Monday, August 11

Location: Boca Manu, Manu Reserve, Peru

Today's weather: 27░C.

We got up at 6am – though, admittedly, I find that early starts are increasingly becoming a struggle. The idea was for us to take a walk in the rainforest surrounding the hacienda, looking at the birds and other animals. Seeing the hacienda in daylight was truly wonderful – it really did look a little like Fantasy Island. The hacienda consisted of several white colonial-style buildings, a landscaped lawn and garden – with lots of brilliant green rainforest surrounding it. The air was full with the sound of birdcalls, including one very beautiful call from some birds called oriphendalas which were nesting in a tree by the veranda. The oriphendalas' nests looked like giant straw sacks hanging from the tree branches – oriphendalas returning to their nests would enter at the top of the sock and disappear inside.

I think that this morning was very exciting for our birdwatching friends – they discovered a bird called the Brown-Tailed Pootoo which was nesting in a tree close to the lodge. Apparently this bird is very rare and it was the first one that the local experts had seen in two years. The bird wasn't that spectacular – it was a speckly-brown brown colour, similar to a pheasant and it was about the same size as a hawk. I would have missed it completely if it hadn't been pointed out to me because, even through my binoculars, it blended so well into the tree that it looked like a dead branch. I think that birdwatchers must all have terrific eyesight, because there is no way that I would have been able to spot the bird unaided. Lots of birdwatchers (there were others also staying at the lodge) crowded around to peep at the bird through binoculars – oohing and arhing, and commenting about how wonderful the bird was. Meanwhile, the Pootoo just sat on its nest completely unaware of all the commotion it was creating below.

Other birds we saw included woodpeckers, and my favourite – the ungainly looking hoatzin. The hoatzin is probably the most primitive bird alive, it looks like an overgrown pheasant with a blue and yellow punk haircut. It's related to the domestic chicken, and flies almost as badly. The hoatzin is completely safe from predators because its flesh has special glands which make it smell repulsive to any animal silly enough to capture it – the flesh smells so bad that no animal can eat it, and it usually gets left alone in favour of better prey. The hoatzin is such a ridiculous-looking bird that it made me smile and wonder if perhaps mother nature has a sense of humour after all. Other animals that we saw included: brown agoutis (a big rodent which looks like a rabbit with smaller ears), a small river otter, and a huge preying mantis about 10cm long. There were also tracks left behind by several larger animals such as deer and tapir.

After breakfast, we went on a small walk through the rainforest to the river. Here we were met by Pancho and Alliu (our boatmen), who had collected our big backpacks and were waiting with the motorised canoe. We jumped aboard – or more accurately, we squelched through the mud on the riverbank then carefully climbed aboard the canoe trying not to slip over and embarrass ourselves by falling backwards in the water. Pancho started the motor and we went travelling down the Alto Madre de Dios river towards the main reserve area.

Travelling in our small group was lots of fun because we soon got to know each other well enough to start teasing each other. Our forest walks were usually accompanied by jokes, silly comments and retorts.

"Look! I saw a hummingbird!" said Rob.

"What was it humming?", I asked.

"The Peruvian national anthem.", Rob replied.

Rick got lots of flak for his snoring (he wasn't the only snorer, just the loudest). Rick was our scapegoat whenever we thought we weren't seeing enough animals – we protested that all the forest animals were probably still in their nests catching up on sleep lost due to the loudness of his snoring. We even suggested that the forest animals were probably organising a petition for us to send the noisy Australian home. Meanwhile, I became the subject of toilet humour because of my regular cry from the back of the canoe – "Ba±o, por favor!". This indicated that I was in need a bathroom stop. I must have stopped the canoe for this at least six or seven times over a few days. I'd learnt earlier that large numbers of butterflies congregated on spots where an animal or person has urinated because butterflies like the salt content. I joked that the butterflies were probably much happier following my passage through the area.

Our day's travel on the Alto Madre de Dios river was wonderful. Sunlight filtered through the wispy clouds above us, resulting in thousands of small sunbeams that gave the place a magical feel. In the morning we had view of the hills through the haze in the distance. Thicker clouds covered much of the hills like a fluffy white blanket – generated by the moisture from the trees reacting with the cold air of the Andean foothills (this is how the Cloud Forest got its name). Tino pointed to the hills of Panticolla, an area where several Indian tribes still remain, carefully avoiding all contacts with modern civilisation. One of the tribes, called the Yora (or Yaminahua) unwittingly played a significant role in protecting the Manu Reserve from development in the 1960s by fiercely attacking construction workers attempting to build a road through the territory. A former Peruvian President who was driving the programme arrived by helicopter for a photo opportunity to celebrate the beginning of development, only to land in the middle of a battle in which Indians were throwing spears at the work crew. Instead of showing the triumphant construction of a new road, the photos showed the shocked politician clutching the body of one of his workers (impaled with a spear). The helicopter was then used to ferry the work crew back out to safety, where it was later determined not to go ahead with the road. It is said that the Yora still occasionally attack trespassers in their territory. Other tribes in the area include the Kopapakori, Machiguenga, Piro, and the completely uncontacted Mashco-Piro (so-called "Wild" Piro).

Eventually the hills passed into the distance behind us. All there was in front of us was the flat land of the Amazon basin. The land is so flat that between the Peruvian border and the sea (a distance of 3,100km), the land only drops a total of 70 metres. Scientists speculate that the reason the Amazon Basin is so flat is that it was once a giant lake until eventually the ever-increasing volume of water caused it to overflow the highlands of the Brazilian coast, which gradually got worn away by erosion as the lake drained away into the Atlantic Ocean.

At about 3pm, we reached the village of Boca Manu – where the Madre de Dios river merges with the Manu (Boca Manu means "mouth of Manu"). Although Boca Manu boldly features on all the local maps – it is really just a small collection of wooden huts with a shop and a local bar. It is home to about one hundred people. The town's biggest industry is building canoes which, I was surprised to discover, can fetch as much as $US 1,300 ($NZ 1,900)! The canoe base is cut from a hardwood tree, such as mahogany, so that it is strong enough to safely bounce over rocks and submerged logs. The sides of the canoe are then built using softer woods such as native Cedar trees. Each canoe is worked on by a team of people and takes 40 days to complete. The canoe buyers are mostly tourist companies planning on bringing visitors into the Reserve. Tino estimated that because of the humidity and other conditions, each canoe only lasts three to four years before it needs to be replaced.

Unfortunately, the money earned from canoes isn't always used wisely. Some villagers have used the profits to set up small businesses, but others simply spend their money by buying alcohol and other luxuries. One villager recently spent $US 5,000 (the profits from five or six canoes) on a satellite dish and generator just to watch television soap operas! This seemed like a very strange purchase considering that his house was just a rough wooden shack. Tino added that the hot tropical climate is very punishing on electronic equipment, and the chances are that his satellite dish will only last 18 months before it breaks down.

Our visit to Boca Manu was very short – just long enough for a quick wander around the village and for Tino to complete the official permits required for our group to enter the main part of the reserve. We then proceeded to the local ranger station located another hour up the the Manu river. On entering the main reserve area, there was lots more wildlife to see, including birds, caiman, and turtles. The turtles usually had colourful butterflies fluttering over them, or perched on their faces to lick the salt from their eyelids.

We finally reached our campsite, next to a ranger station at about 4.30pm. Our tents were pitched, and we got ready for dinner (which was made for us by the cook accompanying our small group). While dinner was cooking, we crossed the river in the canoe to a small beach where we swam, washed, and fooled about joking of the piranha, caiman, electric eels, and other "nasties" which we all knew shared the river with us.

Back at the camp, feeling refreshed, I wandered around the area – looking at flashing blue fireflies and other insects. The most annoying insects were the mosquitoes, but were hopefully dealt to by the large amounts of insect repellent that we were all wearing. Behind the camp there were about 200 confiscated turtle eggs, a local delicacy which is now illegal (especially if taken from within the reserve).

After dinner, and learning all about Rick's private life back in Australia, we retired to our tents at 9pm. Once again, the forest reverberated to the sounds of Rick's snoring and the forest animals missed out on another night's sleep.