Jungle time!!

Week 23

5th - 12th Feb 2012

It took 24hrs, three buses and one canoe ride but we eventually made it to the jungle!! We had an absolutly fantastic time. I dont think I realised quite what i'd let myself in for. Note to self the rainforest is called the rainforest for a reason (it rains alot)! And when going to live in the rainforest dont think that the animals, creepy crawlies and scary snakes are not going to be in your room........... our guide informed us that one chap was going to bed when he suddenly spotted a bush master in his room (which can kill 12 horses with one bite)! Thankfully we did not have snakes or tarantula's in our room but we did have a rat eating our soap and a massive grass hopper which sounded like a rattle snake and was as big as my face, right by our bed!

Here is a rough itinery of what we did and saw on our trip:

Day 1
A 2 and a half hour canoe ride to get to the jungle lodge. Here is a sample of some of the things we saw:
A Osprey fishing eagle

Fishing bats

 







Blue and yellow macaws

Greater Ani

Snake Bird

White throated toucan

Oropendola

 Grey and pink river dolphins

In the evening we went for a night walk into the rainforest to see all the delightful insects, spiders, bats and snakes! We saw: tarantuals, jumping spiders, leaf shaped cricket, fruit bats, a toad that can make you blind by it's wee, frogs, stick insects, a crab and a golden web spider.

Day 2
Whilst eating breakfast we saw lots of hoatzin (stinky turkey) a prehistoric bird with 7 stomach's!

After breakfast we went for a trek in the jungle from the lodge! We saw fire ants, bullet ants, great hunting ants, surgeon ants (the guide attached it to his finger and we had to try and pull it off..... no one could), orchid bee (the world's biggest bee), turtles sunbathing, black mantled tamarins, social spiders, eagles, vultures, cooking birds, wild pig foot prints. We even had a go at communicating the old fashioned indian way by hitting a bamba tree and found shade in the roots of the tallest capoc tree!
Orchid bee

Black mantled tamarin

We went for a swim in the rio with potential caimans, electic eels, piranha's and fresh water sting rays lurking in the murky water! Our guide said it was about 80% safe. Whilst chilling out in the hammocks we spotted an anaconda hunting in the river

 

and some dusky titi monkeys in a nearby tree!

 

We then went out in a paddle acnoe and saw a caracara, chestnut coloured macaws, turtles, yellow headed vultures and a giant wasps nest!

chestnut macaws








Under one of the houses there was a clay lick which was frequented by a group of parakeets. In the late afternoon we headed out on the motorized canoe and got completely drenched as we sat watching dolphins in the middle of a thunder and lightining storm! We also saw a ringed kingfisher

We watched the sunset a beautiful yellow, golden red with a rainbow shining through. After dinner we spotted a tarantula in the rafters and a tree frog landed on our guides head.

Day 3
We canoed down the river to a different part of the rainforest where we went for a walk in the jungle. On the way we saw: squirrel monkeys, white winged swallows, amazon kingifishers, tropical king bird, red throated cara cara's, scarlet macaws, yellow rumped cacique, drunken butterfly, a red flat head snake and capachin monkeys!
Squirrel monkeys

Scarlet macaws

yellow rumped cacique

blue morpheus 'drunken butterfly'

Capuchin monkeys

Whilst walking in the jungle we ate lemon ants from a tree like monkeys and Robin enjoyed swinging on the huge vines! After lunch back at the lodge a tarantula jumped onto the top of our guides head and Robin held it.... I stayed a safe distance away but feared spiders dropping on my own head! Later that evening we had a go at piranha fishing unfortunatly we where unsuccesful but Robin did managed to catch a stick and our guide caught a cat fish!

Day 4
Today was a bit different as we went to visit the indigenous Quichua community who live in the jungle. One of the families hosted us in their house and taught us how to make yuka bread and how to cook fish in the traditional jungle way wrapped in banana leaves. On our way to the community we stopped of for another chance of catching a piranha. This time it was me who caught a stick! But a man called Jim in our group managed to catch a piranha which the guide killed for us to eat later! On our way we saw: squirrel monkeys playing in the trees, yellow rumped cacique's, laughing falcons, scarlet macaws, capuchin monkeys and heard lots of yellow hand  titi monkeys, grey dolphins and a red crested woodpecker. At the indigenouse families home they cooked the piranha Jim had caught. The family had two pet parakeets one of which sat on my shoulder and proceeded to poo down my top! The food was delicious. Robin nearly fell in the river on our way back as the ground he was standing on eroded from underneath him whilst trying to get on the boat.

It was a scorching hot day so we risked another dip in the rio before heading out to the bird watching tower ( a very rickety 30m high construction). From the top we watched another beautiful sunset and heard howler monkeys. Whilst on the way to the bird tower we went past a bush which was the hive for marching wasps, it was amazing if you shouted they would begin to flap there wings up in down in unison creating a marching sound as a defence mechanism.
Sunset

After dinner the guide spotted a caiman hunting in the rio just outside the lodge! We saw him via torch light as he skulked around the water searching for food.
Caiman

Day 5
On our final day we woke early at 5:30am to paddle down the rivers watching the sunrise and listening to the sounds of the rainforest. It was magical as we saw the moon and stars fade away to reveal another glorious day in the jungle. We also managed to see some more: white throated toucans, scarlet macaws, pink and grey river dolphins (Robin jumped into the river to swim with them, I stayed on the boat as the guide said that this area is where an anaconda lives), more stinky turkeys, yellow rumped caciques and osprey.

Exhausted and covered in strange bites we returned back home to Santo Domingo. An absoloutly amazing 5 days!

Check out our photos by clicking on this LINK.

Please pray for our health and safety for these last few weeks in Ecuador. Please also pray that the whole experience ends well and that we return back safely to the UK and of course find some jobs!! We are missing everyone back home and we are eager to return but also feel sad to be saying goodbye to so many lovely people and such a beautiful country.

Much love to all from Ecuador! xxx