Amazing Amazon

Someone once told me that in a safari, we see only 20% of the animals that see us. I think in the jungle, we probably see only 5% of the animals that see us. I had gone to visit Area de Conservacion Regional Comunal de Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo ("ACRCTT"). In the 8 days I was in the area, I only managed to spot 4 stationary wildlife on my own - a vulture, a ringed kingfisher, an osprey (thinking it is a hawk) and well, lots of mosquitoes. 

How to get there

ACRCTT covers an area of 322,500 hectares of uninhabited lowland Amazonian forest 100 km south of Iquitos, Peru. It was created through a coalition of local communities and researchers in response to large-scale hunting, fishing and logging by outside commercial interests. (Source: Collaborative wildlife management and adaptation to change: the Tamshiyacu Tahuayo COmmunal Reserve, Peru, Helen Newing and Richard Bodmer)

Map: Iquitos, Amazon River, Tahuayo River
Source: Newing and Bodmer

I visited some of the areas around Tahuayo River. From Cuzco, I flew to Iquitos (through Lima) and from the airport, we drove to our boat 30 minutes away. To reach our lodges, we travelled for almost 4 hours through the Amazon River and subsequently, Tahuayo River.

I love auspicious starts. In the Amazon River, we saw at least 2 grey dolphins and in the Tahuayo River, a pink dolphin which was at least 2m long.

Grey dolphin in Amazon River

Pink dolphin in Tahuayo River

Our lodge

Notice the distinctive colours on the wall -
that was the level of water that flooded the area earlier this year

The logistics

We were assigned our private guides who discussed our areas of interests and went through the activities available at the lodges - canoeing, hiking, boating, visit native villages, have a session with a native shaman, canopy exploration on ziplines, swimming, fishing... The length of each of these activities could vary according to our preference and our fitness. 

There were 2 lodges in the area and I stayed in both. Both lodges have access to different wildlife and the activities available vary accordingly.

We were issued wellingtons for ease of walking in the jungle and to help prevent the spread of amphibian chitryd disease. I think they are also good for preventing ant and snake bites. I was also assigned one of the machetes when I went to the toilet in the bush.

My guide was Christian. Sometimes we would go to the field alone while on other occasions, we joined Matthäus, Britta and their guide Lenny. Mostly, we went hiking, fishing or boating with Keith and his guide, Jhonatan.

From left: Jhonatan, Keith, Christian

What I did

I mostly went hiking. Sometimes we would go after breakfast for a 3 hour walk while on other days, we packed our breakfast and lunch for longer hikes. On the second day, Christian found me a 40m tree while we were hikng. All I had to do was to arch my neck backward until my head almost touched my back and the neck is parallel to the ground. Slowly, the tree came alive. A strong-billed creeper bird appeared from behind the trunk and whistled. The Amazon red squirrel busied itself amongst the crown of the tree. A ‘branch’ transformed into a yellow bird which spread its wings and flew away. It was truly magical.

In search for the red-faced monkeys with Jhonatan, Keith, Manuel, Gustavo and Christian

Fishing with rods made from tree trunks

We went fishing one day and I came back empty handed (Excuse: that was the first time I fished in my whole life). The second fishing trip was better. I caught some fish and my first catch was a red-bellied piranha: 

We had canoeing and boating trips on the river, mostly in the early morning or at night when the wildlife are out and about. It was a pity that it was full moon when I was at the lodges. The moonlight was so bright and consequently we did not see much creatures.

Canoeing at dawn

I also had a go at the canopy zipline which was 45m above the ground. This was the tree -->

Look Ma, no hands
Photo credit: Keith

Christian, Manuel and I went camping in the jungle 1 night. We had to gather firewood for cooking. As it was raining when we arrived at our camping ground, Christian and Manu had to produce wood shavings with their machete while I fanned to start the fire. Christian produced some magical touch on the rice, fish and chicken dishes. If you like camping, make sure Christian is your guide!

Christian at work

That night, I spent 15 minutes killing the mosquitoes in my tent. My headlamp must have been shining into Christian's tent and woke him up and he sleepily asked if I was alright. I had to deal with the buzzing mossies and tuck in. Luckily there were only 2 surviving mossies and I killed them the moment I woke up in the morning. Die Mossies! Die! 

The lodges

Thatched roof

The lodges were better than I imagined them to be - clean and big rooms, thatched roofs and mosquito nets allowing natural ventilation, solar-powered electricity, running water, flushing toilets, shower and some wifi.

The lodges were not very busy when I was there in the second half of October. There were not more than 10 guests at any one time and we always had so much laughter at the lodges. The staff were very friendly and we played volleyball together. They were very competitive but also kept teasing each other.

As for the guests, since all of us stayed for a few days at the lodges and had our meals together, we shared what we did/ saw, plans for our trips and chatted about anything under the sky.