Atun Poza & Rio Pacaya
This morning started quietly as many do. Out in the skiffs at 6:30am, we crossed the Ucayali with life-jackets on, then into the calmer waters of “Atun Poza” with life-jackets off. The river level seems to be rising still, although some say it's as high as it will go this year already. The amount of vegetable debris floating down is impressive and formidable...an entire banana tree just passed us by! But there are even bigger and harder trunks hiding just under the surface, so the Captain and his helmsmen are careful to dodge the largest.
Inside “Atun Poza,” which means “place of fish” or “lagoon of fish,” there was still a bit of a current, but manageable. Sloths were found fairly quickly, and the horned screamers were booming their calls across the distances. Squirrel monkeys were found, then a porcupine! These very secretive animals are extremely hard to see in the wild, yet this individual had chosen to rest in a branch overhanging the lagoon. Surrounded by leaves, but not completely hidden to the eyes of the world's top predators – man. But we were there only to look and photograph (fortunately for it). Wandering into a far back corner we found the nest of a hoatzin – with an egg! The parent saw our approach from a long way off and moved off the nest, which allowed us a unique opportunity to see the size and color of these wondrous birds. Their heads are decorated with the most magnificent feather Mohawk “do,” and their red eyes are surround by bright blue skin.
Slowly making our way back, one of the skiffs stopped to look at a cannonball tree, but were instead distracted by movement in a neighboring fig, which turned out to be a tamandua – small, arboreal anteater! It was quite cooperative, in that it didn't rush into a hiding place, but made its way purposefully across major branches, finally descending into a thicket where it stayed. It hadn't been in such a hurry that it didn't stop to munch/slurp on ants along the way.
Just as we were set to leave the area, a couple of local fishermen were pulling into the bank with their catch. Large spotted or striped catfish were the prize catches, but we also got to see a piranha (teeth and all), and an armored catfish, locally called carachama.
The afternoon had us visiting the Pacaya River, after which the reserve is partially named. The Ucayali River is in flood (rising), and as such, is pushing its way INTO the mouth of the Pacaya. The “white water” of the Ucayali, which is this color from the sediments eroded from the Andes, flows into the Pacaya, essentially flowing upstream! The darker waters of the Pacaya can only be found far, far, into the interior. As expected for the Pacaya, wildlife sightings were pretty good, sloths were found several times quite low down, and actively feeding, climbing or scratching. Green iguanas were also sitting on conveniently low branches, and several troops of squirrel monkeys chittered and squeaked as they foraged in the trees and bushes along the riverside. The biggest treat was seeing Monk saki monkeys – a family with a young baby...who were obliging in “hanging out” for a while.
