Bird watching in the jungle

A 5.00am start … This was to set the pattern for our South American experience… the two of us on an travel experience designed for 40!!!

Off by canoe, of course, up through a muddy path and there is an opentopped double decker bus. It was fantastic because Freddie could spot a bird instantly a with aquick whistle, he stops the bus we are at eye level with these fantastic birds - vultures, parrots, toucans. In the rainforest, the animals disappear when it is dull or raining and so we didn’t see as much as Freddie would have liked but we just loved it.

The bus drops us off and we have a2 hour hike through the rainforest.. Lots of warnings look before you put your foot, hand or any part of your body anywhere … when we saw Vine snakes (OMG!) I knew what he was talking about!

Loved it when we asked what the red cables were… hey they were the roots of trees! That gave Freddie a laugh!

Also loved it when he wound a vine together and shimmied up the tree. Wow he is good! There is something exhilarating about walking though the jungle, All around you can hear the wild life calling, you can almost feel the jungle grow. There is the slow drip, drip of the rain on thehuge leaves. We climb up past huge trees, we slither down wet muddy slopes to a deep river. Here we go says Freddie and he carefully shows us where to put our wellington clad feet… one foot either side of the underwater path and we would disappear into the muddy water ready to be eaten we fear by all sorts of flesh hungry beasts. When we finally reach the shore we feel reassured until I ask the stupid question, what lives in these burrows. we forget the name as Freddie tells us they are huge rat like creatures that can give you a nasty bite!

Now I have never thought of myself as a fearful creature but you know you can change !

Climbing up out of the valley we suddenly find a fantastic frog… mmm don’t know what that one is says Freddie… we should take photos for the scientific station. I couldn’t get over the fact that he stroked its tummy and it became ecstatically comatose… mmm what bliss… a few photos later we head off back up the hill.

Along the way Freddie feeds us different fruits and berries, as well as giving us a face painting session designed to keep the bugs away he says but I think he just enjoyed making us look foolish!

Our last stop is at the scientific station, again part of the Yachana project. Juan and Douglas are constantly trying to raise money to buy more rainforest. Once they have purchased a newsection they then conduct a scientific survey. We meet Ricahrd who is from Leeds but has spent the last 6 years working in the jungle here and in Columbia. He was ecstatic that more funding had come through and he could return back to Yachana. He was less enthusiastic about the fact that he had been woken by a HUGE pink anaconda the night before. I didn’t envy the guys their basic accommodation, really nothing more than open wooden huts strung with hammocks. Pretty tired by the time we got back to the canoe which was waiting for us.

Back at the resort there is just time for a quick (cold) shower before dinner where the two of us enjoy the glorious sunset before making use of the hour of electricity to make phone calls and blog before the dreamless sleep of the exhausted!