Tambopata Banana Boats
We left Cusco early in the morning and flew to Puerto Maldonado, where the Tambopata River flows into the Madre de Dios River. The Madre de Dios is a tributary of the Amazon. We went from pleasant semi-dry highlands to the humid tropics the minute we stepped off the plane.
We were met by our guide, Victor Zunigaturpa, from the Explorer's Inn and a few helpers and taken to their offices, where we repacked so we could leave unnecessary gear (clothes, mostly) behind. Then we headed to the river where we boarded a large dugout canoe and headed up the Tambopata River.
The "freight" boats were pretty interesting. They had "inboard" motors mounted near the stern, with an extra long shaft with guards around the propeller. The motors looked like Honda lawnmower motors or something similar. The rigs were clearly designed to avoid mechanical failure due to hitting logs, rocks, the bottom, and odd trash. The boat pulled up on the bank along-side ours had a load of bananas, covered to protect them somewhat from the heat. Our boats, however, all had regular outboard motors.
The river is deeply incised, and at the water level we had in the dry season the surface was about 10m (30 ft) below the surrounding land. More about that later, but every place we visited had a long set of steps leading up to the grounds where the facilities were.
Even this mid-day trip up the river had things to see. There were some spectacular trees blossoming, but we didn't stop to see them up close. We also noticed a few turtles on logs along the shore.
We paused beside a clay lick to get our first look at a lick loaded with Macaws.
We settled in at the lodge, dumping our gear and then wandering around to see what we could see.
We headed out in the evening for a night walk in the jungle. It was cool, but we didn't see as much as I had hoped. I was hoping to see some nocturnal mammals such as the Kinkajou, but no such luck. We did see some cool frogs and a nice Tarantula. As usual, it was impressive how well camoflaged some of them were, such as the Scorpion. We also found a grasshopper with long antennae.
The next morning we spent some time checking out the grounds before heading out. We found some nice birds and butterflies and amazing flowers.
The bugs in the tropics are amazing. A really cool one landed on Gary's hat. What the heck are those orange bumps on its back for? Maybe they were not part of the bug, but mites working away on it.
Our big reason for being here was to see parrots at the clay licks, and we would save several hours in the mornings by working out of another lodge which was closer to the licks our guide Victor wanted to take us to. So we left some of our gear at the Explorer's Inn and headed up the river to the Collpas Tambopata Inn. Along the way someone discovered the boat had a hole in it, so we retrimmed it a bit so the hole was above water and carried on; that plus a little bailing. We saw some cool birds along the way.
We also found some turtles sunning themselves on logs along the shore. The one below had butterflies hanging out around its eyes, maybe dining on salt or something else at the edges.
It was disappointing to see illegal gold mining going on along the river as we rode up it. We were in what is supposedly a protected area, but enforcement is obviously lax and not working. I think they were dredging the silt.
We found what we thought were some outrageously cool butterflies, only to discover when we got home that they were a moth. The distinction between moths and butterflies is getting fuzzier and fuzzier as we learn more and more. Butterflies are supposed to have thin antennae with distinct bulbs on the end; moths are supposed to have feathery antennae. Moths are supposed to be nocturnal, but these clearly were not; butterflies are supposed to be diurnal. Butterflies are supposed to be slender and relatively smooth; moths are supposed to be stouter and fuzzier. Butterflies are supposed to be the more colorful, but this moth clearly contradicts that notion. As they say in many things about the life sciences, there are (a lot of) exceptions.
The Collpas Tambopata Inn was a cool place to work from.
There was a Yellow-Crowned Parrot and a Scarlet Macaw at the Inn which were more-or-less pets; they came up to the porch for snacks.
In the evening we found a nighthawk, which I had one heck of a time seeing. As well as a frog I've been unable to identify, even with a reasonable photo. You'd think that distinct color change would make it easy...
The next morning we got up early and headed up to the biggest clay lick.
Along the way we saw Capybaras, the largest rodent in the world.
Then we were at the lick. Wow! Talk about a lot of parrots and macaws!
The birds are more vulnerable when they are on the clay lick than when they are hanging out in the trees, so they all sit around and wait for one of them to be brave enough to go try it. Once one goes, most of the flock figures it is ok and they fly down en masse. In the meantime, we had fun taking pictures of the birds in the trees.
It seemed like every tree you looked at was full of parrots. The closer you looked, the more you saw. Some were out in plain sight, and others would be buried deep inside the tree.
After quite a while, one brave macaw flew down to the lick, and another joined it. In short order, everybody wanted in on a good thing.
While all the macaws were busy on one part of the lick, a lone Blue-crowned Trogon was hanging out under a branch in a different part.
As we left the lick, Victor pointed out a Long-tailed Potoo on the top of a stump. I had to look at it for a very long time before I finally saw it, right there in plain sight. Talk about camoflage!
On the way back in the boat, we came across a Golden Tegu Lizard. It was pretty cool; it looked like a snake as it swam past the boat.
We also found a few more birds. The Greater Yellow-headed Vulture was particularly cool looking.
Back at the lodge, the Red Howler Monkeys were out and about, although a bit shy.
We found more cool moths / butterflies, some out for show, others incredibly well camouflaged.
Some were alone, but others were in bunches of different ones all concentrated in the same area.
And then there were the bugs...
In the evening we headed out to the 40m high observation tower. We usually have pretty good luck with a good variety of species from towers, but this time we didn't see a lot. We did see a number of birds which were so far away we couldn't take pictures of them; there just weren't many in the close proximity of the tower.
The next day we headed out to the lick again, this time a little earlier. On the way up we stopped at the ranger station so the guides could check in.
We were here in the dry season, and the river was pretty low. There were a lot of snags at some places in the river. Where there was a pile-up of logs, there was often only a narrow channel through the mess deep enough for our boat to make it. We hit a submerged log once. In addition to the snags, there were a lot of sandbars and the channel is always shifting. The boatman often had a long stick in his hand that he used to probe the channel to make sure he was in the deep part; sometimes it was pretty difficult to see where the main current, and therefore the deepest channel, was. We all kept scanning the shore as we motored up the river.
The advantage to logs and sandbars is that the boatman drives cautiously, and we all have more time to look at things. It was particularly fortuitous for us — the other guide who was with us spotted a Jaguar behind a log on the bank. How he saw it is beyond me; we were not close to the bank, and I think only an ear and the top of the head was showing at first. But then he is young and has good eyes, and I am a geezer with poor ones.
The picture below isn't much good, but if you look at her left front paw you get a feel for one reason why they are formidable predators. That is one big mitt! According to National Geographic, the name Jaguar is derived from the Native American word yaguar which means "he who kills with one leap." While jaguars typically kill their prey with a bite to the neck, those big mitts help catch and hang on to the prey so it can be killed.
She gave us one last look before quietly ambling back into the jungle. What a treat!
This time the clay lick had mostly smaller parrots on it, at least at the start. I'm a little surprised the birds utilize the parts of the licks with large cavities adjacent to them; it seems like the cavities would be ideal places for predators to lurk and snatch a bird. But maybe that's why the birds always wait for someone else to go first.
One reason the parrots may have been reluctant to land on the lick was there was a roadside hawk hanging around. There seemed to be one of them near most of the licks we visited. There was also some kind of howler monkey hanging around in the trees.
After quite a while, the macaws started showing up. Before they descended on the lick, they gathered in droves in the trees just above it. There were birds all over the place. It was truly amazing; you didn't quite know what to look at.
Then, as usual, one of them was brave enough to chance it. After a pause to see if any predators were pouncing, a second one joined the first, and then it was a rush.
There was a constant flash of color as the birds vied for best spot on the lick. Some of it appeared to be inter-species rivalry, but other times it was just individuals fighting for space.
The action finally slowed as the clock headed towards noon, so we headed back to the Collpas Lodge, where we found some cool bugs before packing up and continuing back down the river to the Explorer's Inn.
The Tambopata River has some pretty interesting geology. There are islands up and down capped with huge chunks of igneous rock; the rock is resting atop sediment. Where it came from is unclear to me. I don't think it washed down from the highlands; I think it may be an old layer and the river has eroded down through it. Anyway, it is pretty bizarre looking.
On the way back down we stopped at a small tributary to look for a few more birds. While we were looking for birds, a big troop of Dusky Titi Monkeys that was hanging out nearby decided to make an exit. There was a boatload of them, plus another bunch of some other kind of monkey, I think red howlers. They kept running down this one tree one right after the other; each one was visible for only a brief moment, but they just kept coming and coming.
When we got back to the lodge, the Saddle-back Tamarin Monkeys, also known as the Brown-Mantled Tamarin, were busy eating bananas the staff had put out for them.
We spent the next couple of days poking around the Explorer's Inn.
