scientists believe this is an adaptation to the low oxygen tension in the water. It has even developed its swim bladder into essentially, a lung. The pirarucu can grow up to 3 meters in length and weigh up to 200 kg. Jumping pirarucu have even been known to knock fishermen out of their boats, occasionally causing them to drown. So beware, the Mamiraua Sustainable Development Reserve is a dangerous place in and out of the water.
Our first hike today is a 2-mile 3-hour walk through pristine flooded rainforest. Currently (September to March) it’s the dry season and Christi and I can walk the trail, but during the rainy season (April to August) the water levels rise 30 feet and this same excursion would be made by boat. Our lodge floats on the river for a very good reason! Let me start by saying that wandering about in the depths of the pristine Amazonian wilderness is an amazing experience, but it is also a challenging environment with high temperatures and incredible humidity. The animals know this, of course, and are undoubtedly holed up in some cool nook well away from curious visitors and their itchy camera fingers. Sloths are supposedly common, but even they shun the chance to feature on the cover of ‘Furry Friends – International edition’. The Mamiraua staff are determined to show us more wildlife, however, and rouse Christi and I from our siesta to slog through an afternoon hike. We do spot a chestnut-eared aracari (a member of the toucan family) low in the branches of a tree, but the remainder of our wildlife encounters are distant views of spider monkeys, capuchin monkeys, and uakari monkeys high up in the canopy. And my philosophy is that if you can’t photograph the cute and cuddly critters, then it doesn’t count.
After my experiences in the Esteros del Ibera (I’m still itching by the way) the prospect of another night safari fills me with dread, especially the part where ravenous biting insects attack me again. This time, however, it’s not the biting insects that I’m concerned about, but the abundance of creepy crawlies. They may not be giants, but they are fearless and they scare the bejesus out of me. My dreams tonight are fraught with images of killer bugs from outer space swarming all over my body!
Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching, laugh-wrenching story.
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