A Trip to the Manu Biosphere Part IV
I think it has become quite obvious how much I enjoyed my trip to Manu based on the length of this series of posts. Today, I will try to wrap up this series. I will start today with the biggest mystery of the trip – some form of creature that today I still have no idea what it is.
A video probably would have been more helpful here, but these weren’t simple hairs on the bottom of a leaf. They were little organisms that were moving and were not permanently attached to the leaf. They could crawl sort of like a caterpillar. Our guide mentioned that they were extremely rare and he had only seen them once before. However, he did not know the name for them. If anyone has any idea what these things are I would be appreciative.
The following shot is one of my favorites from the trip.
Those of you who have been to South America or are interested in reptiles will recognize this as a caiman. Caiman are very numerous in this area of the world and we saw a good number of them as we motored by. There are two types of caiman – the common white caiman and the larger, but far rarer, black caiman. From the wildlife books I read, white caiman are very unlikely to attack swimmers and it is not dangerous to swim in the vicinity of them. The same can not be said of the black caiman. Though attacks are rare, they have been known to attack. Manu is one of the few areas in the world where you can still see black caiman, which we did. Needless to say, we didn’t go swimming.
The following shot is of a very common phenomenon in tropical jungles, but is something which looks rather strange to us who come from temperate areas.
A misconception many people have about rainforests, which unfortunately is shared by those who burn them down for crops, is that rainforests have very rich soils. This is actually very far from the truth. The fact is that leaf and branch litter that reaches the ground decays quite fast and therefore the soil never has the chance to build up the rich top soil so common in temperate forests, where the change in seasons aids the buildup of good soil. Therefore, in tropical forests, the rich part of the soil is isolated to a very thin portion at the top. To combat this, trees like this one send out a wide range of roots like these ones.
The following shot was taken shortly before I took my more well known shot.
This was taken early in the morning on an oxbow lake. Oxbow lakes are formed when a river changes course and are one of the best places to see wildlife. This particular oxbow lake was amazing. Usually in rainforests you really have to work to see wildlife, but this wasn’t the case here. Everywhere we turned we saw something interesting, including several species of monkey and the very rare giant otter. Speaking of monkeys, one of the most amazing experiences I had there was waking up early morning to hear what sounded like a large monster next to my tent. The sound was incredibly loud and it sounded like there was the most evil, vile, thing outside. I knew that it wasn’t a jaguar and must be something relatively harmless so I started to get dressed and searched for my flashlight to get a look at what it was. Then the noise stopped. During breakfast we asked the guide what that thing was. It was a howler monkey, the loudest land animal on earth. According to the guide this one was relatively close, where close was about 500 meters!
The following bird is called a hoatzin, and is one of the most unique birds on earth. They cannot fly well and are easily approachable, which is how I managed to get this shot. Superficially at least, they bear the closest resemblance to prehistoric birds.
By far the most luxurious housing we had was at Manu Wildlife Center, with its monogrammed towels, wildlife library, and nice dining facilities. It also had several wild macaws that simply wouldn’t leave. They were found as eggs by the local staff and raised there, then set free. While they are completely free to go, they like the center and it is even possible to rub their bellies! They love attention and one of them kept flying into me, then it would try to get me to rub its belly.
The following was our living quarters at Manu Wildlife Center.
Finally, after nine wonderful days travelling through the Andes and the Manu river, it was time to leave.
Before I headed back to the States, I managed to find time to visit Machu Picchu for a day. I’ll end with a few shots from this amazing place.
