I’m getting very behind with the blog and Jayne tells me she’s going to give me detention! Best get on with it then!
We had a very early morning taxi up to La Paz again to catch a 6 am plane to Rurrenebaque into the Amazon Basin.
We went from reasonable temperatures in Senda Verde up high to the cold in La Paz then down to tropical heat in Rurrenebaque all in the space of a few hours
The Amazon is fed by hundreds of rivers over vast areas of the Amazonian basin. It covers eight different countries in South America (all bigger than the UK). It’s a massively important ecosystem for the world! (An understatement).
We arrived at the little Airport in Rurrenebaque and were met by our hotel host Adele at the airport with the taxi! A nice touch! Jayne’s face was a picture as the taxi driver plonked our bags on the roof of the car a jaunty angle and half hanging off! How he lifted her bag was a mystery to me!
The hotel was as lovely with beautiful gardens and a sweet little dog called Izzy! I had booked this place because they would allow me to book for less than two days in a row, unlike another place I had tried to book. Adele also let us store our luggage with her while we were on our short trips. And probably the best bonus was she was a decent cook so we could have meals there!
From here we set off for a one night, two days trip into the Pampas, which is vast lands of low lying flat grassland and jungle.
We were collected and after picking up some other random chap (because he was going our way and its just what they do) we set off.
On the way, we asked the driver to stop several times so we could check out birds and Capybara at the various pools and watering holes. Our driver’s English is non existent so we are reliant on cobbled together Spanish and Goole translate.
Reaching a village, we drop off our passenger and head up some winding tracks to the river, then over a very rickety bridge of planks and onto to Caracoles lodge which has a slightly abandoned feel about it. However our little hut is clean with mosquito nets (a big plus) and we had our own bathroom complete with obligatory tree frog (dad you remember the one in Nepal?)
We went to the dining hall to meet our guide Aurolanious and this is what we saw on the way!
The cook Hilda carefully presented our dinner, we nodded appreciatively, not really understanding any of it. It was delicious all the same!
Again this tour is just for us and after lunch we got into a boat, yes we are braving another boat but this one has a motor. Jayne mislaid her hat and borrowed a very fetching sombrero.
It was Caymen siesta time, they all laying snoozing on the banks. Jayne wanted to photograph them all!! We saw the common Spectacled Caymen mostly but then our guide points out a huge black Caymen, I’m not sure why they are called ,’black’ as they can be the same as the spectacled, although they seem to have dark eyes (not the usual green). Anyway I barely got my phone set to video, when it was gone in a splash!
There are lots of birds too, the strangest being the
Stinky chicken or Hoatzin, it’s really prehistoric looking and in good light has a very definite red eye! They are everywhere, raucous and gregarious! Apparently their poo stinks as they have a weird digestive system that ferments their food! They also have clawed wings.
We saw many Capybaras too, they are gorgeous wallowing in mud baths. I think it’s the males who have a shiny patch on the bridge of the nose. In one group a very young one was having a funny five minutes, galavanting about just as guinea pigs do! Some of the young have lighter splotches on their bottoms! I could watch them all day!
After a spectacular sunset we headed back for dinner. Then we went out for a quick boat trip in the dark for owls.
We didn’t see any, just heard what Aurolanious told us was an owl. The Caymans glowing eyes in the torch light were eerie. We also saw fireflies flashing in the trees.
We woke early the next morning to the sound of Howler Monkeys. It’s lovely to know they are wild and free here. We had our breakfast by candle light (Hilda having been up very early to make it) and then set off up river to see monkeys if we could.
Habituated Squirrel monkeys came and scampered on our boat when Aurolanious pulled into the bank and fed them a little banana. It was a little disconcerting as these are wild but unconcerned about humans.
We saw Howlers too high up in the trees!
But for me the best thing was a Potoo (pootoo) high on a branch looking like a branch itself! This bird is rare here! It’s related to the Frogmouth (Australia) and Nightjar (Europe). Jayne managed to get a photo although it was a long way off!
After this we headed down stream to the deeper water in the hope of seeing the pink river dolphins! Aurolanious told us the water was so much lower than usual so the dolphins had moved.
We did see the dolphins! It’s difficult to get good pictures because the water was heavily silted. This was quite magical a mother and baby, (the baby being grey) hunting in the water around us.
After we left the deeper water we stopped for a moment to go piranha fishing! There was something of a knack to this, the water is teeming with them they go for blood so raw meat is used as bate. The wretched things just chew the meat off the hook! Apparently you can go swimming with them in the river! What fool would do that! In lagoons it’s not safe to swim with them, they also eat each other in the lagoons and can get to big sizes.
Jayne caught one and then the pressure was on for me to catch one! Finally success! Caught my lunch!
Anyway this was a fabulous trip and our guide was very switched on regarding what we hoped to see.
Anyway below is a species list, it’s a bit muddled with birds and animals.
Stinky chicken – hoactzin
Red capped cardinal
Iguanana
Caroik heron
Amazon kingfisher
Tropical king bird
Rough necked wood rail
Great Egret
Rufous tiger heron
Tagara
Black Cayman
Great kiscara
Rufous hornero
Spectacle Caymen
Striped heron
Ringed Kingfisher
Night hawk
Plumbil Ibis
Ininga aninga – snake bird
Black Howler
Great putou – wa hoho – frog mouth
Sand bittern
Rufus tailed Jacamar
Heard a chachlaca
Macau
Amazon cuarti
Vermilion flycatcher.
Iguana colarada
Euphonia – small yellow bird
The Travelling Bee 