Jungle Survivors

Jungle Manu

We had this idea when we planned our trip that it would be cool to go from a high of almost 16,000 feet down to sea level on the roads. Most tours to the jungle in this area fly from Cuzco to either Manu or Puerto Maldonado. We found a tour, called a bio trip that drove down to the Madre de Dios river and then travelled on the river. We were lured by the attraction of the cloud forest and the cock of the rock birds.


What we failed to notice was the length of time and quality of road this bio-adventure would take. So with an eagerness to see the jungle and a desire to get out of the city, we met our travel companions for this venture, and headed off. You have to visit the jungle with a guide, so we picked Inkanatura tour group and were on our way. There were six of us all together, a German couple in their thirties, both mathematicians; and a retired couple from Berkeley, California. She was 68 and he was 80. Our first day had us travelling 14 hours by van up over a high pass in the Andes down to the cloud forest and the cock of the rock lodge. We made a variety of stops for bird gazing, but it was a very long time in a van on bumpy, dirt roads. We had so much dust on us at the end of the day that my hair was crunchy and black dirt was coming out of our eyes, noses, ears, and mouths. But, we both agree that it was pretty cool to see all the changes in the ecosystems all the way down.

Our traveling companions were birders. The older (and very cool) couple, Mel and Miles, were serious birders. Miles has been birding for 50 years. He asked if I thought that was a long time. I told him I thought it was a long time to have any consistent hobby. Mel and Miles have been all over the world multiple times and very often the main attraction was birding. The German couple were also birders, but much less intense birders. In other company I would have said they were also serious birders, but they paled by comparison to the birders from Berkeley. Larry and I, well, we like birds. On a good day we would be able to identify a bird of pray from a sparrow. In other words, we were way out of our league. Fortunately, everyone was nice and pointing things out to us. We learned a lot about birds in the jungle.

We FINALLY arrived at our lodge for the night, in the dark, barely in time for dinner. Our guide's name was William. Born and raised in Cuzco, named a proper Englishman name due to the influence of TV on his parents, he developed an absolute love for the jungle and a thirst to know more and more about all the plants, animals, and birds. What he lacked in judgement of time and organization, he more than made up for in enthusiasm. He got so excited over every little bird and how beautiful it was. He also saw everything. There were birds so far away that we couldn't even see them when trying to find them and he would spot them from a moving vehicle and tell you what it was and what the colors were. Amazing. Really amazing. William gave us our briefing for the next day and told us we wouldn't have to get up too early to see the main attraction. We were relieved as we were quite tired from our journey. That was until we found out that "not too early" meant wake up call at 4:30am and out the door at 5:00am.

The cock of the rock birds are these funny looking birds with big red heads. If Snuffalufagus (from Sesame Street) was a bird, it would be a cock of the rock birds. Apparently, every morning a bunch of the male birds would go to a particular bunch of trees and practice their mating ritual so when it was time, they would be ready to give it their best go to find a chick. Apparently, the real mating season is quite brief, but they diligently practice every day. It was quite a show. We were a little grumpy to wake up so early just to see a bird, but it was cool and unlike anything we have ever seen. Very noisy (and not the pretty kind of bird noise) and lots of flapping around. After we walked around a little and William found a few other birds for us to look at. We looked through our binoculars, William just looked.















On our way back to the lodge for breakfast, William spotted a monkey. We were very excited and then there was another and another. We thought this was just the coolest thing ever. Then we got to the lodge for breakfast and realized that we had passed the monkeys on their way to the lodge for breakfast. They got bananas tossed out by the staff at the lodge, and we got eggs. Larry and I are not huge fans of feeding animals like this, but it was fun to watch the monkeys run and get the bananas and then peel them and eat them. We were told they don't come all the time, but we find that hard to believe. If there was a safe plentiful free meal offered at the same place every day at the same time, I can't imaging the monkeys wouldn't come everyday. After our breakfast entertainment, it was back to the van (UGH) for three more hours. Of course, three hours became five hours, but eventually we made it down to the river to catch our boat.


















In addition to the stops for birds along the way, we made a stop at a Coca Farm. Traditional mountain living Peruvians (and tourists trying to acclimate to high altitudes) use coca leaves. By chewing them, or making a tea out of them, or candies, the elements in the leaves are supposed to help with altitude. This is all well and good except that this is the same plant that cocaine is made from (and Coca-Cola originally). There is a lot of controversy about the growing of the plants and the government is trying to regulate it, but the people indigenous to Peru are fighting back as they use the leaves in a variety of traditional ways and have for centuries.

The coca farm we visited was open to visitors and regulated by the government. It was interesting to see, but it was really like any other garden. The most interesting part was the cashew nut tree and all the other tropical fruit trees that we have never seen before. Cashew nuts, before they are dried are huge, maybe half the size of an average hand per nut. We also sampled a fruit unlike anything we've ever tried. It was a big long seed pod, maybe a foot long and two inches wide, and you crack it open and inside there is like a white pulpy material that surrounds big (over an inch long) seeds. You pop out a section and eat the white stuff. It's very sweet and kind of stringy, but tasty. Add that to the list of new foods. In any event, it was a nice diversion from the bumpy, dusty, LONG road.

Finally we made it to the river. We were thrilled to get into our boat for our two plus hour journey down the river. The boat sat two across and ten deep. It was like a big canoe with chairs and a motor at the back. We had a boat driver in back and another boatman up front to watch for obstacles in the river. It was a great ride. The weather was perfect. Not too hot and not buggy at all. After our river trip (with lots of stops to check out birds, of course), we arrived at our second lodge, Pantiacolla. Our first lodge visit was brief, arrival after dark, out before light, but it was nice. No electricity, but there was running water and there was hot water.
















Pantiacolla had no electricity and no hot water, and really, no real inside versus outside. We also had to get outside to go the the bathroom. We were in a cabin, but the roof wasn't exactly on top of the walls in all places. Let's say we could see the stars from inside. Normally, this would be great- and often preferable for Larry and I. However, we were in the jungle which means all kinds of creatures large and small- some friendly and some not. There were mosquito nets around our beds (more to keep out all creatures great and small, not just mosquitoes).

Anyway, since we arrived well before dark, we took a little hike in the jungle with William. We can't even begin to describe all the different types of trees and plants we saw, but one thing was very clear- you have to be tough to live in the jungle. Really tough. Things grow bigger, stronger, and just more fierce in the jungle. There are many varieties of trees that grow spikes or thorns on their trunks to protect them from other plants and animals. Vines grow up on trees trying to get to the sunlight and can suffocate the tree in the process. There is even a type of tree that grows around a "host" tree (an unwilling host) and wraps it's branches and roots around it until it strangles the tree and takes it's place. And that's just the plants. We didn't see much wildlife of this walk, but we saw some ants literally over an inch long and some spiders with spikes on their bodies. Like I said, you have to be strong to survive in the jungle. For us, our jungle survival instincts lead us to hike behind the guide while in the jungle.
















After dinner and our briefing for the next day, our latest wake up of the trip at 6:00am, we took quick cold showers and jumped under our mosquito nets as fast as possible. I got in mine first and Larry was getting a couple of things together when a cicada (insect like a cricket) came to visit us. All I heard was the unmistakable loud sound and saw Larry jump back a few feet. Unfortunately as Larry jumped back, the jungle sized creature jumped into our toiletry back. From there it was quite a show to get the cicada out. I'm under my mosquito netting, so I'm finding the show quite amusing. That is until it came right next to my bed and blew the candle out with it's wings. Before it left the room, it had knocked out both candles, created quite a raucous, and raised Larry's heart rate substantially.

The next day we took the boat down the river for six more hours until we arrived at Manu Wildlife Center. It was a great time on the river looking at birds and chatting with our travel companions. Larry and I both really enjoyed the birding (much more than we thought we would). The Manu Wildlife Center was definitely the fancy lodge of the trip. When we arrived, we were greeted by the lodge manager and brought to the main building. We were then asked to take our shoes off before going in. At first, we really thought they were joking. It just doesn't seem like a good idea to take your shoes off and leave them outside in the jungle. But we did as asked and went inside where cold juice was waiting for us- an Amazonian specialty which is juice made from blue corn. It is actually pretty good. The main lodge area had hammocks, a bar area and a full dining room. Our room that we stayed in was quite nice. No electricity (this is an eco-lodge after all), but it did have hot water and an indoor bathroom. Most importantly the room appeared to be fully screened in.

We went for a little hike in the afternoon and continued to see all kinds of jungle species of plants. Larry thought he was walking in a nature program like you see on TV. We came upon a huge tree of the variety that strangles another tree to get space to grow. The original tree was long gone and we were able to walk inside the trunk of there where it used to be. You know you are in a tough place when the trees kill each other so violently. There is even a fungus that exists in the jungle that is carried by the wind (the spores) and attacks insects, mostly spiders. The fungus attaches to the insect and effects the brain of the insect which makes it climb up a tree to the appropriate height for the fungus and then the fungus grows over it, killing the insect. There are no reported cases of humans dying from this fungus....

The next morning was our early wake up call at 4:00am so that we could go and see the Macaw clay lick, one of this areas main attractions. We took a short boat ride up the river and hiked into a built up bird viewing platform and waited for the birds to arrive.

A brief digression on mammals in the area. Besides birds, snakes, insects, and killer plants, there is also quite a few special mammals in the area. Of most interest to us was the capyabara, the largest rodent in the world. These cow sized rats are truly rodents of unusual size (or ROUS's for any Princess Bride fans). They live by the river and come out to the riverbanks to feed. William, our eagle eyed guide, had his eye out for them on our behalf. There are also jaguars, tapirs, agoti, sloths, anteaters, armadillos, and of course, monkeys of many varieties. On the way to the Macaw clay lick, we saw a couple of agoti (kind of like a woodchuck sized rat, but much cuter). They kind of hop along like kangaroos on all fours.

The show at the Macaw clay lick went as follows: Wake up really early, take a boat ride, a short hike, arrive at the spot, and then wait for the birds to arrive. The clay lick is special because the clay in this particular place is necessary for the birds to aid digestion. William said it was like alka-seltzer for the birds. So after their morning feeding, first come the parrots, then came the macaws, and finally the parakeets. We waited for quite a long time for the show to start, but I have to say it was worth the wait. These are the birds that you only see in zoos and on nature shows. While we were waiting, Larry made a friend. We happened to sit down right where we were was an Amazonian sized grasshoper was waking up for the day. Larry didn't bother him at all and he stayed right in front of us for the entire time. He was quite entertaining while we were waiting for the birds. We watched the grasshoper do a full circuit of bathing and morning exercises. Trust us, when it is 5:30 in the morning and you are sitting still and quiet waiting for birds to show up, this is good entertainment!















Our afternoon venture was to the canopy platform. For us, this was one of the main reasons we picked the Manu Wildlife Center as a destination point. It was a platform built up in a tree about 125 feet off the ground. To get onto the platform, you have to climb up an open metal spiral staircase. It sounds like no big deal, but the staircase moves- a lot- when there is any movement on it. Surprisingly when we got to the top the platform was totally stable. it was really just a tree house platform built on some massive branches of a tree. It was very cool to see the jungle from the top. We now had a bird's eye view to look back at the birds. Then it started raining. We opted to wait it out for a little bit at the top and when the rain stopped, we saw lots of birds and monkeys.















Our last full day at the Wildlife Center was definitely the most eventful. It started very early in the morning as we took a boat down the river to get to an Oxbow lake. Every moment on the river, we were looking for the capyabara (which is supposed to be fairly common), but we had not seen any yet. We had seen almost everything else on the list: caymans- check; agoti- check; monkeys- check; toucans- check; capyabara- none.

We arrived at the lake and boarded our catamaran to check out the lake. Before you think we were on a big sailboat, the Amazon catamaran is a wood platform on top of two canoes with folding chairs to sit on. It was very comfortable and most importantly for the lake, it was silent.
There were two main attractions at the lake, a family of giant otters (very rare) and a crazy looking blue faced bird that looks like a chicken, sounds like a cow, and is very awkward when flying. We saw the crazy birds right away, and then our attention turned to these little birds on the water called by some, Jesus Christ birds. They walk on water. They have these big long toes and walk (mostly on lily pads) around the lake and use their toes to pull up the bottom of the lily pad to see if there is any food there. They were very cool to watch. Animals are amazing. We saw the family of otters having their morning meal of freshly prepared fish. Ok, we saw them dive down, catch a fish, come up and eat it in just a couple of bits. We enjoyed the otter show.
















Our afternoon venture was actually an afternoon and evening venture. We hiked about 3 miles to another clay lick. This type of clay was the alka-seltzer for the tapir. The tapir is a rare and funny looking pig/anteater looking thing that apparently is special to the area. So, off we went. On the hike in, we saw spider monkeys- they were fun. They were exactly what you imagine, little monkeys swimming from branch to branch. We also saw howler monkeys- they really do howl. Like a loud low growl that you can hear from over a mile away. The rest of the hike was uneventful, by Amazon standards. When we arrived at the viewing point, we were again asked to take off our shoes. This time we were going to be there until well after dark before hiking back and taking off our shoes really didn't seem like such a good idea, but we did as asked and then went directly into our little mosquito covered viewing areas, complete with mattress. We immediately saw a small cayman (think crocodile) swimming around in a mud hole, which was an odd place for a cayman, but really, who is going to stop a cayman from going wherever it wants? We only waiting a short while until one tapir came looking for his clay hit. He came, he munched, he walked away. Pretty uneventful. Then our guide asked us if we wanted to go. Having only gotten a brief glimpse of the tapir, we opted to wait for a while to see if anything else showed up.

















Two hours later and now pitch black- still nothing, so we decided to start our walk back.
Now if you ask most people if they would like to take a hike in the jungle at night, they would say no and probably use some explatatives. Seems like the right answer really. Night hiking in the jungle was not exactly my idea of a relaxing evening stroll, but off we went into the land of HUGE spiders and crazy insects. Fortunately after a few walks in the jungle, we learned the most important jungle hiking lesson- let the guide go first. So like the good guide William was, he started hiking and we followed. We saw a few frogs, which was good. We saw a couple of scorpian spiders. As if big spiders aren't bad enough, these suckers had pinchers at the end of each leg just like scorpians. Because the legs are so long with the extra weapon at the end, the body of the spider is actually several inches off the ground. Huge.

Then, there was a tarantula. I haven't seen one of these since Arizona (small ones) and Larry had never seen one before outside of a zoo. It was big and hairy looking. William explained that he really thought they were prehistoric looking creatures and not so smart. I didn't really want to find out how smart it was. So we continued on for a while with only army ants and medium sized spiders to avoid. Then we saw another tarantula (a little bigger- about the size of my hand) and William saw it retreat down it's hole. So, of course, after the spider had kindly gotten out of our way, what did our trusty guide do? That's right, he wanted to get it out of it's hole for us to see. He said what we saw was the juvinile and wanted to try to get the mom out to play. He took a leaf and twisted it around the end of a stick to make it look like a bug that the spider might want to eat. Then he stuck it near the tranatula hole. The juvinile came out to try to get it twice, but William pulled it away. Then the mom came out. We ALL gasped and took a step back- even our trusty guide. This was the biggest spider we had ever seen, including on TV. The body alone was the size of my hand and with the hairy legs stretched out, the thing was huge. Words can't explain, see the picture of the "little" one, and then the BIG mama. Use the leaf for size comparison. There is no zoom here...
















After that we all walked a little more quickly back to our lodging area. The last thing we saw was a little armidillo walk right in front of our path. Friendly, normal size, and non-threatening. Very good. We arrived back at our cabin, tired, sweaty (did I mention it was jungle hot on this day), and very alert and attentive to our surroundings. So, after one more game of "evict the cockroaches" which was our nightly ritual at Manu Wildlife Lodge, it was time to crawl under our protective mosquito (and cockroach) netting and get some rest.

The next morning we left the lodge and took a two hour boat ride up river to the airport. Unfortunately based on the flights (12 people max per flight) our group had to split up and we took our final trip up the river with another guide, who was not nearly as interested in looking for things on the river. And alas, no capyabaras. These rodents of unusual size (ROUS's) are supposedly commonplace along the river and as big as small cows. We both really wanted to see one, but animals have their own time tables, and our schedules didn't match. So, we'll have to wait for a trip to the fire swamp for another opportunity. For those of you not familiar with the movie The Princess Bride (and the music played at our wedding ceremony), ignore the previous sentence.

For our last Amazonian adventure experience, we got out of the boat and hiked in to the airport. The airport was even smaller than in Belieze. This was a open air hut (think picnic shelter in a local park) with one CB radio, one desk, and a scale. They asked us to sign our name in a book, weighed our bags, and then weighed us and our carry-ons, and we were officially checked in. After they calculated weight, they assigned us seats so that our weight distribution was correct and the plane could successfully take off. It was both of our first "weigh-in" experience in order to get on a plane. With plane full, and properly distributed weight, we were off, climbed from sea level to 15,000 feet and then landed back in Cuzco at 10,700 feet- long assent, short descent. We arrived back in Cuzco with very few bug bites and lots of pictures and visual memories of a great trip to the jungle.