Manu Forest, day 3 and attempted day 4 departure

The morning trip would have to be my Manu forest highlight. We travelled again for almost an hour, to an Oxbow lake off the main river, but this time a reasonable sized body of water. We were there by 6,30 am as the first sun was on the water, a very beautiful sight with mirror still water and the forest looming over it on all sides. We stepped onto a floating platform, secured on two canoes which two boatsmen paddled. On the platform were untethered chairs. Move around the platform but dont fall in we were advised, not that the many Piranahs in the lake are anything near as dangerous as popularly suggested.
We paddled out in silence into this breathtaking view, but it was anything but silent as the Red Howlers were in full voice. Their call is different from the Black Howlers further north, to me it lacked the gruff woof woof stage of the call, then it sounded more like steel being dragged over stone or cement. Maybe a cement mixer, maybe a grader or digger blade scrapping a cement pad, or maybe a steel drum being dragged on its edge across cement. The sound is long and sustained, powerful and eery, even though not high decibel unless close. It carries and penetrates - no wonder early explorers pushing into the Amazon river system thought the forest was haunted. If you dint know what it was the imagination would run riot and haunted by monsters is exactly what it sounds like. Today however, we just sat and listened to it echo and drift around us. We agreed later it was one of the most special experiences we have had.
We crossed the lake and drifted down the sunny margin. Several remarkable birds live there, the first we encountered being the Screecher. Like a turkey or a vulture with a ridiculous single feather spike on its head, it launches into occassional calls like a donkey (not a screech), but a demented donkey at that. Others join in and the lake is awash for a few moments with their noise. A call was also what led us to the next bird, the Hoatzin. This is a species that many visit the area to see, being unique to the Amazon. It is primitive in many respects, with for example the ability of unfledged yougsters to escape danger by descending under water, climbing back up into the trees with spurs on their wings. That behaviour,and the spurs, not being present in the adult. The birds have the strangest call. Image making a loud "Huff Huff", without the actual word but only the audible sound of your breath exhaling. Our guide could do it to perfection. It would be repeated by the many birds in the trees beside us who would then poke their heads out to see what we were on about, then fly off if we were too close. They have a corona of feather spikes on their undersized heads, like the statue of liberty except on the centreline of the head, apache style. Their obvious dimwittedness, odd proportions, comical peering through the trees and outbusts of strange huffing noises were pure Dr Zeuss. Meanwhile we drifted on a mirror lake, shaking our heads at the sight.
Further down the margin, finally we saw something both of us have always wanted to see, a Nightjar at close range. We saw two sunning themselves, very difficult to initially spot being just like dead wood. These are night insect hunters like the owl with the same silent flitting flight, which we saw when the bird responded to our being so close. Being lighter built birds than Owls their flight is even more floating, with quick wing flicks and rolling, floating periods of drift.
Out in the lake we could hear the chitter of an Otter, which we paddled out to. This was our prime target,the Giant Amazon Otter growing up to 2m fully extended. First we saw a lone male then a family group of five. Very active and engaging, particularly the three youngters who keep up a predictable chatter and popped their heads up occasionally to watch us. We moved out of the sunny side of the lake where the heat was getting intense, onto the shaded margin, again exploring the details of the lake edge. It was full of insects, frogs and their spawn, bird life including jacanas (that walk on lily pads on spread toes), and plant life. Pure luxury.
Regrettably we couldnt do it all day and returned to our mooring, beside a thatched roof with bats roosting under neath. They scattered like leaves as we approached, then resettled but watchfully, with their pinprick eyes watching us (from upside down).
We headed home for lunch, then devoted the afternoon to looking for monkeys, using a network of gridded tracks built in a section of forest so you could more easily move about and change direction. The monkeys are very wild and move away when they encounter you, often noisily and with the alpha male glaring at you from a height, chattering, baring his teeth and shaking the branch to remind you who is boss. The next morning we also saw the second smallest species, a 500gm Saddlebacked Tamarind These tinies can scamper around the fringes of the canopy and fling themselves metres between greenery. They are kitten size, with coresponding high pitched chittering calls. Another mammal we enjoyed seeing was the Giant Capybara, an almost pig sized guinea pig look alike. The word giant prefixes many species here, the Amazon specialises in the largest version of a wide range of animals and birds.
That evening we socialised with our new friends, reminiscing on a wonderful day and packing for an early start for the 2 hr canoe trip, this time up river against the current, to the airstrip called Bocca Manu. The rest of the day was a frustrating wait while the local operator battled on the crappy radio to establish where the plane was, the answer by nighfall being nowhere, it was grounded. We stayed in huts at the airport, ok but only just, with grotty bathrooms about a 40m walk from our room. We had only packed the most minimal amounts of clothing and had nothing left that was not filthy and wet, but a shower did bit appeal we looked cleaner than the water, so we stripped off and climbed into the silk sacks bought for such an emergency, under a mossie net. We emptied the remainder of a can of fly spray into the hut to slow the cockrach traffic down, then were up early the next morning in the hope of a plane. It didnt arrive but the tour company sent in a chopper, so although not feeling well slept and with an additional collection of mossie bites, we were pretty happy at the outcome. The flight was slower, at about 80 knots, noisy and rattling, but exciting too. We tracked no more than 1500 ft over the forest then climbed above the cloud forest cloud mass, then over Manchu Picchu which we were due to visit the next day. Regrettably we had msissed our connection in Cusco to drive into a high Andean market, at Pisac, but we were able to hire a cab and do a shorty version of the trip before heading back to out hote1. That drive gave us the first chance to see stand alone Inca ruins, at roadside, so we knew we were in for a big treat the next two days, in Manchu Picchu.
We absolutely loved Cusco and didnt get enough of it. It is great to be at almost 11,000ft, it feels exhileratings once acclimatised. The dry hill county around the city is very central otago like, except dotted with village activity. The glimpses of the high Andean mountains, are tantalising. The city itself is natural materials, tiled roofs, granite stone walss, brick and mud brick, plastered. Ornate colonial style doors, balconies and arches decorate buildings and centre city are the most magnificent stone buildfings you could imagine. The city is full of pagentry, Catholicism and local custom alike. Hill people with their black platted hair, trilby like hats and colourful woven clothes come to town to sell. The women carry children on their back, tied by a colouful shawl. The air is dry and cool at night, even cold (maybe 5 degrees this time of year?). Datytime its mid teens but the sun has a kick, at altitude. The city is quite clean, and we liked the pople even though they seemed indifferent to us! We felt safe and wanting to see a lot more - we agree this is the place we would most want to come back to. Manchu Picchu would only further confirm that, as we were about to find out.
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