22.02.12

Skiffs leave every morning and late afternoon to seek out howler and spider monkeys, pink river dolphins, three-toed sloths, caiman, toucans, black-collared hawks, kingfishers and macaws. At the crack of our first dawn we set off in hobbit-like ponchos amid a steady soaking rain. Some have elected to stay under their white linen covers and the animals seem to have done the same thing, burrowing away in hidden pockets of the jungle.

Even Victor Coehlo, our normally irrepressible guide, looks downcast as we drift by silent giant fig trees and fallen logs, straining our ears for birdcall or the gentle “shush” of a pink dolphin rising for air.

But then the sky clears and a crimson-crested woodpecker flies across our bow. A grey falcon, a fishing hawk and a large pod of chattering squirrel monkeys signal our change of luck. Soon the humps of pink dolphins start surfacing closer to the boats, drawn by the noise of our motor. And then a fisherman glides past in his dugout canoe and asks if we’d like to see an anaconda. The snake is almost two metres long and had the misfortune of getting tangled in his fishing nets that morning.

Source: Financial Times