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In front of the pirogue, one then two and finally three grey and pink backs are slowly risingfrom the water. A little bit further, those Amazonian dolphins are revealing more of themselves while breathing and blowing some air. This is the kind of picture we were looking for in the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve, deep in the heart of the Amazonian rainforest of Peru.
In this lush and primitive jungle, we would be lost like newbies therefore, for the first time, we decided to hire 2 guides through the Huayruro Tours agency : Octavio and Jovita who were waiting for us in Lagunas, a small and remote town located on the rio Huallaga. To reach this place, there is only one solution : by boat, because there is no road linking Lagunas to the rest of the country.
We were invited to board a motorboat equipped with around 80 to 100 seats and as much life jackets. After ignition of the engine, when we were about to leave Yurimaguas, we were probably 200. The anxiety was definitely real when we realized we were on what looked finally like a small skiff for the next 6 hours. At every single bend the water was close to pass on board and the screaming of most of the locals was definitely not a good sign.
Seven hours later we finally landed safely in Lagunas. Here, the only vehicles are moto-taxisand tricycles. Houses are made of wood or bricks for the stronger ones, mostly erected right on the soil, without foundations. During the rainy season, it gets easily muddy, even inside.
The reserve’s boundaries are just right outside the village. Tourism is a pretty recent thing here and the choice of hotels or restaurant is pretty limited and basic.
On the pirogue, our two guides refuse to let us help with the paddling and invite us to focus on the forest and the wildlife. Being that passive is not really my thing and it is a bit disturbing at first. But pretty quickly, while getting deeper into the forest, the show starts and catches our attention. Different species of monkeys, blue and yellowmacaws, red bellied macawsor red and green macaws, yellow-rumped caciques and much more are making our day. Further, a sloth, a green iguana, a small caiman andan anaconda… In the boat, I look up, enjoying the pace of the trip and a large toucan flies across the sky. Before, all those animals appeared only in documentaries and were not really part of my world.
The local guides built some platforms with a palm roof as shelters. Those are great to pace our progression, hiding the strong midday sun, offering a soft floor to set up our mosquito screen for the far too hot nights. At the end of the day, a little swim in the rio is mandatory to cool the body. The river is full of greedy piranhas though, literally jumping on the food scraps we are throwing atthem.
Further, when the river is larger and deeper, paiches (Arapaima gigas), gigantic and powerful fishes easily reaching 300 kg, are jumping around in a loud splashing noise. Dolphins are finally showing up in this area and are sometimes pretty close. Giant otters are running away not far from the boat. They are much larger than their North American cousins. Suddenly, howler monkeys start to yell somewhere in the jungle. The powerful sound is all we can hear and life in the forest seems to be brought to a stop.
Octavio is often setting some fishing nets in the river in order to deliciously complement our meals. He is randomly catching a small caiman but quickly releases it. Two times, heinvites us to leave the boat for a walk in the forest. While slowly diving deeper into the jungle, he carefully marks our path with some small cuts on the trees. Passionate about his forest, he seems to enjoy sharing his knowledge : cutting a palm tree to harvest the heart of palm or looking for some little white worms that are tasting like coconut when we chew on them. Jovita cooks directly on the fire. Without both of them, we would have probably missed half of the wildlife we saw.
When the river is getting even larger, I would really like to get further into the reserve. There is probably a lot of other incredible surprises to discover and it is enjoyable to let this lush and rich nature pace our days. Halas, we just had 5 days to enjoy this special place and it is time to go back to Lagunas…
Lagunas is a very small remote town. Only a couple of agencies are offering those tours in the reserve. We picked Huayruro tours and they were great.
