| CAPTAIN'S BLOG THE PACAYA RIVER |
| The Pacaya River is one of my favorite places. The stream winds tranquilly through several distinct ecosystems on the south side of a huge wild, wetlands called the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve (PSNR). PSNR has been protected since 1940, and the only sign I can recognize that it was ever disturbed by man are scars on the trunks of a few ancient rubber trees, from the rubber boom era of the late 1800’s. If you want to experience what the upper Amazon rain forest and watershed was like when Alfred Wallace and Charles Darwin explored the Amazon Basin and independently arrived at their theory of natural selection, the Pacaya River is probably the best place to visit. The tour companies that have permission to access the reserve go in small boats 48 kilometers, to the 2nd ranger station on the Pacaya River, and that is wonderful enough for most people, but I longed to explore deeper into the reserve, as I did on the Samiria River when I went to the 4th ranger station years ago. Thanks to the biologist in charge of PSNR, Javier Del Aguila Chavez, Dawn on the Amazon obtained special permission to launch an expedition in Dawn III to the 3rd ranger station, located 100 kilometers into the reserve. I wanted to leave immediately, but real life tends to interfere with my fantasy, and this was no exception. I had several day trips and a three day cruise scheduled. I hoped that would give me time to find an adventurous couple ready for a major expedition into the unknown and flexible enough not to require an itinerary. Exploration can not include a detailed itinerary and that may not be reassuring to everyone. |
| Dawn on the Amazon, 2005. All rights reserved. |
| I want to thank Randy and Alice Tumblin for fitting the description above. The last several years Randy and Alice have been sailing their boat, the Dally Ho, from the Great Lakes to Newfoundland and Labrador, and along the eastern coast of the US, and island hopping the Caribbean to Venezuela. I have inducted them as the first members of the new Dawn on the Amazon |
| Explorers Club. |
| I do not like set itineraries and going the same route all of the time. My guests who are willing to get off the beaten path and accept the uncertainty of exploring a new route or destination will be rewarded as Amazon Explorers. Everyone can not be first. I know what you might be thinking, but keep in mind, Francisco de Orellana is in all the history books despite 250,000 inhabitants already living on the river that he accidentally “explored” and named the Amazon. While we were signing in at the first ranger station, I scanned the log book and learned that we were the only tour company and the only gringos on the Pacaya River. A small group of Peruvian scientists conducting research near the 2nd ranger station, half a dozen local fishermen in canoes, and 12 park rangers were the only humans for the next 200 kilometers. |
| Inside the reserve, everything is different. We immediately became aware of the hyper-diversity and species richness of the protected tropical rainforest. This is not the place to list every species, and I did not count the total sloths, Paiche, Jabiru Storks, Snowy Egrets, Cocoi and Striated Herons, Horned Screamers, monkeys, marmosets, and Macaws, but I can say for sure it was the most of each of those |
| species that I have seen in the length of time we were in the reserve. Curiously, we saw very few hummingbirds or toucans but observed several species of birds and epiphytes that were unfamiliar to me. One species of epiphyte with a delicate orange blossom was observed for only a couple of kilometers and was not seen again outside of that small range. At the second ranger station we studied some interesting research. The Peruvian biologists were catching Pacu, a fish with teeth like a horse that eats fruit, dissecting their stomachs and identifying the seeds and nuts removed from the stomachs and planting them in individual containers. Most of the seeds germinated and grew, and the identity of the seeds were confirmed by leaf and growth patterns. At the 3rd ranger station we hiked through the rainforest among strangler figs, large buttress roots, marmosets, monkeys, squirrels, Nun birds and many other species of flora and fauna. |
| Inside the reserve we kept the speed of Dawn on the Amazon III at about 6 KPH to optimize our chance of spotting wildlife and to minimize our wake. We stayed in the shade during the hottest part of the day and moved to the top deck early in the morning, late in the afternoon, and when it was cool or cloudy. As we moved |
| slowly through the reserve I reminded myself that this is what Dawn III is designed for. Big enough to be comfortable for this 946 kilometer expedition, small enough to access the small streams, and to gain access to the best places, like Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. The Pacaya River Follow this link to see our photo album of Pacaya Samiria National Reserve and the Pacaya River. |
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