Mauricio drove us from San Isidro down to Coca on the Napo River. The trip took 2 hours on a good winding road. There Andres showed us 6 different swallows and martins. A fast motorized canoe with roof was packed with luggage and 16 tourists for a 2 hour ride to a creek. There we transferred to 4 canoes, each with a naturalist guide speaking English, a native guide and a paddler. We were split up by nationality (and perhaps age) for the next 3 days, 4 Aussies, 6 Brits, 4 Yanks plus 2 Germans. The 2 hour paddle up the narrow creek was the start of our adventures.
We could have touched the anaconda lying half out of the water with the agouti-shaped bulge in its body. Five species of monkey were seen - squirrel, howler, saki, woolly and capuchin. We saw 2 two-toed and 2 three-toed sloths, several caiman and the family of 7 giant otters on 2 days. My bird list was 73 species in 3 days, including herons, toucans, parrots (but no macaws), many kites, tanagers ... I weep for the photos we don't have.
Our small group had the best naturalist guide, Delfin. He is from the Kichwa tribe, which runs the enterprise and he found so many animals for us. He even used our camera to get better photos. The most exciting sighting for him was a Harpy eagle atop a bare branch some 500m away. We had climbed the 200 (?) steps up the Observation Tower and this was only his third sight of this magnificent bird.
Near a clay lick we visited a Kichwa village where the women sang, danced and showed cultural items. Their men run the resort and the women decided on their own contribution. It was very interesting. The resort was luxurious and we felt the cost of $890 each was not too high for 3 days in the Amazon basin.
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| Squirrel monkey |
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| David had a movie of 7 giant otters swimming close to us. |
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| Harpy eagle |
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