Giant Otters and More

What a beautiful morning greets us as we leave our room for breakfast.

We meet Jairo at 07.00 which I consider to be a very civilised time. We set out in the canoe and paddle along the edge of the lake, watching the birds stirring into life and listening to the wonderful dawn chorus. We are in for a real treat as Jairo spots giant otters on the far side of the lake. The otters stay with us (or rather we stay with them) for 40 minutes or so. We watch them swimming, diving and successfully catching fish. There are six of them and they are the only six in the reserve. They are considered endangered sand only 200 or so remain in Ecuador. Lucky indeed!

We watch all the otters catch and devour fish then reluctantly leave them to go for a jungle walk. We are lucky to see spider monkeys, though they are fast moving and therefore a bit tricky to photograph.

We see three varieties of poison dart frogs. They are all tiny – finger-nail size – and well camouflaged.

Lots of beautiful fungi

A horned toad

…and much more small fauna and flora. What an amazing morning. The otter experience was beyond brilliant.

Incredibly the day just gets better and better. We have lunch, which is three courses and very good but rather more food than required.

I sit on the deck to recover from the food overdose when a guide says “Would you like to see an anaconda?” Yes I would! I follow him and there, 20 feet in front of my room, is a juvenile anaconda hiding under dead leaves. It is about 2 metres long. I take lots of photos and video. It is beautiful, shiny and with amazing markings. I return to my deck and an hour later the anaconda appears in full view.

As we climb aboard the canoe for the afternoon’s wildlife watching, we once again see the otters. They are fishing but then something enormous jumps out of the water and a huge frenzy ensues with loads of splashing and squealing from the otters. Jairo days it was an arapaima – the largest fish in the Amazon weighing up to 440 pounds and that the otters are crazy to tangle with it. They realise their error and swim off for more sensible sized prey. The sun has come out and an otter catches a fish then swims up to the canoe to eat it . Jane and I have recorded some awesome video – David Attenborough eat your heart out! We also have a hoard of fabulous pictures.

Reluctantly we leave the otters and head up a small channel to see what else we can find. We are not disappointed. Capuchin monkeys leap through the trees and we also see (and hear) fairly distant red howler monkeys. There are lots of kingfishers but they are pretty elusive. The tiny pigmy kingfisher below was less than easy to see, never lone photograph!

Herons and ever-present hoatzin are easier.

…and our last new sighting of the day was 14 tiny long-nosed bats roosting on the underside of a leaning tree trunk.

We return to camp and view the last light of day from the tower before settling at the bar for drinks before dinner.