Up to Tambopata
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Mon 6 Sep 2010 21:01
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Our Journey Up River to the
Wasai Tambopata Lodge
  We are here at the Wasai Lodge and will end up here at the Tambopata Lodge
  We watched fresh supplies and eggs being
loaded
  We got in the boat at twelve forty five en route natural jungle
dwellings. Our guide Omar - Our driver
Cesar
Wasai Tambopata Lodge is located in the heart of the Amazon,
approximately fifty kilometers away from Puerto Maldonado as the crow flies but
actually one hundred and twenty kilometers on the river by our transport, to the
heart of the Tambopata Candamo National Reserve. On the banks of the Tambopata
River is primary rainforest and spectacular natural beauty.
  The natural raw beauty was amazing. A
local had marked his home base with a dangling traffic
cone
 Every so often Cesar
would pull over and patiently wait for Omar to point out something new - A Horned Screamer - a new one on us
  Nests of the Oropendula
Bird and a man panning for gold
We saw many men panning
for gold, Omar explained that they would have to work extremely hard to make any
money. An ounce of gold would fetch twelve Soles (about four English pounds) but
it would cost him at least eight Soles to produce it. Costs for fuel for the
generator to pump the river water, the middle man to take the gold to town and
the hardship of the back breaking work, mostly alone.   All
part of the local river scene
  Lots of
turtles. In the first picture a butterfly actually sitting on the head of
the chap on the left
 Butterflies grouping together to lick the salt from the sand. Became known as Alan's welcoming
committees
  Amazing trees and many birds
  Many
birds of prey and lovely butterflies
 Our
first sight of parrots were Scarlet and Blue Macaws.
 Capybaras (own blog)
 Omar told us the river was about nine meters deep
in the middle, this can raise and lower by six meters depending on dry or rainy
season, now about mid height. Many trees litter the way and Cesar expertly took
us around over falls, debris and shallows. We arrived at Wasai Tambopata
Lodge at ten to five
 ALL IN ALL AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY WITH UNIQUE FLORA AND
FAUNA
APART FROM THE SPEED IT FELT LIKE A REAL EXPEDITION INTO
THE JUNGLE
.
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