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The next morning we planned for a full day hike in the jungle, armed with wellies, raincoats and high-strength mozzie spray this time! After breakfast, we took a short walk from the lodge to see a family of Duski-Titi monkeys, who woke us up, but as the water is low at this time of the year they were so high in the trees we couldnt get a really good look at them, but we did see them jumping from tree to tree!
We took the boat upstream and began hiking through the jungle. Robin literally had to cut through the jungle as it was so dense, with his machete! We managed to see quite a few animals though; another Yellow-Footed turtle (6years old), Saddleback Tamarind monkey, and a Caimen Spectacle (like an alligator) but, unfortunately, this was dead - although had we have known what was about to happen, we would have been relieved!
Rudy decided to take us across the river, over a fallen tree trunk that was bridging the gap. After Robin had tested the way, Rudy and Laura began going across too. About half way across we heard "creak, creak, creak" and before we knew it the tree snapped! Laura threw Rudy into the water, to save the camera and managed to scramble back onto the bank using poor Rudy as a stepping stone, only having got wet legs herself! Rudy, however, got a full body dunk! While trying to pull ourselves from the water we managed to grab a tree full of Fire Ants, which decided to feast on Laura and Rudy. OH MY GOD - the pain was excruciating, but at least it wasn't a Caiman bite!
After about 4 hours of hiking, we arrived back to the canoe, where we ate lunch - picture the four of us sat in a canoe floating down the Amazon, with plates of chicken casserole, rice and veg!! That doesn't happen everyday! We then had a go at fishing - John you would love it here, you are guaranteed to catch fish! Laura caught about 10 fish and Holly caught about 5, which included Piranha, Barracuda, long-whiskered catfish, Sabalo and Sicla! As we made our way back to the lodge we saw Pink Dolphins, who followed us quite a way down the river, jumping in and out of the water - but they wouldn't bloody hold still long enough to get a good photo!
That night, after dinner, we were presented with a home made cake by Ruben, our chef, which was yummy and decorated with "Thank-you for your visit England girls" in pink icing. We think they were just trying to butter us up, before they scared us by taking us on a night expedition! Rudy and Robin took us in the canoe. Yes, at night and in the pitch black! We went into a lake area and we both nearly fainted when Rudy pointed out a pink-toed tarantula that was enormous! Arrrgggghhhh! But, luckily, it was quite high in the trees! We also saw a couple of Caimen, noticable only with our torches, as their eyes glow red - scary!
We also saw a Hyla Boan frog (Giant Gladiator Frog) that makes the loudest noise - it drowns out all the other animal noises at night!
What a fantastic experience!
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