It will be apparent from the earlier episodes that the Amazon is prone to spring surprises and indeed any true wilderness should. So, steadfastly, we continued to explore our Amazonian environment by motorised canoe and came across the hoatzin.
Officially a bird, its reptilian appearance belies its origin: it’s thought to most resemble the first birds to evolve from the reptiles some 150 million years ago. The young even have claws attached to their wings to help them clamber among the branches.
We were learning, however, that for larger subjects there is little photographic prey for the casual visitor. As compared with the open forests of Africa or India there is comparatively little food in a tropical forest. This translates to a much lower population density of large mammals. And of course there is all that vegetation to hide in. As if that was not enough, rainforests are the environment that has fostered more than anywhere else the art of camouflage. But we were headed for an ox-bow lake which was home to the critically endangered giant otter. As usual I had two Canon F1s and the otters were anything but shy-a reason they have been slaughtered to the point of extinction for their valuable pelts. I started taking pics as they swam towards us.
Then something terrible happened-I reached the end of the roll of film in the first camera and then a few seconds later in the second. I quickly reloaded and by now the otters were scrambling around on the bank. Our group had been split into two canoes and the first group was gorging themselves on taking pics of these endangered yet cute creatures. Then it was our turn to approach the shore where the otters now frolicked, until our guide deemed the photo opportunity over as the otters were perhaps getting fazed by all our attention. I will leave my reaction to your imagination, but my anger at the arbitrary guide was tempered by my awareness that I had badly slipped up.
Perhaps the most exciting experience in the whole trip was courtesy of the Ivy League ornithologist we had bumped into earlier. We knew that most of the rainforest life congregates in the forest canopy. But how to get up there. The ornithologist had the answer: a rope winching system to pull any takers up to a platform he had fixed high on a giant emergent tree. I hate heights and falling one of my more frequent nightmares. But I knew I had to well, take the chance and hopefully not take the plunge. Finally I was on the platform and the view was indeed spectacular.
Troupes of monkeys and flocks of birds helped distract us from the impending prospect of our descent. But then how many people spend an afternoon perched above the Amazon rainforest?
Copyright Mark Berthold 2006
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