Peru: Tambopata Reserve – Hiking in the Amazon Rainforest
A master hike for the entire half a day starting at sunrise and covering nearly 20km of various habitats was the way to get up close and personal with the true jungle a the richest reservoir of flora and fauna species on earth. You hike beneath towering trees, through swampy palm marches, high sandy river banks, forest streams, and much much more. Encounters with big wildlife are very rare given that most are nocturnal and also try to avoid humans, but it’s the small things that are interesting – mushrooms, flowers, caterpillars, birds, and so on. Some of the highlights of 6 hours of hiking included: monkeys (next post), rare toucan and trogon birds, cicada species that borrow into ground and then come out via clay tubes, the “erotic” trees, eating live termites – I think I learned more on 6 hours then a semester of biology at school.
