Hiking through the rain forest

Hoatzin, near the lodge

We started early our first morning with a canoe ride across the beautiful black water lake that is part of the Sacha Lodge’s reserve and through a shallow channel to the Lodge’s new observation tower, rising 140 feet to the top of the forest canopy.  From this height, you can see so many gorgeously colored species of birds—toucans, macaws, hummingbirds, anis, aracaris, woodpeckers, parakeets and so many more.  The canopy is alive with birds.  Their brilliant colors flash in the sun as they crisscross the tops of the trees.  We spent almost 2 hours on the viewing platform enjoying them.  Our guides are incredible bird spotters.  They set up a telescope that they focused on particular birds so we could admire them in their colorful splendor.

toucan in the canopy

In the distance, we could hear howler monkeys calling.  In my experience, howler monkeys have, unfortunately, always been way off in the distance.  I have only seen one once, but I still love to listen to their calls.

cotinga

As we walked along the narrow forest paths, there were so many sounds.    Bumps, thumps, blops as things fell to the forest floor from somewhere above and the forest adjusted itself.  Screeches and songs and calls from birds.  Croaks, howls, rustles, slithers, barks and chirps from insects and frogs and reptiles.    It seems so quiet when you stop to listen before your ear starts to hear how noisy it really is.

Our second day, we took motorized canoes to a parrot lick, a cliff down the Napo River where parrots gather to peck away at the mineralized soil of the cliff.  This helps them clear their bodies of the toxins in some of the forest fruits they eat.  We arrived just off the cliff about 7 in the morning.  At first, there were a couple of parrots in the tops of the tallest trees above the cliff.  Pretty soon, parrots started to fly in, landing in the trees and squawking loudly with mini-skirmishes as they jostled for the favored spot on a branch.  Soon there were dozens of parrots filling the trees.

parrots and parakeets at lick

Suddenly, all the parrots left the trees at once and swarmed to their favorite place on the cliff.  Dozens of them squished into a small space, which must have had the best minerals because there was lots of other cliff area which they ignored.  Several species of parrots and parakeets busily pecked at the cliff for about 15 minutes when suddenly something scared them and off they all flew in a rush, headed back to the trees.

That night, we took a forest walk around the lodge.  While I would have loved to have seen a jaguar, they aren’t found near people, preferring to roam deeper in the forest.  The first creature we saw was a large tarantula, a nocturnal feeder.  These tarantulas have gray bodies with black legs, unlike the ones I am used to which are all black.  They are just as pcreepy, however.  They particularly like the butterflies and the butterflies’ larvae.  The lodge has a butterfly breeding enclosure, completely covered to protect the butterflies from the spiders.  But, one chrysalis happened to be on the outside of the enclosure.  We looked up to see two legs of a tarantula draped over the top of the enclosure just above the chrysalis, about to pounce on its prey.  It reminded me of a horror movie, except the spider wasn’t 6 feet tall.

lizard feeding at night

Much better than the spiders (which included a large jumping spider we photographed and quickly crept past) are the frogs and insects.  We saw one teeny frog the size of a tear drop.  Several kinds of walking sticks chomped on the huge forest leaves.  We knew the monkeys were in the tops of the trees because they were moving, but we couldn’t see them, though earlier in the day we saw little pocket monkeys about the size of a human hand.  The forest is alive at night with all kinds of life, each with its own special place in the ecosystem.

butterflies on ground in pavilion

stick bug under leav

Brown owl

wakiri poison frog

Spix's night monkey

teardrop frog