OSAmag78

T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 7 8
being a view of the jungle about 10 metres away! There was a
mosquito net over the bed and a hammock in the room. My
guide was Yuri and he was looking after 2 elderly Americans
and me. On a trip like this you get to meet people from all
over the world. Amongst the 13 others are a couple from
Downham Market and a family of 4 from Northampton.
Our 1st expedition was a walk to an 80 feet canopy tower.
From the top you could look down on the trees but it's the
middle of the afternoon so not much activity. Then we walked
further on to an oxbow lake. Yuri paddled us slowly round the
lake. We just missed the Peru cricket team; at least I assume
that's why there were 11 bats on a tree trunk! There was a
variety of birds and by cheating (throwing food into the
water) we got a close up of some fish. The yellow ones
jumping out of the water were piranhas, according to Yuri.
After dinner we took a night-time boat trip to see a couple of
pairs of caiman eyes (part of the croc/alligator family). On the
way back we all got good photos of a pink-toed tarantula. It's
blue other than the toes.
THuRSDAY
Only 1 night here so another boat journey ahead. This one
will be 4 hours to the Tombapata Research Centre (TRC).
There are very few tributaries to this river but it does change
to the Rio Tombapata. The scenery was mile after mile of
rainforest but was fascinating as it is ever changing. It's early
in the dry season and the river was wide, often not very deep,
but seemingly endless. The only other river traffic was
returning tourists. Everyone/everything gets to the TRC by
boat or not at all. After another "rice in banana leaves" lunch
we arrived at "the side of the river". There was virtually
nothing to indicate any form of habitation.
However, a 10 minute walk took us to the TRC, which
included our lodgings. Again the 4th wall of my room was a
view of the jungle 10 metres away. Monkeys, macaws and wild
boar (you always meet some on holiday, but, at least these
weren't British!) could be seen close up at different times.
There were 18 rooms so less than 40 tourists at a time.
The "research" is into the lives, and particularly the feeding
habits, of parrots and macaws. The birds eat clay! The
researchers are trying to establish whether this is because they
don't get enough sodium from their natural diet or because
the other minerals in the clay aid digestion. The answer may
well be both so they might be here for a while! The profits
from tourists helps to finance the project.
FRiDAY
At 5.20 am the next morning, shortly before dawn, a group of
a dozen or more congregated at the entrance to the Lodge.
Then the world started to come to an end! At least that's what
it sounded like. An echoey sort of roar, a bit like being outside
a terminal at Heathrow, started and grew louder and louder.
Yuri explained that it is a howler monkey. "How many?" he
was asked. "Only one" he responded. It seemed unbelievable
that anyone creature can make that much noise. The monkey
must have been very close because each time I heard it again
it was a tremendous din but not quite like that first time.
We walked down to the boat and after a short ride disembarked
onto an island. After a short walk we sat down (on picnic
chairs we brought with us) to wait, quietly. There was a water
channel in front of us and rainforest on the opposite bank. To
either side of the trees there were short steep banks of clay.
These were probably 100+ metres from us. At about 6 am, as
it got light, a parrot flew by. Then 2 more. Then a parrot
squawked and so it went on. Over the next hour more and
more birds congregated and the noise level rose continuously,
such that, for the 2nd time this morning, noise became one of
the abiding memories. The macaws in particular were
spectacularly colourful. Eventually a few parrots flew to the
"clay lick" and started to eat the clay. These were followed by
many more parrots and macaws. I could see what's happening
through my binoculars but my poor camera didn't show much.
Until, that is, one of the research staff put my camera lens into
the eye piece of his telescope - and then pressed "video". I got
2 minutes of the most spectacular action.
Late morning and late afternoon we took 2 more walks to
subtly different parts of the rainforest. One led to the top
ofthe only higher ground around and gave a beautiful view
across vast areas of forest. It started to get dark around 5.30pm
at ground level but above the tree tops it was still clearly
daylight. There are profusions of butterflies too and they also
seem to like eating clay Being in this environment is what I
wanted to experience.
Yuri was excellent; his English was good and he knew his
stuff. He'd been here before and knew how to tickle a
tarantula (without pink toes) from its lair and only "local
knowledge" enabled us to get a (rather dark) photo of a
porcupine in a tree. Yuri really was "Dr Doolittle" as the noises
he made were often responded to by various birds and animals.
On our return to the Lodge I casually asked Yuri when Peru
was to play Ecuador (in a World Cup qualifier). Kick off is
9.15 tonight after the talk from a volunteer with the research
staff. "Is there a TV here?" I asked "and surely the generator
goes off at 9.30pm". "There is, and not when Peru play" was
his response. So I became the only tourist to join the Peruvian
staff at TRC to watch Peru win 1-0. Yuri was happy!
SATuRDAY
It's just Yuri and me for the rest of my stay. In the morning we
visited a swamp area of the rainforest. Yuri recommended
wellies and he was right to as the mud reached just below the
top of them. It was tough going as most of the mud was pretty
thick. For the afternoon Yuri arranged for the TRC volunteer
and a Peruvian member of the team to take me with them. We
went by boat to an island not visited by tourists. They were
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