Amazon Jungle camp

The safety briefing at our jungle camp was a little different from the usual “beware water may be hot”.  It included “there may be snakes on the way to your room – so always use the torch at night”, “Scorpions are not fatal but they are painful so when tucking in your mosquito net, pulling up the top sheet or putting on clothes or gumboots always look carefully for them”, “swim in the main river but not the lagoon as the still water has electric eels and sting rays amongst other things”. 

We are staying at Dracaena’s Nicky Lodge in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve in Ecuador.  To get here involved a short flight over the Andes, a 2 hour bus trip and three and a half hours by motorised canoe (a 15m long by 1.2m wide boat with a 40 horse Yamaha outboard).  The ride in was probably the most uncomfortable part as we had torrential rain and the boat was uncovered and doing 30kmh.

As we turned off the Aguarico River into the Cuyabeno River we saw a pink river dolphin.  A few minutes later our guide Diego spotted a sloth.  It was on a bare tree trunk in plain site but we took some time to see it as it was so well camouflaged. Diego imitated the sound of a Harpie Eagle (which preys on sloths) and it slowly turned its head.  Slothful takes on a whole new meaning watching them.

The Amazon provides the ideal environment for life with plenty of water and sunlight, warm temperatures for growth and very little wind.  The result is intense competition for resources, fascinating defence mechanisms and some amazing examples of cooperation.  At a rare clearing in the forest we found lemon ants that exude a strong lemon acid that stops trees other than the one they live in from growing. This tree provides tunnels to protect the ants in exchange for the acid to give it access to sunlight.  The ants are small, have a strong citrus taste and I could not feel their bite as we ate them.  Walking trees travel up to 6m putting down new aerial roots and pulling themselves towards sunlight. Leaf cutter ants build a compost heap in their nest and rely on the fungus in the compost for their food.  Vines and epiphytes fight for the sunlight at a lower building cost by starting on an existing tree.  In the case of strangler figs the seeds start in bat droppings on the side of the tree before eventually killing the host.

These millipedes excrete cyanide when frightened
so I smelt almonds, it probably smelled fear.

Cruising slowly on the river in our canoe we spotted (with Diego and Andres’ help) numerous birds, squirrel monkeys, capuchins and howler monkeys and pods of pink dolphins accompanied by a solitary grey dolphin. The birds included macaws, toucans, parakeets, eagles, egrets herons and vultures.

On the night walk in the jungle we spotted tarantulas, bats, snakes, frogs and numerous ants and other insects.  Many of them we also found in our bathroom which with its very open format was occasional home to a couple of bats and a huntsman spider.

This all implies a high level of excitement and adventure and there were adrenalin moments, but there were also many very relaxing moments.  Cruising quietly on the river just drinking in the vegetation and enjoying the river flow was very peaceful.

Ora Pendula nests

There is so much more to tell (and to write in a much better way) but its late – so this is what you get today.

Ross