Day 3: Cuzco to Amazonia along the Manu Road
After returning to Cuzco, I got 5 hours sleep and woke up to meet my guide for the Amazon part of the trip. Virgilio Yabar is one of the most experienced birding guides in Peru. Gowri had looked him up years ago and since then he has even been written up in the New York times. The trip date revolved around his availability for a private one on one tour and the availability of frequent flier miles. Surprisingly it all worked out. His parents are the owners of the Amazonia lodge where we were heading. The Amazonia lodge has one of the highest species list in the world. Today would primarily be a travel day since going from Cuzco to Amazonia lodge is a full day trip. On the way back I was going to break the trip into two parts so I could do a better job of seeing the birds and wildlife along the Manu Road. The Manu Road is considered one of the top destinations for viewing the diversity of the Amazon Rainforest. This is because one goes from 11,000 ft to 1,000 ft passing many different ecosystems along the way. In Peru, the Western slope of the Andes is quite barren and as we drove up to the first mountain pass I was surprised how barren it was. Apparently the Andes act as a barrier to moisture making its way from the humid Amazon basin to the western slope. Then we got to the top of the pass and all of a sudden the landscape became lush cloud forest with bromeliads and orchids as far as the eye could see. Along with the flora, many birds could be seen as well. The first interesting bird we saw was the Creamy-crested Spinetail who is endemic to Peru. He is only found in this part of Peru and we saw this pair hopping around in thick shrub. The 500 mm lens with 1.4x teleextender came in handy right away since we couldn't get very close.
As we made our way further into the cloud forest, birds that take advantage of the nectar of the flowers were everywhere like this Moustached Flowerpiercer.
Hummingbirds were also common. This beautiful shining sunbeam is unusual since his iridescence is actually on his back side.
Mixed flocks of tanagers also passed through and I got a nice photo of the Scarlet-bellied Mountain tanager who we also saw in Ecuador. My improved camera equipment allowed me to get a good shot this time around. You can see how all the branches are covered with lichen in the moist cloud forest. One moment an areas would be buzzing with activity and then everything would be silent. That is typical in tropical forests.
After spending some time in the cloud forest, we were told a landslide had occurred further up the road causing a partial blockage. Apparently this is common on the east slope of the Andes. Virgilio said we had to quickly make our way to the landslide to see if we can pass it as quick as possible. Apparently to get to the lodge, one needs to take a boat before sunset and the landslide could make it difficult to get to the boat on time. If we didn't we may end up sleeping the car! So we had to shift from our leisurely pace to really speeding along the Manu Road. We knew we would get a better chance to see it on the way back anyways since we wouldn't need to cover the entire distance in one day. We made our way to the landslide and got stuck there for 3 hours. The problem was that there were many trucks ahead of us trying to pass. The Volvo trucks could make it through but the local trucks could not. So each Volvo truck had to tow the local trucks through the landslide resulting in a major delay. It would have been comical to watch if a night sleeping in the car wasn't looming! I thought this would have been a great commercial for Volvo. Here is a picture of the landslide.
In the meantime, a mixed flock passed through while we were waiting and this beautiful Cinnamon Flycatcher gave us a good look.
Once we made it through the landslide we quickly made our way to the boat. The Amazonia lodge lies on the Madre de los Dios river which is one of the main tributaries to the Amazon River. It joins the Amazon in Brazil. We had made it from 11,000 ft to about 1,000 ft on a very windy road that left me really motion sick. We made it to the boat on a bright sunny day in the lowlands. It was a beautiful sight.
The water was really still in places as we made our way to Amazonia Lodge
Here is the Amazonia Lodge. This place has a species list greater than 1000 that includes the Jaguar and Harpy eagle to name a few!
With a few hours of light left we decided to hang around the lodge to look at the tanager and hummingbirds that are frequent visitors. The first amazing bird we saw was the Masked Crimson tanager who welcomed us to the lodge.
There is an incredible variety of hummingbirds here. One of the highlights from the first day was the multi-colored Gould's Jewelfront.
The lodge has many verbena bushes that are always in bloom. This attracts many hummingbirds that one could usually only see in the rainforest canopy (a hopeless task). This Golden-tailed Saphire is taking advantage of the nectar rich verbena flower. These flowers must really be special because both here and at the Cock of the Rock lodge, these are the flowers that attract the really rare, spectacular hummingbird species.
As light faded on the first night at the lodge a pair of Chestnut-fronted Macaws let me know I had finally made it to the Amazon rain forest! That night I could really feel how remote a location this was. This effect was amplified since there was only one other couple at the lodge (this would later change in the days to come). There was certainly no internet here. The bathrooms were down the hallway from the room so to go there at night meant going outside and braving insects, etc. on the way. Although in retrospect, they kept the lodge so clean that insects didn't turn out to be much of a problem. Also, I treated my clothes with Permethrin and used a DEET spray for skin. These two insect repellents in combination really kept me bug free. Some other guests who didn't do this ran into more problems. There is a satellite phone which I used to call Gowri to let her know I had made it through the Manu Road. We decided that I wouldn't call till I returned to Cuzco since it was just too tough logistically.
