January 20th, Yachana Preserve

Morning Blue

After an early morning breakfast, we headed to a landing site down river and boarded a double-decker bus/truck. We all crammed into the upper level to get a better view of the terrain and drove out to the Yachana preserve, a 500 acre parcel of primary forest owned by the Yachana foundation. Along the way, we had our best birding of the trip with upwards of twenty bird species, including Blue-headed Parrots, Silver-beaked Tanagers and two species of Aracari, which are related to toucans.

Chestnut-eared Aracari

Yellow-rumped Cacique

We also were lucky to run across a band of Black-mantled Tamarins, who squawked their displeasure at our arrival. Eventually, they stopped caring that we were there and even jumped across the trees directly above the truck.

Black-mantled Tamarin

Once we got to the preserve, we hiked a nice hour long loop where we were able to observe a primary forest. The temperature was noticeably cooler in the forest, and it was interesting to compare this forest with the cloud forests and secondary forests that we have observed earlier in the trip. Robert showed us some of the more interesting plants, including one that can be used as an anti venom in case of a viper bite and one that can actually walk, (no kidding!).

The Ironwood palm puts out prop roots, and if it detects an opening in the forest canopy, the tree leans, the prop roots grow in the direction it wants to move, and the tree shifts position. On the way out of the preserve, we also visited a field station that is run by Yachana and Global Vision International (GVI), where volunteers are working on the initial steps of inventorying life in the preserve. One of the more interesting recent finds was a Yellow-footed Tortoise.

We hopped back in the boat and headed to lunch where we were taught some of the traditional cooking techniques and given the chance to try some traditional grub, which happened to include grub!

Zach and Nathaniel prepare tilapia

Rachel serves the appetizer

I couldn't pass up the opportunity, so I joined Max and Rachel in eating a live grub, which was about the size of a large date, and which was supposed to taste like bacon. I will spare you the details, but let's just say that the cooked version was less juicy and I am happy to have had the experience so that I won’t ever feel the need to eat one again. The rest of the cooking demo included stinging nettles, which tasted like delicious spinach, heart of palm, which was also good in raw form, and roasted tilapia, cooked in a banana leaf over a smoky fire. Our post lunch activity included a float down the river. We packed a cooler full of beer, inverted some life vests to fit like a large diaper, and floated down the river with a cold one in hand. It was truly a surreal and memorable experience to be in the river and floating through the Amazon jungle. After a nice dinner, which included another chat with the founder of Yachana, Douglas, we headed out on a night hike around the lodge.

Trapdoor spider's lair

What a cool activity! The forest truly comes alive at night. We saw many frogs of different types, walking sticks, tarantula spiders, and even a euphonia female on a nest made of moss.

Another beautiful day in paradise!