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Wednesday started with a trip to the Ibera visitors centre, where we watched a short film about the wetlands environment, how some of the wildlife had been brought very close to extinction in the past and how the eco balance has been restored since it became a nature reserve and hunting was banned in 1983.
We then had a guided walk through the forest, where we saw howler monkeys (including a mother with an 8 week old baby clinging to her back), some large spiders, butterflies, humming birds, and a small deer, just a few feet away from us. As we came back onto the trail, a grey fox came bounding out of the undergrowth, rushing up to us wagging it's tail like a dog! Then it suddenly appeared to collapse, and lay stretched out flat on its side, playing dead! The guide said it had been hand reared for the first couple of months, and then put back in the wild, but still really liked being with people. It followed us for the remainder of the walk, darting into the long grass every now and again to snap up a grasshopper. At one point I turned round and it was trotting along carrying a stick in its mouth!
After lunch, we went out in the boat again and the guide took us to another part of the lagoon. We passed under the bridge that our truck drove over yesterday, (we'd had to get out and walk across, as it had a lot of planks that were rotten, or missing) and it was good to see that it was being repaired! We saw lots of Capybaras, some of them swimming in the water, close to the boat, and some family groups with up to 8 babies, which scuttled about, squeaking, just like guinea pigs. Others were just grazing, or wallowing about in the mud, and luckily none of them seemed bothered by the presence of the boat, so we were able to get some good close up photos. We also got close to a female marsh deer, with enormous ears, and to some fairly big caimans, which seemed to be everywhere, many of them drifting along in the water, barely visible apart from their eyes and nostrils. When you spotted one, it was a good reminder not to trail your hands in the water - that and the piranhas, of course! We also saw lots of birds, including kingfishers, storks and vultures. It was a really good afternoon, especially as the weather was warm and sunny too.
At dinner, Martin, the driver, asked us if we wanted to drive to our next destination via the 'short' route, on a bad road, or the 'long' route, on a good road. It would make a difference of about 3- 4 hours, as we would have to back the way we'd come, to Mercedes, to pick up the good road. We decided on the short route, thinking that even if we got stuck in the sand we could probably dig the truck out in less than 3 - 4 hours anyway, so our journey time would be about the same. We'll find out tomorrow if we made a good decision....
Good night.
- comments
Mohmed sounds great! and there's no reason you coduln't _extend_ this for the walking assignment. of course there's plenty of scope for overlap main thing is get cracking, as you have less than 2 weeks to complete this one!