The Amazon

So here it is, the big one – The Amazon!  Superlatives don’t really do it justice; even the tiny propeller-pane that we took from La Paz to Rurrenabaque (the town on the periphery of the jungle) was a thrilling experience in itself.  Ems and I left the cold altitude of La Paz for Amazonia’s sunshine and humidity, touching down on a dirt track airport.  We had discovered that the most interesting of Amazon tours were in fact the 3 day Pampas tour, and so off we went, where upon boarding a small long-boat, we navigated the wet-season channels and were afforded the most abundant and wondrous sights of Amazonian wildlife: river hawks, black hawks, herons, kingfishers, turtles, squirrel monkeys, capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys (less a howl, more like a guttural roar – absolutely thrilling), capybaras (the world’s largest rodent – imagine a guinea pig the size of a Rottweiler and you are half-way there), Caiman crocodiles and the stars of the show, the splendid pink dolphins.  Words can’t really do this place justice so I will leave it to Emma’s fantastic photography to try to convey some of the sights that we encountered; whether it was caiman spotting after sunset, cruising through the canals on our trusty longboat, or trekking knee-deep in the swamps searching for anacondas, it was an experience to cherish.

PS – special mention to our good friend Kingsley: we tried to get a photo of the capybara but just as Ems was about to snap, the battery went dead!  Gutted!

Leaving the TAM Airport, La Paz, Bolivia

 

Sights from the plane

(Above two pictures) The River Yacuma

A young river hawk

The ubiquitous heron – so graceful.

 

Beauty in nature’s symmetry

Squirrel monkeys (the 2nd pic is with an infant)

The intensity of those piercing eyes of this handsome Capuchin Monkey in the first photo are a knockout.

A fearsome male howler monkey – these beasts are big and their roar shakes you to your boots.

    

Caimans – smaller crocodiles (2-4 metres, depending on type), still very dangerous and now to be trifled with!

N.B. I absolutely love this photo but I have no idea what type of bird it is…

… and Ems loves this one.

The fabulous pink dolphins.  It was quite a surreal experience to swim with them in their natural habitat and a little alien as their smooth, yet mottled pink torsos and fins ripple past each part of your body.  They are heavenly creatures.

Another majestic heron – they almost seem like the watchmen of the marshes.

Me and my girl x

Just fabulous x