RAIN Forest

We were awakened in the night (some of us) to crashing thunder and heavy rain. It's drizzled somewhat here, but this was our first full-fledged rain. We went down at 6:30 to meet Alex as instructed, and he told us to try again at 7. So at 7, in a mild downpour, we met to trek a mile and a half to the special feature of Sacha Lodge, the crane. 

It takes you up above the canopy and then revolves gently 360 degrees, so you see everything below. While we waited, we nervously watched a bullet ant, whose sting is supposedly the most painful in the world.

 What a view! We saw many happy squirrel monkeys leaping and playing. Some new birds, not pictured because they were kind of far away for photos. Bright red howler monkeys. Weaver bird nests. Just being up there was absolutely amazing and more than made up for the wait and the slog through mud and rain in our (not too comfy) wellies. 

We had a special lunch with Alex that featured many indigenous dishes, including chunks of the enormous Amazonian river fish called arapaima, a fern salad, a pork dish, cassava, and plantains. Very tasty AND educational; Alex explained how the people in his village hunted, gathered, and grew the ingredients.

At four we headed out on the capybara hunt Alex had designed for us. The other couples had left that morning,  so we were lucky enough to get private guiding. First we (by which I mean Alex) canoed across the lagoon and down a black water creek (so called because of its dark water from the tannins of rotting vegetation). We watched squirrel monkeys leap 30 feet in the air like acrobats, across the creek and back. 

Then we went off the beaten track on a narrow and muddy path, where we walked for a good three miles and saw a large yellow footed tortoise, a caiman lizard, and a baby horned frog, something Alex had never seen before. He was so excited he was practically hyperventilating.

Finally we got to the motor canoe landing on the Napo River and met our captain. We set out going upriver, watching a beautiful sunset and scanning the shoreline for capybaras, seeing many birds and some howler monkeys. At one point the boat got stuck on a sandbar and Alex had to jump up and down to help wriggle it free. We imagined spending the night on the river -- without our can of bug spray -- and decided we'd rather not.

In the dark, we watched for eyes on land. Alex was so eager that he was standing on the prow of the boat like a tattooed figurehead (well, also to watch for river detritus that could sink us).When we got to the sandbar where he had previously seen our prey, we saw a round white shape on the sand. Alex yelled, “Capybara! Capybara!” Then it stood up  — on 2 legs. Oops. It was a boat-billed heron. 

We continued searching for a bit after that and saw a young caiman, but no capybara. Still, the outing was a thrill and a success—a brand-new frog, monkeys, a tortoise, rare herons, and at the very end, a deranged opossum trying to swim across the river. A fitting end to our last day at Sacha.