Pacaya River & Zapote Caño
The Pacaya River basin is one of the most important components of the Pacaya–Samiria National Reserve. The reserve is the most extensive area of protected floodable forest (varzea) in the Amazon rain forest in South America. All over this protected area there are an incredible number of lagoons, lakes, gorges, canals, and oxbows.
Today in the morning we visited one of the main rivers that gives the name to the reserve, the Pacaya River. Just at the confluence of the Pacaya and the Ucayali we saw Pink River Dolphins (Inia geoffrensis) and Gray River Dolphins (Sotalia fluviatilis) swimming around. We had plenty of time to go as far as we could inside the Pacaya River. We had several highlights, the sighting of several giant water lilies flowers (Victoria regia), a Great Potoo (Nyctibius grandis) spotted at day time. This bird is extremely well camouflaged for it has the same color of the bark of the trees where it perches patiently waiting for the night. Just the eagle eyes of our naturalist Juan Luis Ihuaraqui defeated its camouflage.
We spotted a brown-throated three-toed sloth (Bradypus variegatus) hanging on a tree at a very close distance from the skiff. The latter sloth sighting has been one of the best I have had in all my life. I have been around the Neotropical rainforests for way over twenty years and the sighting of this juvenile sloth we had today has been one of the best I have ever had.
Later in the morning we had time to swim in the middle of a refreshing beautiful lake with the company of the sounds of the forest and some pink river dolphins in the distance. On our way back we spotted a pink-toed tarantula in a grassy area as well.
In the afternoon we explored Zapote Caño. In this location we found many Saki monkeys. The highlight was that an Anaconda snake (Eunectes murinus murinus) was spotted! This unusual sighting is the first for naturalist Renny Coquinche in ten years! Renny was born and has lived all his life in the area. The latter statement tells to you how unusual the sighting of this mighty reptile species is. The snake had several spines all over its body for it seemed that had recently eaten a porcupine. It was partially submerged surrounded by grass and it was so thick that looked like, in words of one of the observers, a rubber tire.
Late in the evening at around 18:15, we arrived back on board with the wonderful feeling that we spent a great day with extraordinary sightings in one of the most intriguing and fascinating ecosystems on Earth—the magical Amazon region.
