Travellers' Tales

Amazon cruise

04/04/2013

The Amazon is a great place to go spotting wildlife if you know what you’re looking for or you have a good guide. On the Tucano canoe trips we did we saw lots of different types of birds. It is quite nice just to relax on the boat and look out onto the Amazon trying to spot all the wildlife. The guide will always point something out to you.

Also there are great treks to go on into the Amazon. The treks that I did with Tucano riverboat lasted about an hour and half. On these we did not spot all that many mammals but there were a lot of beautiful plants and flowers to see and there are also a lot of exotic insects like bullet ants and horned-spiders. These insects all look quite cool and you never see these creatures back at home.

Also at night the real adventure begins because there are a lot more animals coming out to hunt. The night-time boat trips are always fun and exciting because you’re always trying to spot animals by the river drinking or flying high above you looking for food in the trees.

At Uacari Floating Lodge we saw a lot more wildlife. We also did canoeing and one of the first things we saw was a sloth. We also spotted about 6-7 white Uacari, which are only found at the Uacari Reserve. The treks you do last longer than the ones on the Tucano. On our trek we saw squirrels, squirrel monkeys, howler monkeys and lots of birds.

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As we trudged the last few steps to summit the lofty ridge, Alfredo, my guide, noted casually that all a man needed here in Chachapoyas was a machete, Wellingtons and a horse.