Down In The Jungle

On Tuesday evening we met our new tour leader, Simon, and our new travelling companions comprising five Canadians, two Americans and one South African. After a meal together we went to our separate beds because of an early start on Wednesday morning.
We packed everything we thought we might need for the next two weeks into our rucksacks and said farewell to our suitcase which we hope to see again in a fortnight. Wednesday dawned very sunny and warm as we set off for the airport – compared to the vehicles used our last tour this one was positively luxurious with plenty of space and big windows. We took a flight to Puerto Maldonado, deep in the lowlands of the Amazon jungle; but first we flew over the Andes and saw some spectacular scenery and a stopover at Cusco. Just after we landed Cusco airport was closed because of bad weather. The rains had closed in around the mountains and there was not enough visibility for the plane to take off . We eventually took off about 90 minutes late and landed on the airstrip at Puerto Maldonado just as a huge thunderstorm started. As we travelled over red mud track roads through the jungle – sometimes crossing small rivers on what looked like bridges made from pallets – or the really scary one which was just two planks places across the gap at the distance which was just right for our (not-so-luxurious) bus wheels to cross. The rain stopped but the sky remained an ominous grey.

We boarded our motorized canoe where we had a delicious lunch of rice, vegetables, egg and cheese wrapped in a banana leaf and set off along the Tambopata River with the dense jungle on either side. After about 45 minutes we arrived at the landing stage and set off on foot through the rainforest to walk to our eco-lodge in the Tambopata Rainforest Area, which holds the world record for the most bird sightings in one area – today we heard many but saw few and those we did see we can’t remember their names (think one of them called herself ‘Queenie’ but we’re sure this wasn’t her real name0
About half of Peru is located within the Amazon Basin, however, due to its isolation, not a lot of it is available to the casual traveller. Puerto Maldonado is situated at the confluence of the Madre de Dios and Tambopata Rivers, and is a bustling, booming tropical frontier town. Its principal activities are gold mining, Brazil nut collecting, timber extraction, agriculture and ecotourism. The Tambopata area includes habitats ranging from the Andean highlands around the rivers' headwaters through some of the last remaining intact cloud forests to the lowland rainforests of the Amazon basin. The area is renowned for its diverse plant and animal populations.
We arrived at the lodge and were delighted by its simplicity which combines native architectural style and materials with low-impact eco-friendly technology.

Our room was simple but comfortable, with mosquito netting for our individual beds, a hammock, a flush toilet (such luxury) that did something eco-friendly with the waste, a shower (cold water only!), oil lamps along the walkways and candles in our room. The rooms have bamboo walls (careful about the noise you make) and a huge open space (no glass, no curtains) looking out onto the forest just a few feet away – and we love it.

Electricity in the bar is only for a couple of hours each day for residents to recharge camera batteries – and we thought there would be no wifi or mobile phone signal so decided to wait to upload this to the blog – as it happens there WAS wifi but only discovered this when we were due to leave. Local community members make up the majority the lodge staff, including multilingual Naturalist Guides. One of them took us on a walk through the forest, where we saw an amazing variety of trees and plants in the dense jungle including enormous Brazil nut trees – from where many of the local community gather the nuts to sell. We climbed a 120ft high tower to look out over the forest and see the sunset which meant we had to walk back through the forest in the dark surrounded by the sound of birds, animals and insects. No rain but the humidity level was about 90% and it was very warm so our clothes were damp and clinging – never thought a cold shower would be so welcome! And the mosquito bands Jenny gave us helped to keep the little buggers away.
After a simple but filling supper accompanied by a surprisingly tasty blue maize drink we went to bed early beneath our mosquito nets listening to the noises of the jungle (which sound exactly like a Brian Eno sound installation we visited many years ago in the Barbican conservatory) in readiness for our 4 a.m. call in order to set off at 5 a.m. to go further into the jungle...
...perhaps next year we’ll have a fortnight in a B&B at Eastbourne.
Thursday
No 4 a.m. start because there has been torrential rain all night which was still pouring down when we got up at 6 a.m. and had a cold shower and put on clothes that felt damp as we dressed but we really don’t want to be in Eastbourne. The rain was torrential all morning and it was soon easy to see why the lodge was built on stilts as the ground became flooded – far too dangerous for us to venture out...
By about 2pm the rain stopped and we went on a trip, another walk in the forest, another trip in a motorised canoe, another walk in a different forest (with a different eco-system), some bird watching – including a sighting of an Amazonian Pigeon which produced one of the best quotes of the holiday so far from Barbara, A Canadian: “Did I come all this way to see a pigeon?...” Then to visit an oxbow lake (Gregg knew all about oxbow lakes from a geography lesson he had when he was 11 – wish he could remember useful things) where we were promised a ride on a catamaran – imagine our disappointment when we saw two dugout canoes fastened together with a few planks of wood.

But it was fun and we saw some interesting bird life and Chris went fishing for Piranhas – she didn’t catch one but someone else did – amazing number of sharp little teeth they have but nowhere near as frightening as those that appear in James Bond movies.

Quite a nice sunset, another walk through a forest, another ride in a motorised canoe and a walk back to the lodge by torchlight. On the way back there was a strange noise like water dropping from the leaves, which turned into a cracking and crashing noise as a huge tree fell out of the darkness on the path only a few feet from Christine. It was SO frightening; fortunately she jumped in the right direction straight into Gregg’s arms (“My Hero”) and was unharmed but had to have a few drinks in the bar to recover from the shock.
Friday
We left the lodge by walking through the forest having another ride in a motorised canoe - this time on a greatly enlarged river following all the rain, it must have been about 2 to 2.5 metres higher than when we arrived. We then drove back through deep mud (the allotment on a wet Sunday has nothing on this) and boarded a plane to take us from Puerto Maldonado (200m above sea level) to Cusco (3,400m above sea level). We shall tell you about Cusco tomorrow.