Amazon Adventures Chapter 2

The journey took us through jungle and bush and occasionally past a village of palm thatched huts. Generally the villages were very neat and tidy and well swept. On arriving at Nauta, quite a large town, also noisy and busy , our large coach had to reverse down a narrow side alley, nothing but a muddy track really, to reach the river bank; no easy task as the road was so busy there were no gaps in the traffic. 

As we reversed down the track contradiction sprang to mind again. We were in a large luxury coach, all 10 of us, reversing between wooden houses, the owners standing watching. I saw inside one or two of the houses and they were bare wooden sheds with dirt floors, a hammock and not much else.

On leaving the coach we had our first sight of home for the next two weeks. Initial impressions were that the Ayapua was a little tatty looking. This could have been heightened by the assortment of scruffy boats tied along both sides of her and the mess of human garbage that littered the shore and floated all around. I had to remind myself that she was 100 years old!! There were many willing hands to help us down a steep bank and across a narrow gangplank; I think all the locals were there to watch and help.

We were led into the galley and first impressions flew out of the window, it was breath-taking. The walls were lined with silk, the ceiling with cream lace and the curtains thick velvet. The centre of the room housed a large, long table covered with a deep red cloth and lace. Surrounding it were beautifully carved wooden chairs, each with the name Ayapua in the carving and upholstered in red velvet. 

Tables around the sides housed crockery and cutlery, glasses, fresh water dispensers, tea and coffee etc. At the back of the room there was an old gramophone with a large horn. 

It felt as though we had stepped onto the set of a Victorian movie.

A flight of polished wooden stairs with brass anti slip features led us to an outside covered deck and to our cabin door. Again the walls were papered in silk

 and the ceiling in lace 

with a metal roof-support pole adorned in brocade. 

The cabin was a good size accommodating two bunks, an air conditioning unit within the bedside unit, a large wardrobe and a green leather topped desk. A small wet-room housed a shower and a toilet.

A second flight of stairs led to the top deck, where an area had been covered by a canopy adjacent to the superstructure which housed a small bar. At the far end was the wheelhouse and then the library - a beautiful little museum boasting an admiral’s hat, an old microscope, an old globe (as well as books in a book case), red velvet plush armchairs and settee with green velvet curtains . . . . . and the computer. The library was air-conditioned and open at all times for anyone.

It was soon time to leave; we had a long way to go upriver before we tied up for the night. I discovered that all the little boats tied alongside were coming with us, two tucked in very tightly along one side like baby whales clinging tightly to their mother’s side and the largest along the other side but with its engine running to help take the strain.

The river was very wide and so it was not always easy to see clearly the land on either side. 

The route we navigated appeared to wander from close proximity to one bank to close proximity to the other but in reality we were following the river channel. Large swathes of the river bank were being farmed but what the crops were I couldn’t make out. There were rice fields and I think maybe millet but was never close enough to be certain. We were heading up the Maranon river past the confluence of the Ucayali River heading for the Samiria River. Both the Ucayali and the Maranon rivers originate in the Andes Mountains, the Ucayali having its headwaters near Machu Picchu and Cuzco of Inca fame. These rivers pick up heavy loads of sediment as they tumble down the rocky mountains and have a thick whitish-brown colour. The rivers flowing through the forest become very dark brown/black due to the tannin in the leaves (like a huge river of tea) and where the two waters meet the effect is startling.

We moored the first night after dark near a village and then were off again as the sun was just beginning to rise. At 11pm every evening, the generator is switched off, as it is rather noisy, but from then until it is switched on again there is no electricity, so no light and no air conditioning!

The reserve we were heading for is the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve and is classed as a flooded forest. It is one of the largest protected areas in Peru and covers about 20,000km² of tropical rainforest. A flooded forest becomes submerged under metres of water for many months of the year during the wet season and the flora and fauna have adapted to this life style. The water level is therefore very important to the wellbeing and reproduction of all its inhabitants. Global climate change is now causing dramatic variations in the water level, leading to extreme flooding and droughts. 

The Peruvian government has publicly declared its concerns about climate change and is developing a strategy for dealing with the problem. The research scientists are working with the government and the local Cocama indigenous people to determine the impact of the greater variations of water levels for the wildlife and the local people and for the management of the protected areas. Flooded forests like the Pacaya-Samiria face the most severe impacts from climate change and are a good place to study not only the consequences but also the actions that can be taken to mitigate these consequences.

The research project uses an interdisciplinary approach to find a balance between the needs of the indigenous peoples and the conservation of the animals and plants in the region. They contribute to the management of the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve by supplying data on the abundance, densities and diversity of many important life groups. These data help develop appropriate management plans for wildlife and community-based wildlife conservation programmes. The results will also be used to help establish new regional protected areas. The project also conducts research on the regional and national economy in regard to conservation, studying the use of wildlife for subsistence, the rural bush meat and fisheries trades, city-based meat and fish markets, and the national and international wildlife trade. The results help environmental agencies determine conservation management policy, both inside and outside the protected areas. Local communities have been helped to set up and continue to monitor community-based conservation actions and the wildlife surveys are helping the communities to see how the animal populations are responding to their actions. (The most exciting thing we discovered was the first sighting in 30 years of a family of 5 giant river otters, a species decimated by the fur traders.)