It’s worth asking: is it the right question? When do you ask yourself if you have to travel to Tambopata or Manu or Iquitos? Are we leaving important Amazonian destinations out? And the answer is YES, it is the right question, and NO we are not leaving any important Amazonian destinations out. You may have heard of Tarapoto, Huanuco, or the Selva Central (San Ramon, Oxapampa).
These are all fine and dandy if you’re a birdwatcher. Otherwise, the access vs nature/wildlife cost-benefit analysis just doesn’t cut it. At each of these places, you have to travel further for lesser quality wildlife/nature than at Tambopata. So, we will stick with our original question. And we will answer this question with our two-dimensional lens: access vs nature.
Before getting started, let me say each destination has a mature service offering. What this means is you will find tour and lodging services ranging from homestays with a warm welcome but no running water to some of the world’s most exclusive nature experiences.
You want a good to great nature and wildlife experience
You want to see the world-famous Macaw Clay Licks that showed up in National Geographic, BBC, etc
You don’t have much time. The good to great gradient for nature and wildlife depends on your time. If you’ve got four days (or more) you will get a great experience. If not, you will get a good one.
Here is why.
Access to Tambopata
We are bunching up two Trip Advisor (and Lonely Planet, and Rough Guide, etc) destinations in this section: Tambopata and Puerto Maldonado. They really are the same from the perspective of access. To get to both, you fly to the Puerto Aldamiz airport from Cusco or Lima. There are daily flights(LATAM, Sky Airline) only 30 minutes from Cusco o 1.5 horas de Lima. Once in Puerto Maldonado, all lodges are accessible by river. The closest (Reserva Amazonica) is 30 minutes away.
The furthest (Tambopata Research Center) is 7 hours away (accessible now for a 3.5 hrs journey). Your principal concern here should be: am I staying close to the Tambopata National Reserve? And close means INSIDE or ADJACENT to the Tambopata National Reserve. If so, you will get plenty of wildlife. If not – mmmeeeehhh, you are going to have a dropoff in the quality of nature/wildlife experience. Dr. Varun Swamy actually put it in numbers. He measured monkey density in four locations around Madre de Dios. We placed two of them on a map of Tambopata and surrounding areas to help you visualize the difference.
So, in terms of access – first, check if you are adjacent (i.e. on the same side of the river) to the Tambopata National Reserve. Second try to wrangle four (or more) vacation days for Tambopata. More days = more wildlife observation opportunities and more time to push further into the Reserve
Macaw Claylick by Paul Bertner in Tambopata Peru
Nature and Wildlife of Tambopata
Nature and wildlife in Tambopata are in good shape. The reserve has been protected since 1990. Before then it was too difficult to get to, so suffered little hunting, fishing, or logging. A three-day trip into the Tambopata National Reserve should produce 3 to 5 species of monkeys (howler monkey, brown capuchin monkey, dusky titi monkey, saddleback tamarin, and squirrel monkeys), agouti and capybara (world largest rodent), white caiman, and giant river otters (if you visit an oxbow lake) and dozens of species of birds.
Don’t forget the treehoppers, scorpion wasps, dung beetles, army ants, tiger moths, and millions (literally) of species of insects. You may even discover a new one. A four-day trip (or more) will take you into the heart of the reserve and add the world-famous macaw clay licks, a 40% chance of seeing jaguar (depending on the season), spider monkeys, and herds of one hundred white-lipped peccary. It’s hard to believe one day makes all the difference. The reason is the “defaunation shadow” we talk about below. In Tambopata / Puerto Maldonado the shadow reaches the reserve boundary– and stops. In that extra day: you cross it.
BTW, cancel if you hate bumpy roads or small aircraft (bi-motors, and such). Bonus reason: meet the Machiguenga.
Here is why. And yes, we touch upon Nature / Wildlife first for a reason.
Nature and Wildlife in Manu
Manu is one of the two gold standards in Amazonian protected areas open to tourism. The other is Tambopata (see above). There are no equivalent nature tourism experiences in the Amazon (until Colombia opens up!). Like Tambopata, Manu has declared a National Park in 1974, before any kind of serious farming, logging, hunting ate it up. Steep mountain ranges with impenetrable cloud forests protect them from squatters and loggers.
It is the only one (including Tambopata) that has vast swaths of an accessible cloud forest. Unlike Tambopata, the Manu Cloud Forest is accessible by road. Thus, in Manu, you get Tambopata plus the cloud forest. That means you get woolly monkeys and cock-of-the-rock. And you add one hundred plus species of flycatchers, antbirds, tanagers, and hummers to your bird list. That is why, if you are a birdwatcher, Manu is your first choice. However, if you are not…
Access to Manu
Getting to Manu is tough! The Manu Road begins in Cusco and climbs and descends two ridges. It is long (8-10 hours in the dry season) and super bumpy. Not recommended in the rainy season (November through March) as you might get stuck waiting for a mudslide to be cleared. Once you are in the lowlands you still have 4 to 10-hour boat rides, depending on where you are headed. And don’t forget your way back. Chartered small aircraft can get you to the lowlands in no time at all so ask your operator about them. One year they are there, the next one they aren’t. Keep your eyes peeled.
In summary, to repeat what we started out with – if you have the time for a one-week expedition to the Manu area and don’t mind roughing the transport bit, go for it!
And not to forget our bonus reason: Meet the Machiguenga. Machiguenga communities have opened up to tourism with lodge operations in the past 15 years. Check out Casa Machiguenga and Pankotsi Manu Lodge. If you don’t mind modest lodging and food services you will learn a lot from the super friendly and fun-loving Machiguenga. As I tell my kids – in the most exclusive places in Peru, you sleep on the ground.
And worth repeating one final time: if you want to figure out how to choose your Manu jungle lodge operator, we recommend you download our very own (and free) ebook: How to Choose a Jungle Lodge. If you can afford the time, go to Machiguenga for a week!
Iquitos and the Amazon River
There are three main reasons to go to Iquitos.
You want to see the Amazon river.
You want to take a cruise boat
You want to experience present-day Amazonian present-day ribereño culture.
If nature and wildlife are what you’re looking for, stick to Tambopata or Manu.
Here is why.
Access to Iquitos and the Amazon River
Iquitos and the Amazon river are fairly accessible from Lima. As of this writing, there are daily flights (from Latam, Star Peru, Sky Airlines, and Viva Air). Flights are direct and two hours long. Once you arrive at Iquitos, head to the “Malecon” (as we know piers and breakwater esplanades in Spanish). There you are, that is the Amazon River, the world’s largest river. Not great huh? Looks pretty much like any dirty dock in the world. To really enjoy the Amazon river, you have to go a bit further. Do this by booking a trip with any of the lodges or operators mentioned below.
Nature and Wildlife in Iquitos and the Amazon River
Iquitos is a bustling city with no road connection to the rest of the world. Thus its 450,000 people consume what arrives by boat or plane or what they can wrangle out of the forest by farming, collecting, fishing, and hunting. And there lies the problem. Four hundred thousand people in the middle of the jungle using chainsaws, fertilizer, shotguns, and fishnets cast a long shadow. A recent study in Manaus, Brazil (pop 2 million) discovered it had a “defaunation shadow” of 1000 kilometers!
In other words, for 1000 kilometers around Manaus, wildlife is affected by human activity such as hunting, fishing, logging, etc. BTW, the fact Iquitos has 400 thousand people means it is the best place to experience present-day Amazonian ribereño culture. As you step off the plane you will get a whiff of street vendors selling macambo and aguaje. Visit the market and you will see fresh carachama fish and bush meat.
Pacaya Samiria National Reserve and Alpahuayo Mishana Nature Reserve
This doesn’t mean Iquitos is hopeless. Here is what it means. It means that if you want to see Amazonian wildlife and nature in good health you will have to take a week to visit El Dorado in the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. Or you may find a watered-down nature experience is enough: visit Alpahuayo Mishana Nature Reserve 20 kilometers from Iquitos to spot small endemic ant wrens and small monkeys. Or you may want to splurge on one of the 5 most luxurious experiences in Peru on the Aqua or El Delfin cruise ships. You will experience some of Peru’s finest dining and pink river dolphins!
If you want to figure out how to choose your Iquitos jungle lodge or cruise, we recommend you download our very own (and free) ebook:How to Choose a Jungle Lodge. If you can afford it though – CRUISE the Amazon to Pacaya Samiria!
To continue with the main topic here, The Essence of Wildlife Photography – Part I around Rainforest Expedition lodges in Peru rainforest.
Finally, the moment which most impressed me… not witnessed, but recorded remotely, the first-ever glimpse of intertwined lives and the hint of the interactions going on all around us but concealed; a vampire bat on the heels of a white lipped peccary, a bloodlust quenched out of sight of the cameras, left to the imagination.
These photos are not simply images or moments captured in time, but fully-fledged experiences; rich, layered memories evoking torrential downpours, passing rainstorms, and sun-drenched days aboard canoes, meandering the sinuous curves of coffee-colored waters. They are discoveries made alone in the night, or else shared with guides or parties to new friends sharing in the adventure. They bespeak of a kind of post-Victorian adventurism, open to all: researchers, adventurists, citizen scientists, and even those with but a few moments to spare but the desire to learn and partake in the experience.
Other photos are a different kind of hard work…
They are the attempt to illustrate a specific behavior, to teach, and to inform. They are not the rare, fortuitous photo, the one which all photographers seek, but too rarely encounter. Rather they represent the staged photo. Animals manipulated into poses, or behavior elicited. Done with the best of intentions, but falling well short of the term ‘natural’.
These photos are not without their value, oftentimes they illustrate rare, or impossible to view behaviors, serving as an important record, whilst also generating interest in the natural world in the public. There is undoubtedly a value to this type of photography, but doubt lies in the execution, and its center point, the photographer, their values, and integrity take on a renewed importance.
My response has been transparency, and a commitment to open communication exemplified in Ethical Exif: a watermarked, indelible mark on each photo, a statement of ethical criteria specific to the creation of each individual photo. The shorthand symbols and the associated legend in the caption form a surprisingly comprehensive insight into the manufacture of each photo, and help inform the viewer of the process of the photo’s creation, and impart information important in determining a photographer’s impact.
green snake (serpentes) – Photo by Paul Bertner
It is easy to lose ourselves in the gloss of the image. The behavior, complexity, and hidden lives which lie beyond our horizon of understanding are revealed, oftentimes to our sheer amazement. But the beauty of the natural world as it travels through the lens and onto the page is not as straightforward as one might think, and the various outcomes have as much to do with the integrity of the photographer as to the viewer’s responsibility to critically view and evaluate the information they are ingesting.
View responsibly, and support those whose photography exemplifies a commitment to the wildlife they photograph so that we can all continue to enjoy the marvels that the natural world has to offer, and feel good doing it.
The who, what, where, why, when of a wildlife photographer ranks rather distantly in my appreciation of wildlife photography and as an extension, the wildlife itself. Rather, it’s the splendor and spectacle of nature, each species’ evolutionary journey, a competitive race through time and on a timescale beyond human comprehension which fascinates, and inspires me. It’s our humbling privilege to be at the finish line – the present, at a time when our tools and our senses are sufficiently developed that we can begin to divine the divinity of nature.
In short, it is the immersion in nature and the opportunity at the observation that is to be the essence of wildlife photography. As much as I believe that the focus of the photograph should be the subject itself, I am becoming increasingly attentive to the photographer behind the lens and their role in the final product.
It’s a subject often overlooked, but deserving of a moment of reflection.
Not so much a biographical essay, but rather an insight into the methodology. In an age of technological wonders, this background check can provide certain assurances that the records from the wild are accurately reflected in the photos which grace magazine covers and our computer screens. Images that ultimately form our impression of the natural world, one which fewer and fewer of us have the privilege of seeing first hand in its original and unadulterated form.
Colour, pattern, form; the aesthetic draws the artist from the photographer. Whereas for the biologist, it is the behavior and the complexity of natural history which demands attention and keeps the midnight oil burning. At the confluence of artistry and biology is where many find inspiration and aspiration, and I am no different. A portrait can convey the beauty of its subject, but a behavioral photo is a window into the natural world. It offers a glimpse into the beauty below the surface, hinted at, yet not entirely revealed.
These moments surround us, and seeing them is simply a matter of opening ourselves up to them.
My favorite moments from my time with Rainforest Expeditions in Peru rainforest were observations not captured on celluloid or on a digital sensor, but rather the arresting moments of quiet contemplation, beggared by the majesty of the place.
In Refugio Amazonas, one of their amazon jungle lodge, bioluminescent click beetle larvae dot the clay walls, their feeble light growing stronger as one’s eyes adjust, until they form constellations, guideposts to a state of wonder.
A Saturniidae caterpillar, a riot of bright colors, or a molting cicada suspended in the night, turquoise wings unfurling and expanding, preparing for its maiden flight, an otherworldly sight.
I’ve heard stories from natives about birds carrying fire. They sounded to me a lot like the Phoenix myth: good stories with lots of imagination. Boy was I wrong. It turns reality beats fiction. Australian raptors such as Brown Falcons, and Black Kites may use fire as a tool. The control of fire and its use as a tool was thought to be exclusive to humans. Who knows now if we learned it from birds?
Bat falcon by Joao Quental (Wikimedia Commons)
Australian ornithologist Bob Gosford just published a paper documenting 20 accounts from firefighters in Australia who witnessed fire usage by raptors. Raptors hang out wildfires in savannas to capture mice, lizards,s, and birds that are hastily escaping the flames. Therefore, their eyes are on the fire, not the sky. They are easier to catch.
That is not the truly amazing observation, however…
The truly amazing observation is that falcons and kites carry burning branches and twigs across barriers such as streams and roads to spread the fire. Sometimes, twigs are dropped as far as 50 meters Twenty such accounts have been collected in Australia alone. There is little question it is deliberate, intelligent behavior.
Let’s hope the Brown Falcons Amazonian cousin, the Bat Falcon, has not learned the technique.
And as usual, sign up for your free trial of the Amazon cam here and help us identify the Amazon wildlife that is on the photos taken by our 20 square kilometer grid of 78 cameras snapping away in the middle of the Amazon jungle. You can start practicing photo identification with our free illustrated plates of 172 Amazon Rainforest Animals.
by Kurt Holle
The Brazilian Wandering Spider is also a natural Viagra
The Brazilian Wandering Spider (Phoneutria fera and P. nigriventer) is on any list of the top 5 venomous spiders in the world. In Brazil, they know this well. Emergency wards are used to seeing patients bitten by the spider. A telltale sign that a male has been bitten by the Brazilian Wandering Spider is an erection. That is the first question a doctor asks a patient.
Wandering spider – Photo by Gabriel Serrano
So Kenia Pedrosa Nunes and Romulo Leite of the Medical College of Georgia did a little experiment. They separated the different components of the venom and injected them into mice, discovering a short string of amino acids (a peptide) called Tx2-6 was the cause for the erections. They found this peptide increases nitric oxide – a compound released by mammals when sexually aroused. The function of this compound is to tell the brain to get started making an erection. Nitric oxide is the first domino that falls in the biochemical cascade that ends in an erection.
Wandering Spider by Paul Bertner
The way Tx2-6 works is completely different from Viagra. Viagra inhibits the enzyme that breaks up erections – the brake. So a combination of Tx2-6 and Viagra would work wonders. It would hopefully help males that don’t respond well to Viagra.
Anhingas can’t float but can sink. Anhingas are waterbirds with no buoyancy. In other words, they are bad floaters. Think of yourself, arms open, staring at the sky, floating in the ocean. You tend to sink. Much like an anhinga.
Anhingas feathers are not water-tight. The tiny spaces between feathers and skin get waterlogged. That makes them heavier in water. That is why anhingas float with their whole body submerged. This is not great when floating.
Firstly, it cools your body temperature quickly. It also takes more energy to keep afloat.
Finally, it makes it harder to take off from water as sometimes you can see them inoxbow lakes.
Why would a water bird want this anatomy?
Anhinga by Paul Berter
Here is why Anhingas can’t float but can sink…
Bad floaters are good sinkers. Good sinking is great when diving. That is true whether you come in from the air or from water. So anhingas consume less energy below water than other watertight birds.
They can also dive deeper. This expands their fishing range. They can get to fish other birds can´t.
Waterlogged feathers, however, also mean tightening their range around the tropics. They need a lot of suns to dry off the cold water. They also need to avoid freezing temperatures.
And as usual, learn more about AmazonCam here and help us identify the Amazon wildlife that is on the photos taken by our 20-square kilometer grid of 78 cameras snapping away in the middle of the Amazon jungle. You can start practicing photo identification with our free illustrated plates of 172 Amazon Rainforest Animals.
by Kurt Holle
A skin allergy unraveled why Blue and Yellow Macaws visit clay licks
Why is eastern Peru a clay lick hotspot? See the heat map below. Alan Lee plotted it after asking hundreds of Amazonian colleagues to pinpoint parrot and macaw clay licks they knew of in their locations. Sure enough – most were in eastern Peru. From an ecological perspective, let’s call it the Western Amazon. Great. But Why?
Map of Clay Lick Distribution in South America by Alan Lee
The reason came to Alan as he was scratching his skin on the Brazilian layover from South Africa to Peru. On the Brazilian coast, his skin allergy to salt would flair up. By the time Alan got to Tambopata, his research location, his skin was balmy again.
He connected. Tambopata is far from the Atlantic Ocean to the east. The Andes block the Pacific Ocean from the west. The net result is that there is little to no salt in the air. That explained his balmy skin. Could it also explain his map?
No salt in the air means no salt in the rain, nor the soil, nor the fruits. No salt in the fruits means diminished salt availability for fruit eaters, such as macaw. Salt is essential for several biochemical processes. Too little potassium for example, and you will cramp up right away. So macaw needs salt. But in Tambopata, they can’t get enough of it. So they head to the clay lick.
Elsewhere? There is plenty of salt in the air because the Atlantic Ocean is closer. The salt is incorporated by the waters, soils, and fruits, and there is no need to attend clay licks.
So thanks to the absence of salts we get to see stunning Blue and Yellow macaws at the clay licks. And thanks to Alan’s allergy we get to know why.
Hoatzins, Magellan and the Vikings: world´s greatest navigators.
The Hoatzin that crossed the ocean…
Magellan circumnavigated the globe in 1537. The world’s first sailor to do so. He even got a strait named after him – his claim to fame. The Vikings routinely crossed the Arctic on their way to North America from Greenland, Iceland, or Scandinavia. Not easy one thousand years ago.
The Hoatzin? The flightless bizarre pheasant-like bird with a punk haircut that lives in Amazonian lakes deserves to be on the list. Maybe not the top 3 navigators. But definitely top 20.
Gerald Mayr recently found a hoatzin fossil from the Cretacean in Namibia, in Africa (across the Atlantic Ocean!).
This fossil is from an era where the Americas were water-locked: they had no land bridges or connections to other continents.
Ergo, the hoatzin had to navigate across the Atlantic to reach South America (or vice-versa).
You know how they think it did it? A massive island of forest split off the continent and drifted across. By massive, think massive. Several miles across (The Hoatzin that crossed the ocean).
And as usual, sign up for your free trial of the Amazoncam here and help us identify the Amazon wildlife that is on the photos taken by our 20 square kilometer grid of 78 cameras snapping away in the middle of the Amazon jungle. You can start practicing photo identification with our free illustrated plates of 172 Amazon Rainforest Animals.
by Kurt Holle
Agoutis: Amazon kleptomania
Agoutis, like squirrels and chipmunks, love seeds. 2012 biologists knew this from observation. Even tourists knew this from observation: half the time you see this uber common rodent he´s either holding on to a seed, looking for one, gnawing it, or digging a hole to find. Think of the prehistoric chipmunk of the Ice Age cartoons.
Patrick Jansen and his team decided to radiotag 589 agouto-philiac seeds in Barro Colorado island to follow them around. To follow the seeds around, not the agoutis.
Here’s what he found out from the seeds agoutis cached (To cache – to store so as to be safe).
More than half the seeds were moved from one cache to another – presumably stolen by other agoutis.
One seed exchanged owners 30 and traveled a total of 750 meters.
14% of the seeds survived to germinate.
I´m thinking of submitting a proposal for a new agouti Latin name: Dasyoprocta kleptomania.
And as usual, sign up for your free trial of the Amazon cam here and help us identify the Amazon wildlife that is on the photos taken by our 20 square kilometer grid of 78 cameras snapping away in the middle of the Amazon jungle. You can start practicing photo identification with our free illustrated plates of 172 Amazon Rainforest Animals
And of course, if you´re thinking (or even dreaming) of Amazon Travel, you can chat with the Amazon Travel experts right here. We will help you get there.
If it Looks Like an Ant and Smells Like an Ant… Batesian Mimicry in the Amazon Jungle
Over 150 years ago, in the steamy jungle of the Amazon Rainforest, the explorer and naturalist Henry Walter Bates was watching two different butterflies fly side-by-side. He had discovered that one was poisonous, which would make any predator sick if it was eaten. He also knew that the other lacked any poison defense.
The reason Bates was watching them so closely was that, despite being different species and only one being poisonous, the butterflies looked almost exactly alike.
In the animal kingdom, it is s best to advertise you are poisonous before the predator has to eat you to find out, for obvious reasons. This is why many poisonous animals advertise their defenses with bright coloration. Predators then quickly learn to beware of certain patterns and combinations of colors. But of course, this only works if the animal is actually poisonous.
So, what about our non-poisonous butterfly? Well, this is exactly what Bates was thinking as well.
His theory was that the harmless species wanted to trick predators into thinking it was also poisonous. And he was right.
Batesian mimicry in the Amazon..
Now a well-known phenomenon, Batesian mimicry (named after Bates) is when a non-harmful species copies the appearance of a harmful species. These non-harmful mimics trick predators into avoiding them as well, without needing to be poisonous or otherwise harmful themselves. (Batesian mimicry in the Amazon)
The most familiar animals we know of that mimic other species in this way include hoverflies that imitate wasps and bees, milk snakes that are patterned like venomous coral snakes, and certain caterpillars that seem to resemble snakeheads.
But some species that are great models for mimicry, because of their harmful nature to would-be-predators, don’t have actually have a showy and colorful appearance.
Ant-mimicking jumping spider (Myrmarachne sp.) from Tambopata Research Center photographed by Paul Bertner.
Ants, for example, are often dominant insects in an environment. With their vast numbers, biting jaws, and painful stings, many animals quickly learn to stay out of an ant’s way or else face the threat of the colony.
Even the Biblical Solomon recognized the benefit of copying ants. He exclaimed, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard. Consider her ways and be wise.” – Proverbs 6:6
And some species have had this very idea.
Many bugs and spiders are now known to look like ants. By doing so, they trick their would-be-predators into avoiding them for fear of being attacked by the colony. For example, a well-studied genus of jumping spider is so good at ant-mimicry that the entire genus was named Myrmarachne. Myrm is from the Greek word for ant (think of the Myrmidons led by Achilles in Greek mythology, resembling ants as they swarmed the beaches), and arachne from the Greek word for spider.
Just as Solomon was referring to an ant’s behavior, we now know that animals not only mimic the ant’s appearance, but also how they hold their antennae and how they move.
This is all very well and good if you want to trick visual predators into thinking you’re an ant. But what if you wanted to trick the ants themselves?
Although some ants are quite visual, most ants live in a world dominated by smells, which are known as pheromones. If they encountered an animal that simply looked like an ant but didn’t smell like an ant, the con artist would quickly be discovered.
It just so happens that some mimics trick the ants themselves instead of potential predators. These species may not look like an ant to you or me, but to an ant investigating the stranger, they are accepted as a member of the colony. These species have managed to fool the ants by copying their chemical pheromones.
But why, you ask?
Unfortunately for the ants, animals often want to trick them in order to gain valuable access to the nest to eat their eggs, such as some members of the spider genus Cosmophasis. Other species copy the ant pheromones to create an army of duped ants protecting and caring for the mimic’s every need, as is the case for certain Lycaenid butterflies.
You can see the colorful butterflies, jumping spiders, ants, and mimics in Peru’s remarkable Tambopata National Reserve.
So remember, things may not always be as they seem in the wonderful world of biodiversity. If it looks like an ant, smells like an ant, or behaves like an ant, it might just be a spider…
By Ash Card
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