So Much To See

Friday 19 January

The light went on at 05.00, just minutes before the alarm was due to go off. We could see through the mesh it was just getting light. Colin managed a shower, but I only had a quick wash, before getting a cup of tea and meeting Jesus. He explained we were going out on the catamaran to see what wildlife we could find on the lake.

When he said catamaran I envisaged a white, two hulled boat with a mast and sails – I knew it wouldn’t have an engine. When we reached the small docking area where we landed yesterday, we were taken on board a “catamaran” – two of the long wooden boats joined by planks of wood across the centre, with benches round three sides. We stepped aboard – at least it was easier to get in than the boats which rocked violently as you moved along – and one man again, sat in the back and paddled. We slowly floated around the side of the lake to the music of the birds’ waking calls. We saw many species of birds, including the snake bird, cormorants and herons, macaws and parakeets. Another bird we saw in large numbers, had fabulous brown and cream plumage, a long spiky crest and large blue areas around its red eyes. It is known as a “stinky” bird, because it has no predators as its meat tastes horrible. But it mates for life, and we always saw it in pairs. There were kingfishers, usually flying in twos, vultures, small black and white swallows, and many others. We also saw tiny long nose bats, clinging in line down the trunk of a tree. They were brown and furry, with black beady eyes and small ears - very similar in size to our pipperstrel bats – about the size of your thumb nail. As we watched a couple started swaying from side to side as if dancing for us. They are very important to the area, as they eat lots of the millions of mosquitoes that fly around all night.

Sandoval Lake is in fact an ox-bow lake, which I remembered from my schoolday geography, was a lake that had originally been part of the meandering river, but the loop had become silted up, to form a “u” or bow shaped lake. Apparently one of the linking channels is still narrowly open, but the other is completely blocked by silt and vegetation. The level of the lake changes only slightly during the year – when it drops a few streams leading in, help keep it filled, and when it rises, other streams disgorge the water, so that it doesn’t overflow – very clever ecology really.

We stayed out on the lake for a couple of hours, before it was time to go back to the Lodge for breakfast. We started with a frothy fresh apple juice – it was as if an egg white had been whisked through it – and was slightly warm. This was followed by a ham omelette, with home made potato crisps and a large cheese “Cornish pasty”. There was bread and butter on the table, but no jam. Colin and I drank tea, but Jesus drank “Milo” – its amazing how many indigenous people we have met that love that drink.

It was then time for a short rest (or blog in my case) before meeting up with Jesus again – this time for a hike – although he promised us “no Wellington boots” today. We took a trail leading round the back of the hotel, through the forest and Jesus pointed out loads of different species of plants and trees, including the “walking” palm which grows large roots at its base in the shape of a wigwam to get the water it needs. If the water is to be found more to one side, it puts more roots that side, and so seems to creep through the forest. There were cotton trees, one of the tallest trees in the forest, that tower above all the others, when seen from the plane looking down on the canopy. There were lots of plants and trees used for medicinal purposes, such as a tree with red bark roots which when cut yields a sap that can then saturate some material to bind a broken limb or cut wound. We saw termite mounds, high up on the trunks of trees, with tunnels down the tree to dead wood on the ground, and we also saw a bird sitting lower in the tree, catching the termites for its lunch! There were strange thin conical shapes, terracotta coloured, some open at the top and some closed – these turned out to be where the cicadas grew – the parents would lay and hatch their eggs in a hole in the ground and the young cicadas, would make a hole nearby and build itself a “tower” over the hole and stay there for as much as seven or eight years! – in some parts of America this could be twenty five years!! It would then break out of the tower to live in the forest, clapping its wings and making that sound so synonymous with the jungle. We saw lots of different spiders, including one that looked like a tiny red triangular harrier jump jet, with black legs that curled under the body, and two beady eyes at the front. It had been building a web, that was so strong, you could touch it and make it bounce without breaking. When Jesus caught the spider by a strand of its web, it immediately became motionless, hanging in the air as if dead, before dropping to the floor like a stone. We saw several larger species of spiders, black and angular, stripy or furry.

The butterflies here all fly around your ankles and makes you jump as something flutters around at your feet – many are brightly coloured - reds, yellows and oranges - but we saw one huge black edged with an iridescent blue fill inside, very similar to a yellow variety we had seen in Thailand. All of the butterflies have beautiful markings and are so delicate. We even saw a line of caterpillars on the trunk of a tree. They were moving one behind the other, and apparently this is a way of fooling its predators into thinking it is much longer than it really is – there must have been almost one hundred in the line. Every few steps there was something new to point out, epiphytes, lianas and lichen, as well as flowers and leaves and bushes – nearly all having a specific purpose in the forest. Most of this area is secondary forest, but tomorrow we are going to visit the primary forest, of which there is very little left in this area.

One of the last things we saw on our walk was the brazil nut tree, which is indigenous to this area. We found large round “cannon balls” on the ground near the tree – they were just as hard as the iron variety – and when we returned to the lodge, Jesus took a machete to one of these balls to cut it open. It took several strikes all round the ball just to cut through the outer layer. Inside there was an even harder layer, which he tried to shatter near the top end. When it eventually split, inside, nestled neatly inside were lots of brazil nuts as we know them, with fibrous layers between each kernal. When he emptied them out of the shell, there were twenty three nuts. There was a vice tool on a table nearby, which he used to crack open the nut – he had just as much trouble as we do at home at Christmas. It tasted a lot like fresh coconut, not the taste we expected of a brazil nut – that’s because it’s fresh. Brazil nuts are an important cash crop in this area, and they are still harvested and the “cannon balls” opened by hand before the nut is dried for several days. Some are exported at that point, others are taken out of their shell, and are worth more money if they are whole.

After this display, we showered before returning to the dining room for lunch. This was another local style meal, including potatoes in yellow sauce, chicken fillet with deep fried sliced potatoes, a slice of tomato and several slices of a really huge cucumber. This was followed by strawberry jelly. The juice today was passion fruit.

We then went to watch the video of the giant otters that we had seen on the lake and, unlike the condor video in the Colca Canyon, it was in English. It went through the life of an otter, starting with a three year old male in a family group of six, living in Lake Sandoval – just like the ones we had seen. It told how only one family can live in a lake at one time, so that there is enough fish for them all to eat. It showed the family at play in the lake, feeding and looking after the young cubs. At the age of three, males need to find themselves a new lake – very difficult in the current climatic conditions, as more and more lakes are drying up, or being drained. The otter will have to travel overland, through the forest, where it is open to attack from many predators. If it finds a new lake, he will then have to look for a young female, from yet another lake, and take her back to his new home. They will then mate and raise their own family. It’s now wonder giant otters are rare, and getting rarer – and that’s without any human intervention.

I felt quite sleepy when we returned to the room, so had a “siesta” for an hour before meeting up once more with Jesus. This time we took the catamaran out on the lake again, turning in the opposite direction to that we had taken previously. Almost immediately we saw the otter family nearby in the centre of the lake. Jesus and the paddle-man stoked the boat closer to the creatures diving and swimming, catching fish and munching, keeping together all the time. Mum would call with a loud croaky sound to any of the family who happened to wander away from her safe keeping. We watched this family for more than an hour through our binoculars (I am becoming quite adept at using them now), floating along behind them, but not getting too close – about 10 metres or so away. It was another real highlight on our tour.

Further down the lake, the Lodge has a thatched topped viewing tower, from where you can see almost all of the oxbow lake. When we were level with the tower, the paddleman veered into the side of the bank and we followed a short footpath to the base of a tall spiral staircase. Round and round - the stairs climbed 18 metres to the top, where the view was a wonderful panorama. The sun was descending over the left arm of the bow, reflecting behind a few puffy clouds out over the water, in golds and yellows and oranges. The other side was darker, the water looking more navy up here than the khaki colour it looks from the boat. As we had met the bank, the otters too made for their den just a little further up on our side. But after the tower the land is private, not to be visited by any tourists, guides or even local people, to try and protect all the species that live around and depend on the lake for survival. We spent almost another hour, watching the sun and scanning the shorelines for wildlife. We heard quite a lot, but didn’t see many birds or animals. The stinky birds were around in numbers, panting loudly before they made an inelegant flight from branch to branch. There were striated herons, catching their last meal for the day, and lots of parrots and red macaws making their noisy way from the far end of the lake to the interior of the loop – opposite where we were watching from, where they would spend the night. The sun continued to set, changing to rose, lilac and finally a deepening mauve, reflecting across the water in an every increasing arc. It was so peaceful.

But Jesus had other things for us to see, so in the gathering gloom we went back to the catamaran and paddled past the lodge towards the far side of the lake, near to where we entered the lake yesterday. Here we saw a troupe of night monkeys jumping through the branches of palm trees just in from the bank. They were quite small monkeys, with creamy white faces, pale caramel bodies and of course a very long thin tail. Herons and swallows were making their way to their nests, and we saw snake birds still diving for a late night feed. As we paddled back towards the lodge it became almost dark and bats started to fly all around us – dark bluey grey wings hinged from a bright red body. They zoomed and swooped, often just missing a collision with our heads or the sides of the boat. We heard new noises – nightjars calling to each other, and we found a couple in the beam of Jesus’ torch, sitting in bushes and low trees along the lakeside. Their eyes gleamed like garnets in the dark. We were also stalking black cayman – alligator type creatures, that live in this lake. They can grow to six or more metres, but that would be rare here now, as they have been fanatically hunted for their skins. We came across a young one lying on the edge of the bank. In the torchlight he didn’t move at all, not even a blink of his eye, also red, to let us know he was alive. We took a few photos and moved on. All the way along the bank there were large groups of wriggling tadpoles, not the puny fellows we have at home, but between 1 and 2 inches long, fat little morsels, all trying to feed on grassy clumps under the water. These would become green or yellow tree frogs. We could hear the fully grown frogs making calling loudly further inland. As we returned to the jetty, we saw a large cayman in the shallow waters at the edge, looking into the bank. He was about 2 metres long with short stubby legs and long claws. His body was a golden creamy colour with black patches. He too didn’t move and we were able to get some pictures, before wearily climbing the steps to the Lodge. There was just enough time for a shower and change and to buy a drink before dinner was served.

In the bar we briefly met another couple from near Sydney, who were doing a two month tour of South America, but going northwards as we travel south. Dinner was another filling meal – banana chips with the dip tonight, followed by asparagus soup, a beef and pepper casserole, with rice and thick home made chips. For dessert a large chunk of “madeira” style cake was brought round. Needless to say, I declined mine, as I knew Colin would not be able to manage to of these huge slices. I was right, he only ate about half of his portion. The juice tonight was starfruit – a really refreshing drink.

We then returned to room to prepare for the night – the mosquito net had been pulled down for us tonight and was tightly tucked in all round the bed – perhaps that will keep more creatures out than our efforts last night. There was just less than an hour to blog before the lights snap off and the fan stops whirring. I had to finish the evening reading by torchlight – which brought back memories of reading under the blankets when I was young.