One of my lifelong ambitions has been to visit the amazonian rainforest. The Manu river ultimately flows into the Amazon and thus is a tributary. The park is sparsley populated and much of it off bounds for most people except scientists with special permits.
Getting to the reserve involved a long day in a minibus from Cusco followed by 200km over a couple of days in a boat.
This vast biosphere reserve is home to arguably the highest concentration of biodiversity on eartth. Also indiginous indians live here .. some who have never or only rarely met people like us. Those occasions when this has happened has been disastrous for tham as simple colds and so on may kill them. Hence termed 'non contact people' their language, their culture and pretty much amout them everything remains a mystery.
But just prior to my trip, a couple of them had been seen by a ranger at one of the lodges where I was due to stay, so the park was closed temporarily and the dates of my trip changed.
Our guide was excited that we might come across them, but probably for the best they remained unseen.
However we did see a lot of birds and other jungle creatures. Not many bird photos as I left my 400mm F2.8 lens ($12000) in the shop!
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List of birds seen
- Cock of the rock
- Green jay
- Dusky green gordendula
- Tropical pinbird
- Social flycatcher
- Great kiskaree
- Yellow ramkasque
- Russet backed oropondola
- Fasciated tiger heron
- Osprey
- Turkey vulture
- Greater yellow headed vulture
- Black vulture
- Pied lapwing
- Large billed tern
- Yellow billed tern
- Cocoi heron
- Snowy egret
- Collared plover
- Black skimmer
- Roadside hawk
- Short tailed hawk
- Great black hawk
- Black caracara
- Vidcaceous jay
- Swallow tailed hawk
- Laughing hawk
- Moscovy duck
- Capped heron
- Sand coloured night hawk
- Black tailed trogon
- Green ibis
- Vermillion flycatcher
- Wattled jacana
- Giantt cowbird
- Scarlet macaw
- Blue and yellow macaw
- Black fronted numbird
- Wood stork
- Jabiru
- Ringed kingfisher
- Amazon kingfisher
- White throated toucan
- Channel billed toucan
- Ivory billed aracari
- Red capped cardinal
- Hoatzin
- Black hawk eagle
- Cobalt wine parakeet
- Duskey headed parakeet
- White winged swallow
- White banded swallow
- Great Potoo
- Blue banded toucanet
- Neotropical cormorant
- Elegant woodcreeper
- Lineated woodpecker
- Crimson crested woodpecker
- Spooted woodpecker
- Orinoco goose
- Little blue heron
Also unbelievably and an amazingly rare sight, we saw a flock of Amazonian crested penguins fly out from beneath a tree before disappearing again into the undergrowth.
On the way to the river an Inca cemetry
Small Peruvian town
First jungle lodge
Lots of pretty butterflies
How to cross a river when there is no bridge
A clue that I am in Peru- tastes like bubblegum!
Semi tame creatures . much easier for the photos!
Bird nests
The oil drum is the fuel tank . no smoking!
Not sure the football scouts get out here from England - given our showing the the World Cup might be an idea to find some new talent!
Misty in the morning
This is where the non contact people were seen.
Cute turtles
Leaf cutter ants
Rubber boots needed here.
Because our lodge was closed we stayed in tents at the ranger station
Giant river otters
Hollow garlic tree
Tarantula!
I went for a night walk with Miguel, our guide, but not much about, just this frog.
Scarlet macaw - they nest in trees
Black cayman
Pretty little thing - a green whiptail, non pelegroso.
Rain in the rainforest
Not everything friendly here
On the way back delayed by roadworks. Big drop to the left.
1 comment:
Hope you got home tonight ok chris. Let us know xx
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