Amazon Jungle Experience

We had just a couple of hours in Belem between getting off the ferry and setting off for our jungle experience. We had time to drop our bags in a hostel, have breakfast and then pile into a minivan. It was  200kms journey into the jungle, heading north east out of Manaus to nearly the end of the road and then an hours boat trip up Rio Urubu to get to the jungle lodge.

Some of the scenery that we passed in the boat.

The view from the tower at the lodge across the river.

One of the several buildings  at the lodge, all palm frond roofed, wood built and none with any glass in the windows.

We went out onto the river to look for dolphins and to go fishing.

We paddled through some o the flooded jungle. The water was up to five metres deep and below us would be forest floor in the dry season.

We baited out=r hooks and started fishing and several of us caught fish.

And just to prove that we caught some fish. It was a type of piranha and we took all the larger fish that we caught back to the lodge for the chef to cook that evening.

We didn't even need to go into the jungle to see the wildlife...it came to see us. A tree dwelling tarantula.

We were up again before dawn to see dolphins which we missed the night before.

It was ideal conditions being very calm water. Eventually we di see both grey and pink river dolphins although they were all glimpses and so no photos of them breaching the surface of the water.

And time for a selfie perhaps not looking my best as it was before breakfast and we had ben awake for more than two hours since dawn.

We also saw weaver birds who build their nests from grass hanging from the branches. They prefer tall trees surrounded by water as protection against predators.

On another trip along the river we visited a local farmer and his family to see how they lived on the land.

They had recently cleared some of the forest and had planted some crops. They had claimed a section of river bank 500m long and 1,000m deep int the jungle. This is a sweet potato field.

There are plenty more photos but the internet is weak and intermittent and not to mention the power cuts, all part of the Venezuelan experience since crossing the border from Brazil. This post has taken three days to load the photos! Therefore please be patient and I will post when I can.