Today was a major traveling day to go into the Amazon Forest. We had a long day of traveling ahead of us. We woke up early and were taken by Adventure Life representatives to the airport. We were given our tickets and we waited for our plane ride to Coca!
Coca was an interesting town. This was considered the major port town of the Napo River and the hub for all of the people in the region. We arrived and were greeted by one of our guides for the Manatee. The Manatee was the ship we were to travel on during our adventure! After a brief bus ride through the town of Coca, we arrived at the boat dock we were supposed to launch from. We greeted the other travelers for the first section of our journey. A smaller boat from the Manatee picked us up and we traveled 2.5 hours down the Napo River.
This was the Coca boat dock which we departed from.
This was a weird Disney trash bin.
The 2.5 hour ride seemed very short, because there was always something to see along the way! The Napo River had different plantations and natural gas stations closer to Coca. As we traveled further down the river, we saw a few housing developments and a couple of community centers. Closer to the Manatee, all we saw were rainforests. When we boarded the Manatee, we were given a room and the rundown of everything that will happen on our tour. The weather was beautiful with some isolated thunderstorms, which were cool to witness.
A cumulus cloud building up to become a thunderstorm.
A picture of our room! ^_^
Everyone got settled and we went on our first small expedition along the sandbars of the Napo River. We were looking for different bird species. There were many black skimmers, plovers, sandpipers, and greater yellowlegs. The black skimmers had very unusual bills. Their lower bill was longer than their top bill. They dip their lower bill into the water to scoop up any fish they come across. One of the most beautiful birds was the pied plover. After viewing many bird species and the sunset, we headed back to the ship for dinner.
Black Skimmers!! \(^_^\)
A rainstorm/ sunset!!
After dinner there was an optional night walk tour. I went on many night walks when on a trip to Costa Rica, and you always see some of the most unusual, fascinating creatures roam about. Two of our guides took us through a secondary forest located along the Napo River. We saw amazing insects, arachnids, and fungi. We even heard different tropical owl species. Also, I learned that tarantulas make noise that sounded similar to chirping crickets...which was sort of creepy. I brought my blacklight along and I was easily able to find the scoprians hidden within the foliage. We saw many tiny frogs and huge katydids. Overall, the night walk was a success!
A furry/ spiny caterpillar.
I believe this is a very long katydid...very colorful!!
This is a whip scoprian. Very fast and a terror to moths. An hourglass frog!
The trip was not only memorable for the amount of animals we saw but also for the people and accommodations at the two camps where we stayed. Our first guide, BK, was a wealth of information about the animals, landscape and down to the plants and what they were used for. Everyday out was a learning experience with him. All the people at the camps were gracious and the food was excellent.
Our second camp in the Okavanga was just as good as the first as far as the staff, accommodations, food and animals. After our experience at the first camp we amazed that the high quality remained the same. Our guide, G, made sure we were able to enjoy every experience including a rush through the bush to witness a cheetah and an ensuing hunt that he heard over his radio.
In both camps there were enough guides out that if they saw something the other guides were informed which helped in seeing as much as possible. It was also nice that the concessions were large enough that we did not have vehicles following each other throughout the day.
Normally there is always something in a trip of this length that we think could be improved upon but this is the rare case where we cannot think of anything. From the time we left the States to when we returned it was one of the most hassle free vacations we took.
Perhaps emphasizing the use of the laundry facilities at the camps would be useful because of the luggage restrictions would be the only thing I can think of as an improvement to future clients.
Kenneth Dropek
2 days ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.