First – a little taste of Cuzco. 3400m.
Peru is home to 1200 varieties of potatoes
Our hotel
Heading out of Cuzco toward Manú National Park…
Modern and Traditional
Our first stop was a pre-Incan burial complex. The little houses are tombs. 3750m.
The village of Paucartambo. 2900m.
They were having some kind of school ceremony.
Life in rural Peru
David Attenborough: It is all quiet in the cloud forest of the Manu National Park and the tourist pack is hungry for their first bird sighting. Watch as they strain to spot it through the thick undergrowth.
Yes, this is the main road
A dazzling array of epiphytes
The cloud forest lives up to its name
Wooly Monkey (?)
Sunrise on the Andes, the next morning. 1000m.
Following is a bunch of shitty pictures of animals from Manu National Park
Some kind of owl
Some kind of lizard
At the boat dock. One of these would take us down the Madre De Dios and then up the Manu.
Some kind of birds
Stopped at some hot springs along the way
Walking to our lodge. The river had changed course over the past season, so the boat could only drop us off a 20 minute walk away.
That night, instead of spending the night in a bed like civilized explorers, we headed deep into the jungle to spend a night on a rickety wooden platform next to a clay lick.
Our guide – Alex
Group ford
The payoff for a night of on-and-off sleep: two semi-blurry photos of two tapirs
and a frog on the walk back
Sunrise
MOAR WILDLIFE
CAPYBARA!
Not a capybara
Jungle.prototype
Macaws apparently only fly in pairs. Or threesomes. Or the really adventurous ones – in foursomes.
A hoatzin – the most awkward flying bird in the world
Okay, seriously, an ocelot. Pretty rare to see. It was puking up a hairball on the riverbank.
Squirrel monkey!
Capuchin monkey AND squirrel monkey!
A crane or an egret. An ornithologist I am not.
I always thought caymans were miniature alligators.
Nope! They grow to 3 to 6 meters. Or more. Keep your hands in the boat, folks.
Pee break!
I almost walked into this thing, the oblivious tourist that I am
Definitely keep your hands in the boat.
Not Robot Heart
Eagle v Snake. Snake won, by not getting eaten.
Buzzard
I really wanted to see a toucan, but this is as close as we got
Sunset
The next morning we went to a nearby oxbow lake for a sunrise paddle. Many birds were seen, many crappy photos of birds were taken.
Some kind of Piper. I really like the shape.
More birds of some sort.
Macaws!
It was a really calm lake
All that’s missing is a pith helmet
We spent two nights at a lodge run by the Machiguenga tribe, as far as white people are allowed to venture. Even here, footballery was practiced.
And I ate a thing
We went on several walks around the lodge
Capuchin monkey!
That’s no leaf!
The nighttime jungle is full of creepy-crawlies
And astounding beauty in the beam of the headlamp
Also snakes
And cockroaches
Jaguar XJ12
The biggest trees in the rainforest are ficus trees
I love this pose
Nighttime tarantula walk. Turns out they live predominantly in palm trees.
Frogs
And toads
Oh my!
The cattle of the ants. The ants feed them, and they produce some kind of secretion the ants use. The jungle is an amazing place.
Heading back, the river continues to dazzle with its color and beauty
A parting shot of the whole gang, including the boatsmen and cook
Back in civilization, a Peruvian Blockbuster
Back in the high Andes. Life at 4000m.
