ECO AMAZONIA LODGE STAY

 After travelling just over one hour down the Amazon river which Peru  calls  the Madre de Dios River meaning Mother of God  we arrived at the Echo Amazonia Lodge.  This is an ecological reserve of 4798 hectares within a rainforest. This area around Puerto Maldonado is known as the capital of biodiversity of Peru. Our first bit of excitement once it became dark was to go back out onto the river spotting black and white alligator (Caiman Crocodiles) Their eyes glowed in the torchlight, there were plenty about.

Our cabin

 The following day our guide took us down the river and into the jungle where we did a 4km leisurely walk and talked to us about the many gigantic trees that are growing in the forest and a great variety of birds.
In the afternoon we visited monkey Island across the river from where we were staying which shelters 4 species of monkeys.

Our Jungle walk. An example above of some of the huge trees we saw during our walk. This was a
Figus tree. Others were Garlic trees a similar size , the peeled off bark smelt just like garlic and used as an insect repellent, another was the Drum or Communication tree for sending SOS signals. It had a hollow sound which traveled 1km. Under the bark of the Tin tree when hit with a metal instrument sounded like metal. They come down easily during a lightening strike and never rot. Others were Capok trees, Rubber and many others some a 1000 yrs old.

The following day some of us had a 5am wake up call to go on a 14 km guided walk further into the jungle which also included a canoe ride sharing the paddling while  taking in the bird life and seeing lots of little Turtles. The Screaming Piha birds were everywhere and sounded just like a wolf whistle. 

There were a few monkeys about feeding on Palm tree berries .

Then it was back to the lodge pool for a cool off before lunch. The pool was completely enclosed by gauze netting to stop mosquitoes.