Category: Amazon

On the last day of the amazon vacation I took a boat to Panacoche lake to fish for piranha.

One last night hike…

Napo is a pretty special place and what makes it special is the community effort and commitment.

In the early morning, I went to the tower to look for the monkeys and birds that are active right at dawn.

After the sunrise hike and breakfast, we went to the cultural center to learn about the kichwa customs.

After lunch, we went back to the Añangu river to look for giant river otters. No luck today but we saw a lot of other cool things. I got to help row the canoe. The poor guide now knows I hate to sit still.

These coatimundi babies were trying to get across to where momma went. One went up one direction and the other climbed up a vine but fell down into the water – twice. Poor thing….

After dinner was a little night hike.

The clay lick at Yasuní (which in Spanish is called a saladero) is a natural mineral-rich area in the park where parrots, macaws, and other wildlife arrive to consume clay. This behavior helps them neutralize toxins found in their diet of fruits and seeds.

We woke up early in the morning to get there and see flocks of parakeets (yellow crowned, yellow tailed, and blue headed) in the first clay pit and macaws and parakeets in the second location. They eventually cover the walls of the clay banks and are something spectacular to watch. We were fortunate to not have to wait too long for the birds to arrive.

Along the way we saw other animals like this little owl.

Red howler monkey

This is the blue Morpho butterfly but the blue is on the inside of the wings. When it flies it is hard to get a good picture.

Poisonous mushroom.

Later in the afternoon I went to watch the sunset at the top of a very tall tower. Unfortunately there was a very hard rain before and  fog covered over the area. I did see a red howler monkey pair.

The Napo Anangu community is an Indigenous Kichwa community. They are located in Yasuní National Park in the Ecuadorian Amazon. They are committed to conservation and sustainable ecotourism. They operate the Napo Wildlife Center, There is a lodge at the Napo wildlife center and also the Napo Cultural Center. Both are renowned eco-lodges that provides employment for locals and preserves the rainforest.

Yasuní National Park is a Biosphere Reserve, and is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth, The park contains vast oil reserves,which is troublesome as there is drilling in parts. There are also other groups of indigenous peoples who still remain uncontacted today.

The next morning we opted to pay for a different tour to the wildlife center in search of the giant river otter. In the video you can see it in the first few seconds. They are fast and elusive.

As we were watching red howler monkeys and a baby climbed a branch directly over our heads. As we were trying to get pictures we saw that it had started peeing. It missed but was pretty close to the boat. Mono travieso which means naughty monkey.

We saw a variety of monkeys on this trip and it was easier to capture videos than pictures.