Showing posts with label Peru. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peru. Show all posts
14 days of wild life in Amazonian Expedition
Can't forget my adventure in Amazonian rainforest I experienced a year ago. It is a little video story about the great forest and great people; now narrated.
Peru, Amazonia: Fauna Forever, the Rainforest Guardians
"O heavenly Father,
protect and bless all things
that have breath: guard them
from all evil and let them sleep in peace"
protect and bless all things
that have breath: guard them
from all evil and let them sleep in peace"
(Dr. Albert Schweitzer)
It is difficult to believe, but there are still some people who are willing to leave everything behind and go to the remotest places in the world to help give these places a chance to survive. To meet people like that and to experience first-hand the work that they do is always remarkable. It renews the soul and lightens the heart. It strengthens one's confidence in kindness and love.Peru, Puerto Maldonado: The gate to the Tambopata Rainforest
The main reason to come here is that it is only the entrance to this part of the Amazonian jungle.
Peru, Puerto Maldonado: Amazon Shelter - the chance for salvation for suffered animals
"We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat the animals.
Animals suffer as much as we do.
True humanity does not allow us
to impose such sufferings on them.
The pain...
The pain of the cut-off tails and wings, pulled out claws, diseased stomachs. The pain of the helplessness in front of the cruelty of those who are stronger and more powerful. Those who dare to be named "human".
Peru, Puerto Maldonado: Amazon Shelter - the chance for salvation for suffered animals
"We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat the animals.
Animals suffer as much as we do.
True humanity does not allow us
to impose such sufferings on them.
The pain...
The pain of the cut-off tails and wings, pulled out claws, diseased stomachs. The pain of the helplessness in front of the cruelty of those who are stronger and more powerful. Those who dare to be named "human".
Peru, Amazonia. Tambopata Rainforest, the treasure house of wildlife miracles.
"How shall I ever forget the solemn mystery of it? The height of the trees and the thickness of the boles exceeded anything which I in my town-bred life could have imagined, shooting upwards in magnificent columns until, at an enormous distance above our heads, we could dimly discern the spot where they threw out their side-branches into Gothic upward curves which coalesced to form one great matted roof of verdure, through which only an occasional golden ray of sunshine shot downwards to trace a thin dazzling line of light amidst the majestic obscurity."
(Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, "The Lost World")
Hardly I can describe Amazonian paradise better than Sir Doyle. This place where everything is blooming, screaming, crying, cheeping everywhere around, covering you by a warm surge of feelings which overlaid all others...
Peru, Amazonia. Sandoval lake - the kingdom of haughty Hoatzins, Blak Caimans and Giant Otters
From above, this lake has the shape of a merry whale. There are no whales in Lake Sandoval, of course, but it is home to a plethora of wildlife.
The way to the lake is not easy—you have to sail 1–1.5 hours up the river and then walk for a similar amount of time in the deep mud of the slippery road. Finally, you will take a canoe to reach your lodge.
And just here you will understand for what you mad all those efforts: the old saying, "life seeks the water," is especially true here.
Spend twenty minutes on the lake and you can see as many species as you would see after walking in the jungle for hours. There are 20,000 species of plants, 900 species of birds, 91 species of mammals and 127 species of amphibians.
Peru, Lima: Miraflores, the bright side of Lima
Anyone who is exploring Peru should make a stopover in Lima, the capital of the country.
Miraflores seems to be the best place to spend this time. This little oasis of calm and cleanliness is situated near the seaside of this busy and overcrowded city.
In contrast to most other areas of the city, Miraflores is completely safe. There are tourist police on almost every corner.
Amazonia, Peru: Arriving.
The road to my dream included five interconnecting flights - Malta – Madrid – Lima – Cusco – Puerto Maldonado – most of this time I was sleeping, though. I remember just the full Moon reflecting in the glossy wing of the aircraft. Its reflection spread far longer, like a wide lunar path and we could catch a glimpse of the sea above the biggest rainforest in the world. Full darkness with isolated little lights beneath pervaded my view from my cabin window. And I wondered: who can live there, in this element of the rainforest?
While these thoughts idly flowed through my mind and the passengers were tossing and turning in their uncomfortable seats, and in their futile attempts to take a nap in this one of the worst intercontinental, we crossed the Atlantic.
While these thoughts idly flowed through my mind and the passengers were tossing and turning in their uncomfortable seats, and in their futile attempts to take a nap in this one of the worst intercontinental, we crossed the Atlantic.
Amazonia, Peru: Venado Biological Station.
Cozy wooden house up on the hill, overlooking the little quiet lake – and nothing around. It was like a scene from a fairy tale. I was expecting to meet there Little Red Riding Hood, or, at least, an enchantress with a black cat but found just a warm company of young researchers. The project managers were locals, but the interns come from very different parts of the world.
Chris Kirkby, guardian angel of the Rainforest
- ‘Are you traveling alone?’ - a guide asked me who was coming to Wasai Lodge from Cusco with a couple of American tourists.- ‘Yes, but I was invited by the director of one of a volunteer organization, Fauna Forever, his name is Chris Kirkby’
- ‘Oh, Chris! I know him, of course, he is a very good friend of mine!’
Being in another part of the region, Sandoval lake, I was talking to Esaud who was my guide there.
- ‘How long have you been traveling in Peru?’ – he asked.
- ‘It is the second week. I used to live with biologists in Venado.’
- ‘Venado? What is it?’
- ‘Well, it is one of the research stations of Fauna Forever. Its director helped me to organize my trip.’
- ‘But what is his name?’
- ‘Chris Kirkby...’
- ‘Oh, Chris! I know him for a long time, from his first visit to Peru! That time he didn't know anything about our jungle that time, I was helping him to settle down here...’
Amazonia with Fauna Forever: working day
Amazonian walks
It is just 5 am, and the night is still on.To the sunrise, in jungle we go stone by stone.
My companions are just 25-year-old,
Men of forests, they sturdy and brave.
Those young men were brought up by the rainforest's noise,
They were learnt to behave, so to fit in that voice.
Their machetes are sharp and their eyes - like of owls,
And their thoughts are so pure and naive.
Mark, Amazonian Mowgli
- Mark, where did you plan to set up a tent? – I've asked him during our trail to the clay lake hidden in the rainforest of Tambopata river. Before this journey, I noticed that he looked at my tent, where I used to live during my stay in Peruvian Amazonia, with a touch of envy. Later on, he explained that if he had a tent, he would pitch it here, in El Campo, to spend the night on the shore of this "marvelous" pool full of clay and mud.- Just here, of course! What a question?.. – Mark pointed to the deep slippery clay where I even not dare to tread.
Amazonia: Wasai Lodge
The only way to get to Wasai Lodge (don’t confuse it with Wasai Hotel in Puerto Maldonado) is to take a boat from Puerto Maldonado and travel about 2.5 hours up the river Tambopata.
The eco-guides - Amazonian power rangers
An eco-guide in Amazonia and a tourist guide in Europe are dramatically different professions. The primary aim of the European guide is to share the well-known information with his clients.In Amazonia, the job of the guide is a serious job, that can also be at times dangerous, and requires a lot of special knowledge and skills.
Amazonia: the Rainforest meditation
I’m walking in the Rainforest alone. I'm trying to peer between the trees, to listen and sniff as the explorers did. The Forest is a mystery, but this mystery is not scary, but attractive.
I feel at home here – I grew up, and the forest element is native for me. Well what of it that this forest is in another part of the world? Its soul remains the same as in Tyan Shan, Abastumani, Siberia, Borneo… I’m trying to merge myself with the forest, dissolve in it, to become the part of it, to let it come inside of me...
Magali - the noble soul of Amazon Shelter
- You can't imagine what people can do - says Magali, the founder and the president of the Amazon Shelter - a non-governmental organization whose mission is to rescue and rehabilitate the wild animals suffered because of the human fault.- ‘They cut off the wings, brake legs and claws, feed by food that causes serious diseases; whatever comes to their morbid imagination if only to turn them into the pets.
Amazonia: Sandoval Lake
used to walking in the rainforest, the road to Sandoval is something different. The mud is slippery and deep, your boots get stuck in it, and this experience takes about two hours. After that, you can finally have a rest riding a canoe that takes you to your lodge by the lake. And only when your boat passed through the wet forest, and the lake opens ahead, you can start to understand that you didn't suffer in vain!
Puerto Maldonado: the modest gateway to the Big Jungle
If you ever read the stories about gold-diggers colonies, you can imagine the Puerto Maldonado as an effuse version of such a settlement. The rubber boom in the earliest years of the 20th century, to which Puerto is indebted with the point on the map, with time gave place to the gold-mining and later - to the Brazil nut collecting. At the end of the century, the new star emerges on the horizon of the town: nowadays the ecotourism is the fastest growing part of the region's economy.
When I asked if I can have a glass of juice and maybe some snacks, they brought me a liter of wonderful juice made from different tropical fruits and fresh-made fried banana chips look papery, a bit salty and crispy; all of this cost me 10 soles (about 2.50 Euro).
Wasai hotel is situated in a couple of blocks from the central square and is usually full of people all day. Street vendors sell whatever they have: Inca-cola, homemade ice cream, some queer fruits, pastries, hot dogs. One girl is selling nice-looking jewelry that seemed to be made from the remains of production of local precious stones. Another girl is trading quail eggs: I passed her for about three times in an hour and a half and found that more often she is not selling, but eating them up with an apparent appetite.
Surprisingly, but in places like that, it is already possible to find beautiful cakes. The most unforgettable thing was the colorful cakes in a godforsaken village in Sri Lanka and tasteless, but very nice looking cakes in the roadside bakery in Bali. In Puerto, the cakes have a lovely mixture of flavor and design.
Along the main street, one can find several shops, mainly with cheap clothes and expensive, high-quality footwear. To my amazement, I found there a big bookstore opened on Sunday when most of the shops were closed. Puerto is full of cafes, bars, and small restaurants, and all of them have their customers. A lot of Internet-cafe with big, old-time processors are also not in poverty. The Walk of Fame with a gorgeous panorama to Madre de Dios River is especially impressive at dawn.
Almost in every block, one can find "Inca Pharmacy" - in general, they are ordinary drug stores, despite the name. Some of them sell some medications made from the local stuff - but to buy it you should know either local medical herbs or Spanish, better both.
The main transport in Puerto is motorbikes including moto-taxi (in Asia they are known as "tuk-tuks") and off-roaders, mainly Toyota Hilux. The cars - almost taxis - look miserable: they were lucked out to drive the roads more tolerable for tractors.
All in all, if you are not a fancier of bars and low-budget casinos, it is quite difficult to find something to do there.
But the main thing about Puerto Maldonado is not the town itself, as you can understand observing the huge number of tourist offices and a lot of jeeps taking people from the airport directly to the lodge.
And the famous Puente Continental - 722-m bridge crossing the River Madre de Dios known as the local "Golden Gate" not only because of its design - from 2012 it made Puerto the part of the Interoceanic Highway, taking the traveler of all kinds of a walk to the new discoveries.
My knowledge of Puerto Maldonado - except for the first day when I spent here just a couple of hours - started with the Wasai hotel with its fantastic view of the River Madre de Dios. It's hard to expect such kind of comfort in this type of place: there are a fridge, bright light, AC and even a shower with hot water!
Wasai hotel is situated in a couple of blocks from the central square and is usually full of people all day. Street vendors sell whatever they have: Inca-cola, homemade ice cream, some queer fruits, pastries, hot dogs. One girl is selling nice-looking jewelry that seemed to be made from the remains of production of local precious stones. Another girl is trading quail eggs: I passed her for about three times in an hour and a half and found that more often she is not selling, but eating them up with an apparent appetite.
Surprisingly, but in places like that, it is already possible to find beautiful cakes. The most unforgettable thing was the colorful cakes in a godforsaken village in Sri Lanka and tasteless, but very nice looking cakes in the roadside bakery in Bali. In Puerto, the cakes have a lovely mixture of flavor and design.
Along the main street, one can find several shops, mainly with cheap clothes and expensive, high-quality footwear. To my amazement, I found there a big bookstore opened on Sunday when most of the shops were closed. Puerto is full of cafes, bars, and small restaurants, and all of them have their customers. A lot of Internet-cafe with big, old-time processors are also not in poverty. The Walk of Fame with a gorgeous panorama to Madre de Dios River is especially impressive at dawn.
Almost in every block, one can find "Inca Pharmacy" - in general, they are ordinary drug stores, despite the name. Some of them sell some medications made from the local stuff - but to buy it you should know either local medical herbs or Spanish, better both.
The main transport in Puerto is motorbikes including moto-taxi (in Asia they are known as "tuk-tuks") and off-roaders, mainly Toyota Hilux. The cars - almost taxis - look miserable: they were lucked out to drive the roads more tolerable for tractors.
All in all, if you are not a fancier of bars and low-budget casinos, it is quite difficult to find something to do there.
But the main thing about Puerto Maldonado is not the town itself, as you can understand observing the huge number of tourist offices and a lot of jeeps taking people from the airport directly to the lodge.
And the famous Puente Continental - 722-m bridge crossing the River Madre de Dios known as the local "Golden Gate" not only because of its design - from 2012 it made Puerto the part of the Interoceanic Highway, taking the traveler of all kinds of a walk to the new discoveries.
16.03.2015
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