Kapawi Eco Lodge
We returned yesterday from our 5 day jungle adventure at the Kapawi Eco Lodge. Although our fishing trip was relatively unsuccessful (well, Fred caught two 3″ puffer fish), the rest of us just lost our meat bait to the amazon river fish of the lagoon (includes sardines, pirahna, and catfish).
I have discovered a true pleasure in my renewed hobby of bird watching. Although I grew up identifying birds (their habitat, sounds, nests, and eggs), I thoroughly enjoyed spotting them in the rainforest and trying to identify them in bird encyclopedias afterwards. With the help of our very knowledgeable guides, Antonio (Achur guide) and Juan Carlos (naturalist guide) here is a list of the more exotic birds identified over the five days:
- Crimson-crested Woodpecker
- White-throated Toucan
- a flock of Blue & Yellow Macaws
- a nest in a dead tree of Dusky-headed Parakeets
- Violaceious Jay
- Yellow-rumped Cacique (there was a tree full of these yellow and black birds building their nests right behind our cabin)
- Blue-throated Piping-Guan
- Ringed Kingfisher
- Hoatzin (a.k.a. Stinky Turkeys)
- Greater Ani
- Red-capped Cardinal
- Greater Yellow-headed Vulture
- Lesser Kiskadee
- Greater Kiskadee
- Blue-gray Tanager
- Magpie Tanager
- Long-tailed Hermit (from the hummingbird family)
- Common Potoo (camouflage into the tree trunks)
- Great Tinamou
- Purple-throated Fruitcrow
- Smooth-billed Ani (from the cuckoo family)
- White-eared Jacamar
- Russet-backed Oropendola (a very loud, explosive, bubbly sound)
- Orange-back Trupal
- Long-billed Woodcreeper (rare)
- Neo-tropical Cormorant
- Great Egret
- Limpkin
- Chestnut-fronted Macaw (nesting in a tree)
- Horned Screamer (almost sounds like a howler monkey)
- Little Blue Heron (extremely rare)
- White-winged Swallow
- White-banded Swallow
- Social Flycatcher
- Yellow Caracara
- Cocoy Heron
Other memorable moments in the rain forest included:
- waking up to howler monkeys beginning at 5:30 a.m.
- everyone getting swamped by “non-stinging bees” on our first trek through the forest
- our Achur guide Antonio demonstrating for us the several different uses of the palm tree (e.g., making a horn, making a headband, making a drinking cup, using strands of the leaf to twirl into string which could be used as a fishing line too, etc)
- watching the blue morph butterflies and the many other colourful butterflies
- spotting a baby tarantula on a log in the forest
- seeing balsa trees (my interest in balsa trees stems from reading my favourite book of all time, “The Kontiki”)
- identifying several types of ants and watching Ian eat a queen ant
- spotting dusky-headed monkeys
- spotting @ 12 blue macaws at a clay lick
- seeing a pink river dolphin (found in this particular part of the amazon river)
- listening to Antonion relay the Achuar legends underneath a great Kapok tree (@ 500 years old and at least 45 metres high)
- picnic in the forest (including a Pilsner cerveza)
- visiting the Achuar village (@ 30 people where our boat driver, another Antonio, came from). At the village, we met with a village native, 23 years old, and we told him our names, where we were from, our occupations, ages, and anything else we chose to share – Fred enlightened him on Canadian winters/snow. Keeping with their tradition, his wife handed each of us a small bowl full of some alcoholic concoction (I didn’t quite catch its name). It is impolite to refuse, but you don’t have to drink it. I declined to try it – especially after watching her stick her hand in Erun’s (one of the Turkish brother’s) bowl and squish it and swirl it about. Fred and I almost cracked up when we glanced over and witnessed his brother’s reaction. But, Erun still tried it! After a tour of their garden, a few families spread their crafts on banana leaves and we purchased a necklace/bracelet from each family (total – $10). Fred gave the father a swiss army knife and in return, he put a necklace over Fred’s head.
- the tropical storm that came upon us, very quickly, while returning from the village. Typically, the river was extremely calm, but the wind really whipped up some waves and the sand from the sand bars hit our faces. At one point, I almost thought we were going to end up floating down the river and actually did up my life jacket.
- on the last morning, we each got to try using the blow gun and arrows to hit a bull’s-eye target
- teaching the 2 brothers, Burak 24 years, and Erun, 21 years, how to play Skip Bo
- enjoying almost unbearably hot, sunny days and cool nights
- mosquito bite count – Lisa 6, Fred 1
We shared a taxi back to the New City, La Marsical, with Erun and Burak and met them for dinner at Adam’s Rib. It was great to savour meat and french fries again after having nothing fried and very little meat for 5 days (I am not a fish-eater and most dinners included some sort of river fish). We were shocked, however, to discover there was no alcohol allowed to be served, or consumed, in Quito because of a referendum vote they are having on Sunday. So, from 12 p.m. Friday noon until Monday at noon, NO alcohol. At least they have Diet Coke here!
After 2 weeks and 2 days in Ecuador, it’s time to move on. We have just purchased a 9 hour bus ticket to the Peruvian border where we will then change buses and head to Lima, then Cuzco.
Until next time,
Lisa n Fred
Tags: Ecuador Amazon, Kapawi Lodge, rainforest, Travel
frednlisa
Hi Lisa & Fred,
Wow…I’m so happy for the two of you and completely jealous. Looking forward to the photos.