We said our
goodbyes to the boys in Bogota and flew to Leticia which is a small concrete
town built miles from any other civilisation in the Amazon jungle. Leticia
borders Brazil and Peru and the great Rio Amazonas (Amazon River) flows between
them.
We were
greeted at the airport with a sign bearing our name (so cool!!) and taken to
the Amazon Jungle Trips office to leave some bags there (we just took one with
us into the jungle) and were then dropped off at the port. We went on a small
speed boat for an hour to get to Zacumbu Lodge.
That trip
completely blew my mind – I had that moment of realization: I am in the Amazon. THE AMAZON! One of the most
wild, remote and incredible places on the planet! I am seeing the places in the
world that I’ve always wanted to see and experiencing everything the world has
to offer, not just another city, not just another historical building, but The Amazon! Our driver called our boat
‘the flying boat’ and it sure flew! We were gliding over the water so smoothly,
like we were barely touching it, with the wind roaring in our ears and making
our eyes water (not to mention causing me to extract dreads from my hair
afterwards!). The Rio Amazonas is so
much wider than expected and we flew down it past the corner where the 3
countries meet, and onto the Rio Javari with lush tropical jungle in Brazil on
one side and Peru on the other, and the odd shack built onto the river sides
that people call home. Dusk was arriving so the sky was lit up in brilliant
shades of blue molding into orange and yellow with the clouds throwing messy
patterns across it all. The reflection on the water caused the illusion of
rippling silk. We passed locals packed onto little canoes that were so weighed
down, the water was reaching the top of the sides of the boat yet they seemed
totally unconcerned.
Zacumbu
Lodge is situated on the Peruvian side of the Amazon. The lodge is made
completely of wood and has an elaborately made thatched roof. The whole lodge is
up on stilts due to the river rising 12 metres in the winter. At the front of
the lodge is a hammock area where we spent all of our down time. Our room was a
comfy double bed with half of the roof being wood and half mosquito net under
the thatch. The generator clicks on lights from 6pm-10pm every night. Once we
had been shown around and were all settled in, we were served a delicious
dinner in which we got to sample Piranhas and the largest fish is the Amazon,
the Perauku.
9 other
people were also staying at the lodge and after dinner, we were split into two
groups and taken out on a large motorized canoe into the darkness in search of
baby Caiman (alligators). Ramiro was our guide and Al our captain for our
entire stay. They were both absolute professionals and very friendly. It was
fantastic seeing them do what they do best in their world so unlike ours – such
as plucking a caiman out of the shallow waters on the river bank in pitch
blackness with bare hands! Caimans are left to fend for themselves from the age
of a month old and they can grow to be 8 metres long. Ramiro explained some
information to us about the Caiman and those who were brave enough got to hold
the little creature (I even gave it a go!). Afterwards the Caiman was carefully
put back into the water to return home.
The next
morning we were all served breakfast promptly at 8am and split up into two
groups again to go off into the jungle. I was super nervous as I’m not a fan of
spiders and because I’m a worrier I kept foreseeing some poisonous insect or
animal attacking me or something finding its way in to my ears, nose or down my
pants! When we first entered the wild jungle I stuck close to Ramiro’s heels in
case anything happened to me that I needed help with but it turned out to be
unnecessary worry (as it usually always is….)
The area
that we explored wasn’t as dense as I expected and wasn’t quite as dramatically
crawling with bugs as expected. Sure I saw loads of them, and even a few decide
to hitch a ride on me until I discovered them, but it wasn’t terrifying. We
were provided with knee high thick rubber gumboots so even as I saw spiders
almost the size of the palm of my hand scuttle past my feet, I didn’t panic.
(If they had gotten into my boot however it would’ve been quite a dramatic
spectacle!)
It wasn’t
long before I was in the mind set of wanting to see something really awesome
such as a snake or a tarantula! We found a few tarantula nests but
unfortunately no one was home. We did however see the cutest little monkeys
jumping from tree to tree and many interesting birds and butterflies as well as
bugs, camouflage frogs and a lizard. The jungle floor was very squishy with
decaying leaves and rotting pieces of trees. It seemed like there was plenty of
life on the floor, but due to dense rainforest canopy, there is much much more
above in the trees.
Tropical
rainforest is the earth’s most complex ecosystem. The Amazon contains an
estimated 50,000 species of plants, one fifth of the world’s total. One study
found 3000 species of beetle in five small plots and estimated that each tree
species supported more than 400 unique animal species. There are up to 250 tree
species in a one hectare radius where in a normal forest it would be around 3
or 4! More than 75 monkey species reside in the Amazon. (On a side note: The
Rio Amazonas measures more than 6200km. Its flow is 12 times that of the
Mississippi and it carries one fifth of the world’s freshwater. Its discharge
into the Atlantic every 24 hours equals to that of the Thames in a full year!)
We were
shown a vine that grows from the trees (eventually killing it) that is a
parasite. It is so strong it can hold up to 200kgs. We each had a go as being Tarzan.
Another tree
we were shown, we tasted. It was horrible, but the natives use it as prevention
for malaria.
After 3 hours
I was glad that the walk was over. Not because of being scared covered in bugs
like I had expected, but because we were constantly plagued by thousands of
mosquitos dive bombing any area of exposed flesh including our faces, and their
incessant humming in our ears was driving me crazy. We were all wearing long
sleeves and pants as instructed to prevent being eaten alive, but due to the
heat and the 92% humidity, we were uncomfortably roasting. I know that females
aren’t supposed to sweat, but man, there wasn’t a part of me that wasn’t
sweating! Stupidly, the only long sleeved top I had happened to be Marino wool,
which I used as a thermal whilst snowboarding in Canada…. Need I say more?!
After a
blissful cold shower (which unfortunately was barely a trickle as we were all
showering at once), we were served a delicious lunch. With full bellies we
enjoyed a siesta in the hammocks listening to natures sounds surrounding us. 3
people returned to Leticia leaving us with a group of 8 in total. That
afternoon some of us were taken to a small Peruvian village and shown how they
live solely by the land (however they had generators for lights and a satellite
dish for a TV yet no windows or doors!!)
Ramiro also explained that Amazonian families are very large; he himself
has 12 other siblings! In this village, 80 people reside there which is only 6
families! Unfortunately we didn’t get to meet or interact with many of the
locals but we were shown their pets. A huge pig, featherless chickens, many dogs
and a hole in the ground filled with water in which they farm the largest fish
in the Amazon. We were shown a small one that was only 80 cm long. Fully grown
they are 3 meters long!
The most
impressive pet they had however was a young Anaconda that was around 3 metres
long (they can grow to be 10 metres!). As
Ramiro held it and explained information, it wound itself very tightly around
either his leg or his arm! One of the other people in the group, a retired Norwegian
man, grabbed the snake out of Ramiro’s hand without even asking if it was safe
or how to hold it! Luckily (or unluckily we later thought hehe) there were no
dramas but before we arrived that day before, he had been piranha fishing and
decided to pick one up which resulted in the top of his finger being bitten
off. Then he had the audacity of accusing the company of not warning him it was
dangerous!!! COMMON SENSE PEOPLE! Him and his wife were the only down side on
the entire trip.
Let me just
have a little rant about these people. These are the kind of people that has
made the western world the way it is now – you know the type, taking people to
court for the smallest thing resulting in McDonalds having to print “warning
this is hot” on their coffee cups, and being given a list of rules of things
you can’t do when you have a cast on your arm like “do not stand on your cast”
and “do not jump” signs on high bridges. I mean REALLY, all it takes is common
sense people! They were constantly running ahead or staying behind in the
jungle when common sense would say that may just not be wise, stay with the
professional who knows what they’re doing! They didn’t even bring their own
first aid kit which EVERY seasoned travel knows to bring, ESPECIALLY when you
are in one of the most remote places in the world, regardless of the fact that
the company you are with may have their own first aid kit. You should ALWAYS
play it safe. Everyone should know that Colombia isn’t America, and you should
take precautions. They were rude, inconsiderate, selfish and obnoxious. I seriously
felt like at times, I was back at school, and they are many years my senior and
supposedly well-travelled people….
Anyway…
moving along! We had the option of camping in the jungle that night but it was
a bit beyond my comfort zone bug wise. I would’ve grown a pair if Andrew had
wanted too, but luckily he wasn’t so keen on being harassed by mosquitos all
night either - despite there being mosquito nets on the hammocks. Dinner was
being served there also which would’ve made us prime targets for the mosquitos
as we were dining. The 4 of us remaining were served a special dinner at the
lodge and afterwards, as we were relaxing in the hammocks (where there were
plenty of mosquitos as it is but it was not even a quarter of the amount we
would’ve been around in the jungle) torrential rain rolled in. We had obviously
made the right choice as at 9pm, the others all came back to the lodge
absolutely soaking!
The rain was
so heavy; part of our room was not spared. Luckily Andrew had left his rain
coat over our bag! Our bed was a bit damp, but it was before anyways due to the
humidity. There was definitely no cuddling during our stay there as it was so
sticky and hot. That night was cooler though due to the rain which was nice.
(We saw a bit of lightning in the distance – I have seen more lightning in
Colombia in 3 weeks than I’ve ever seen in my life back home!!)
The next
morning after breakfast we went on a 2.5 hour walk into a different part of the
jungle seeing different plants and trees, one of which had a rubber substance
inside it and another had a poisonous liquid. I really liked the ‘walking tree’
which was a mishmash of vines and trunks – parts of it continuously grow
outwards into the surrounding ground while the original trunk dies off
resulting in the tree ‘walking’ further into the forest! We also got shown
giant lily pads – this is where the mud tried to claim Andrews gum boot. He got
buried up to his knee resulting in a very muddy and wet sock!
We saw more
interesting birds… now, I am a bird lover, but the Norwegian couple puts me to
shame. They are proper bird watchers. Every time we saw a new one, out came the
binoculars and bird species book and we had to wait until they had discovered
which type it was. Surely the considerate thing to do would be to take a
picture and read about it later at the lodge?
We also saw
a small Tarantula! It was covered in prickly silver hairs which created the
illusion of it being superimposed into our photos. Very cool to see one in the
jungle instead of a Zoo!
On the way
back to the lodge we stopped off at a little beach on the Brazilian side. I
didn’t even know that the Amazon had sand! I wasn’t game enough to swim but
Andrew leapt right in with a huge grin. The river floor was thick with deep
sticky mud so even going up to my knees was enough for me! The water is so
brown and dark you wouldn’t be able to see anything creeping up to nibble on
you so no thanks!
After lunch
more of the group departed leaving only us and the Norwegian couple. Groan….
All they did was complain, they even made a list of things they didn’t like at
the lodge. I certainly didn’t have anything to complain about, the lodge was
even better than I expected and I was having the most incredible time.
After a siesta in the hammocks the 4 of us and
Ramiro & Al, went canoeing on the lagoon out the back of the lodge. I was
rather paranoid that the thing was going to tip, and the Norwegian couple
didn’t take this into consideration even after I keep squealing as it swayed
when they moved around. They wouldn’t contribute in the rowing and it was
aggravating Andrews arm injury so he began to get very frustrated at them,
especially when they made us wait for 10 minutes every time they saw a bird. It
is very rare for Andrew to get angry at someone or something.
I understand
that when you are on holiday, you want to be able to do the things you enjoy,
and if bird watching is their thing, then good on them. But it also comes to a
point that when you are sharing an experience with others, you have to consider
them too, and they were clearly not interested in doing that. Whilst on the
canoe, despite frustrations, we saw some more monkeys playing in the tree tops
and we saw a swimming lizard which was really neat. We really wanted to see a
sloth, but unfortunately it was not meant to be.
After
canoeing we read in the hammocks with the bats flying around above us, had
dinner, and called it an early night as we were due to wake up at 4.45am. Before
bed, I spotted a small snake curling itself around the balcony and when we
pointed it out to the staff, we discovered it was poisonous despite it looking
so harmless. (Also found out the snake and frog we saw in Tayrona was poisonous!)
When we were
up bright and early we went out on the boat to see the sun rise, although
unfortunately due to heavy clouds, we didn’t see anything spectacular. Instead
we spent an hour bird watching… which was NOT what we woke up so early for!
Afterwards we went to an area where dolphins play and we were rewarded with
seeing gray and pink dolphins being relatively active.
It’s a shame
that a lot of the amazing creatures we got to see, we couldn’t catch in photos
as they are always on the move, under water, or too high up in the trees, but
we still got to see them playing in their natural habitats and have captured
those images in our minds.
After going
back to the lodge for breakfast the Norwegian couple went off to do more bird
watching and finally, we got to do something without them. Bliss! Ramiro and Al
took us Piranha fishing.
I feel terrible for poor defenseless fish that
get caught and then slowly die from lack of water and then get cut to pieces. I
really should be a vegetarian but I stick to ignorance is bliss which is very
mean of me. If it doesn’t resemble something that was once living, then I can
eat it! However, it was difficult to feel sorry for the Piranhas as they are so
evil!!!
The sun came out by this point and the bugs, dragonflies,
hornets, massive flies and bees were very curious as to what we were up to and
continuously buzzed around.
We were
fishing with basic sticks with a fishing line and hook tied onto it. Ramiro and
Al are such pros that within no time they had caught 18 piranhas and many
little fish as well. I somehow managed to catch one piranha and two little
fish. Andrew caught one but it managed to get back off the boat before Ramiro
could grab it off the hook. He also caught one little fish. When anyone caught
a fish, you have to flick it up back into the boat so piranhas were flying
everywhere which got a lot of squeals out of me! But the boys were very good at
making me feel safe; they had it all under control. I had a lot of fun!
On the way
back we saw an ant eater (so cool! Ramiro & Al were so excited too, it was
really neat to see that they love everything that lives around them) and more
baby dolphins.
We went back
to the lodge for our last meal, packed our bags and sadly had to depart. The 4
of us and 4 of the staff piled onto the motorized canoe and slowly headed back
to Leticia which took 2.5 hours. The damn Norwegian couple kept moving from
side to side on the boat which resulted in it constantly tipping and the staff
having to move seats to counteract the weight. They didn’t even consider how
their movements affected others. Also, Andrew and I had sat in the front of the
covered part of the boat (there were 2 rows in the very front that was
uncovered with no railings) and before you know it, the others sat right in front
of us practically pushing me back further into the boat! If they had wanted to
enjoy the best view for half of the trip, they could have just asked if we
could share the seats. There was no need to be so childish and rude! I know I
shouldn’t have played their game, but to prove a point, I went and sat in front
of them to take some photos and they moved to sit on the final front seat so I
got a perfect view of their backs!
They also
took photos of every single native person fishing, working or floating by on a
little boat as if they were at the Zoo!
Finally we
arrived back in Leticia and we could be rid of them. We were taken to collect
our bags and driven to the hotel that had kindly been booked for us in advance.
We walked to the park where thousands of parakeets return to at the same time
every night to sleep in the trees. It was awesome having them flock together
above us and their chattering was deafening! Quite an experience.
Later we
learnt that the Norwegian couple had spent hours complaining about everything
and they managed to extort almost all their money back! They complained about
the noise, the food, the staff, the organisation of the activities, that they
weren’t safe, that they had been cheated and lied too – they even complained
about us! They threatened to take them to court about them not having warned
them about the piranhas biting and not having sufficient first aid supplies and
they said they were going to ruin the name of the company publicly. Andrew
and I told the company that if any action was taken against them by the Norwegians
that we would be happy to support them in any way necessary.
After a nice
night in a comfy bed and air conditioned room, we were picked up and taken to
the airport. This was not expected and Amazon Jungle Trips had gone over and
above our expectations.
We would
love to come back in winter when the water level is higher. All jungle walks
would then be done by canoe instead of by foot and there are more animals as
there is more fruit in the trees.
I am glad I
didn’t let my fear of spiders being on me to stop me from going to this magical
and very special place. (Only one spider managed to get onto my shoulder but
Andrew saved the day before I even got to see how big it was thank god!).
The memories of our experience here will be
very much treasured and relived forever…
