General: Peru

Having spent most of my time in Peru either driving through desert or climbing the Andes, it is hard to believe that over the brow of those great mountains lays the Amazon basin.

It is a fantastic sight from the plane. As far as the eye can see, in all directions and disappearing off to the horizon, is a huge green mass, broken up by a network of enormous meandering rivers, some the colour of chocolate milk and others a deep green/black. ...
...logs laid around. These are presumably areas where deforestation has occurred and the trees have been cleared, but thankfully they were few and far between in this protected area.

On arrival in Puerto Maldonado the sky was a clear blue, with just a smattering of clouds - it was 1pm and 34 degrees centigrade - and it just kept getting hotter! My guide Patty was there to meet me and we were soon on our way to the boat station, for onward ... more

Having spent most of my time in Peru either driving through desert or climbing the Andes, it is hard to believe that over the brow of those great mountains lays the Amazon basin.

It is a fantastic sight from the plane. As far as the eye can see, in all directions and disappearing off to the horizon, is a huge green mass, broken up by a network of enormous meandering rivers, some the colour of chocolate milk and others a deep green/black. Here and there are patches of green meadow, with occasional logs laid around. These are presumably areas where deforestation has occurred and the trees have been cleared, but thankfully they were few and far between in this protected area.

On arrival in Puerto Maldonado the sky was a clear blue, with just a smattering of clouds - it was 1pm and 34 degrees centigrade - and it just kept getting hotter! My guide Patty was there to meet me and we were soon on our way to the boat station, for onward travel to Reserva Amazonica.

Puerto Maldonado was a gold rush town, established about 100 years ago. It looks like it should be somewhere in the Caribbean rather than in Peru, with its single storey wooden shacks and dirt roads. There are only 2 paved roads, which meet in the main square, which is dominated by a huge mango tree, said to be 102 years old. It was only a few minutes to the reserve's mooring, where I caught my first glimpse of the huge river upon which I was to spend most of the next three days.

It was the rainy season and the river was growing daily. Patty informed me that it had already risen 8 metres since December and was now flowing at 4km per hour instead of its usual 2km. The mooring was on the Tambopata River, which joins the great Madre de Dios River at Puerto Maldonado and continues on towards Brazil. The boat was a long, motorised canoe, with seating both sides and an overhead canopy - not small enough to cause any problems for me!

With the river in flood, there were quite a few logs and other items floating downstream as we took the 45 minute ride down the Madre do Dios to the reserve. There was little or no other traffic on the river, whose banks were lined with primary forest. The width of the river varies from between 200 - 500 metres.

As we arrived at the lodge I was given a small map of the layout of the buildings and directed to cabin no 4, which was directly alongside the river bank, with fantastic views across the river and of Rollin Island, a short boat journey away. It faced due east, so I could look forward to some glorious sunrises. My bag had already been placed in the cabin when I got there, but I had no inclination to unpack when such glorious scenery was to be enjoyed.

My cabin was built of pine, with a bathroom (cold water only) with a wooden sink, 2 beds entirely encased in mosquito netting, and a large deck area with 2 hammocks. All the "windows" and the deck area were covered with mosquito screening to keep the bugs out and there were 3 kerosene lamps hanging outside, ready for when night falls. The staff came around all the cabins around 5pm every day to light the lamps as there was no electricity supply to them.

As many of the paths were either muddy or flooded, I was issued with a pair of large green wellies, which were to be an object of torture for the next 3 days! The lodge is surrounded by a network of trails, which we headed into. Patty gave me plenty of background about the trees and plants we encountered along the way, and we stopped to watch an army of leaf cutter ants carrying their swag back to base.

We climbed a 30metre observation platform to the top of the canopy, where a network of suspended bridges between the trees was in the process of being constructed. Part of the network was complete and I had the option of trying out one of the bridges, but decided to leave that for another day! We had a 2 hour walk through the forest, with regular re-applications of insect repellent as the air was full of masses of flying bugs. There was the constant chatter of birds up above and the squelching of mud under our feet.

When I got back to my cabin a pair of scarlet macaws had taken up residence in the tall tree directly above, and were having a screaming contest. They were so high that I hardly caught sight of them, but they certainly made their presence heard! The light was beginning to fade, so I brought in my kerosene lamps and stripping off my sticky clothes, stepped gratefully into a cold shower. The lamps didn't give off that much light, so I began to regret not having unpacked earlier, as I couldn't find anything in my bag, but eventually headed into the main building for dinner.

The main building was circular, all constructed of wood, with insect screening all around. Hand made tables and chairs formed the dining area and were surrounded by comfortable seating areas. There was also an upper mezzanine floor with seating and reading areas. This was the only building which had electricity. A colourful, bizarre looking, and rather cheeky toucan tried to get in through the main door with me and spent the evening tapping on the screening trying to get in!

Next morning we breakfasted and were on the boat heading up river by 6am. It was just Patty and I, with Samuel in charge of the boat. We went ashore about 1 hour up river and started our trek towards Lake Sandoval, which had been formed by the Madre de Dios eroding the river banks and gradually changing its course, forming a beautifully tranquil lake.

It was incredibly hot, so we had taken the chance on sleeveless tops and numerous applications of insect repellent. The path was muddy and flooded in places and we trekked for about an hour and a half, having called into the wardens' office to let them know we were in the reserve. Whilst there a white lipped pecari (which looks like a cross between a wild pig and a tapir but is apparently related to llamas) decided to make friends and rubbed herself all around my legs and feet, before making off with my bottle of Coke. AFTER the event, Patty kindly told me that these animals are like skunks and carry a heavy scent!

We trekked on until we came upon a mooring and climbed into quite a small boat for a trip around the lake. Patty was at the rear with a paddle, and steered us out of the small creek we were in to the lake beyond. It was very calm and peaceful, the only noise being the usual cacophony of parrots and the occasional screeching macaw. The shore was lined with giant palms and there was a deep bank of water lilies between them and our small boat.

The lake was home to a family of giant river otters, which are in danger of extinction, but we were not lucky enough to see any, nor any black caiman, which are also a protected species. We did see a couple of beautiful egrets, a heron, various parrots and several Amazon Kingfishers. We continued on to the other side of the lake, where we left the boat and headed inland again, calling at a small lodge for a rest and a welcome cold drink.

Suitably refreshed, we trekked back towards our starting point; where Samuel was due to meet us with the boat. By now the wellies were beginning to take their toll, and my toes were starting to complain - rubber boots in hot weather - not exactly very good for the feet!

We came across a HUGE spider hanging in his web, fantastically colourful butterflies the size of your hand, and came under attack from thousands of mozzies, despite copious applications of repellent. We were glad to see Samuel waiting for us and enjoyed the coolness of being back on the water again.

Having relaxed in my hammock after lunch, I met Patty again at 4pm for our visit to Monkey Island. The island is another feature which has been formed over time by riverbank erosion when the river is in flood. The monkeys there have been introduced, mostly having been rescued from various places and private homes. There are 4 species of monkeys, ranging from small spider monkeys to larger brown cappuchines. As the project is still quite new, they are still being fed by rangers until planted trees and crops grow sufficiently to sustain them.

Samuel pulled the boat up alongside a muddy bank and Patty jumped ashore to help me do likewise. I took one step in the mud, sank down to my shins, and stuck! Lesson learnt - step into other people's footsteps and NOT into fresh mud! I managed to extricate myself and we headed inland. The path was very muddy and one section was totally flooded. We waded through it; luckily it did not come quite to the top of the wellies so our feet remained dry.

We had not gone far before we heard crashing around in the treetops and could see the monkeys heading towards us through the canopy. We stopped in a small clearing and stood still as a brown cappuchine monkey came down to nearby branches to check us out. He was quite bold and came down onto the forest floor to us. Patty warned me not to smile, as showing of teeth is a sign of aggression, so we stood still and let him come closer. He walked right up to us and stood alongside Patty, tapping her boots with his hand. His boldness made others curious, and a tiny spider monkey, a red cappuchine, and one of the 4th species (who's name I forget) were all in the trees around us within minutes.

They clambered around in the nearby trees, where food had been suspended by rangers, and they pulled bananas from the large bunches, throwing them down to the forest floor to collect later. We watched them for a while, and then headed back to the mud bank where Samuel was waiting.

There are 4 ethnic Indian communities within the Tambopata Reserve, and they are left to get on with their lives, with no tourism interfering with their daily routine. Since the area was made a reserve it has been prohibited for anyone to move in and settle within its boundaries, but people who had arrived in the 1960's were allowed to stay to work the land for their own use, but are not allowed to have title to the property. It was one such farmer we were going to visit next.

The steps up from the river to his farm were carved out of the steep muddy riverbank, and led to a living area with 3 small huts - one was the kitchen and was open air, another was the main living/sleeping area, and the third was a storage hut. The old farmer had a weather beaten face and simple clothes, but he was welcoming and friendly as he took us on a tour of his land and crops.

His land was 300 metres wide along the river bank and ran 1,000 metres inland. Although it appeared to be planted rather haphazardly, he had quite an extensive range of crops including papaya, mango, breadfruit, yucca, potatoes, lemon, mandarin, coca, bananas and figs, plus quite a variety of introduced foliage plants he grew just because he liked them - the kind of decorative house plant that we take great pains to grown indoors. As he walked us around he explained how various crops were used and cooked, pulled off aromatic leaves for us and presented us with a couple of bananas. Back at his living area, where chickens ran freely about, scratching in the dirt, a number of giant snails dragged themselves up trees.

Another early start next morning, and we were off on our fishing expedition! We travelled down river on a small open boat for about an hour and a half until we came to a small creek, which we turned into and headed inland. The boat we were in was called a longtail, because it has a propeller shaft around 6 feet long and is the main means of travel for the local people - I was to discover why as the day progressed!

It was very peaceful on the creek, and we continually disturbed beautiful birds along the way, with flashes of bright plumage flitting across the surface of the water alongside us -including Amazon Kingfishers. We were making steady progress when we saw up ahead that a large log and numerous branches were strewn across the river in our path. This didn't faze our pilot Simon, who steered straight at it, hoping to forge a way through them. The log was obviously larger than he first thought, as the front of the long thin boat rose onto the top of it - and stuck there - the boat suspended out of the water.

This is where the longtail comes into its own. Simon lifted the long propeller out of the water and began to use it as a kind of paddle, trying to manoeuvre us over the log. He then locked it into place out of the water, came forward and stepped out of the boat onto the floating log itself, and proceeded to rock the boat fiercely from side to side to work it forward over the log! He could see that there was more clear water towards the right hand bank, under all the overhanging foliage, so he manhandled the boat in that direction, then using the longtail he negotiated the boat into a better position, until he could steer the boat through the branches, lifting the propeller out of the water as we crossed, so as no to damage it on the log. No problem! We were on our way again!

We travelled on until we came to a slightly wider section of the creek, where Simon pulled the boat in towards the bank, tied it loosely to a nearby tree - and got the fishing gear out! This consisted of simple poles cut from local trees, with about 4 feet of fishing line and a hook tied on the end with a small weight. Patty got out a bag of meat offcuts, which we were to use for bait (were we after piranhas?) and, being a seasoned fishing expert from childhood days sitting on the riverbank with my dad, I baited my hook and dropped it into the water.

Within minutes I could feel the fish nibbling at the bait, but they were only tiny fish which the hook was far too big to catch. After they had emptied my hook a couple of times and I had re-baited, Simon caught our first fish of the day, which was about 6 inches long. Not long afterwards I caught one too! We fished on but they seemed to have tired of our bait, so we decided to head on a little further up the creek.

We came across another obstacle in the water, which caused us a lot more problems and took quite some time to get out of! This time both Simon and Patty stepped out of the boat and onto the logs, whilst I remained on board as they rocked the boat hard from side to side to free it. It was all a bit of an adventure, and we finally got free, but decided we had better make our way back as our passage was just getting more difficult as we progressed. Being experienced crossers of log obstacles by now, our return journey was easier. With our catch of 2 small fish we headed back towards the lodge for lunch.

There were dark clouds gathering overhead as we set out on the main river, and there was a distant rumble of thunder over the land. Up ahead the sky was cloudy, but seemed clear of rain. We continued on for some time, thunder still rumbling nearby, and then we looked ahead and saw what we were heading into! There was a very distinct wall of rain visible directly ahead, which we were headed straight for! As the first fat drops of rain began to fall on us, Patty and I scrambled in our bags for our waterproofs. Poor Simon had no such luxury!

My very unattractive, one size fits most poncho was quickly donned, just as we headed directly into the storm. I grabbed by bag under the poncho, but made the mistake of not standing up to make sure that I was sitting on and fully protected by it, and soon found myself sitting in a puddle as the water dripped down the sides of me and onto the seat cushion! There was little point in trying to adjust things as I could hardly see with the force of the rain, so I just sat in it and enjoyed the coolness!

As we arrived back at the lodge the rain had stopped, I had an exceedingly wet butt and my shoes were saturated, but it had all been good fun! After a shower and hanging my gear out to dry, I headed in for lunch. Fish WAS on the menu, but I'm afraid it wasn't our paltry catch!

The whole experience was a chance of a lifetime, which I wouldn't have missed for the world.

 

...less