As the cloud forest thickened we knew the Amazon basin loomed. Once in Amazonia travel is primarily by motorised canoe. The visitor is enveloped in a green luxuriance which pulsates with a dazzling variety of wildlife. But as a habitat the rainforest is comparatively uniform affording quite restricted quite restricted opportunities, unless subjected to the scrutiny of macro-photography. Lovely vistas abound from the river, especially if some artful under-exposure is employed.
The river itself teems with life with a variety of life, including caimans.
and turtles
We avoided swimming so did not make the acquaintance of the electric eels nor the tiny catfish which seek to invade the human body and resist extraction by spreading out their tiny spines.
In such a pristine wilderness guides are essential. Guides may come with a tour or be hired on a free-lance basis by the independent traveller. They are expected to steer one towards highlights that may otherwise be overlooked and away from harm. But on both counts they are variable. The American-born guide attached to the expensive Amazon tour I had joined had “fun” ideas such as night walks in the rainforest. Perchance we encountered an ornithologist attached to an Ivy League university. He cautioned us of the insect perils arising after dark. When the temperature suddenly dropped he also alerted us to an impending “friahi” which could be either dry or wet. If the latter we were likely to be swept away during the night from where the riverbank camp had been set up. Fortunately it turned out to be a dry friahi. The point is that our “official” guide was not acquainted with these climatic perils.
The benefit of this friahi was that it was accompanied by a cold snap which wiped out most of the insects that were troubling us. The downside is that we were shivering in our canoe in just 13C!
Nonetheless warmer adventures lay ahead and the ornithologist would facilitate my clambering up the side of an emergent tree to the forest canopy. And a rendezvous with the critically endangered giant otter expected. And, perhaps, a jaguar sighting?
Copyright Mark Berthold 2006
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