Again we beat the alarm - we were awake by 4.15 and up and about before the alarm timed for 4.30 could activate! We met Sergio at 5am and walked using torches to the tower - our arrival caused a rapid evacuation of it by some capuchin overnight stayers. This also meant we needed to be careful where we trod as they had left some new poo parcels!
We sat and watched everything wake up starting with the chachalacas - the first one setting off a chain reaction with others - what a wake up call. Egrets, herons and hawks started to leave their roosts and fly past to posts or ponds.
The air smelt of smoke, no doubt wafted towards us by the nice breeze; there was a haze but we could not see any raging fires....which was good. As the sun came over the horizon at 6am we left to return for breakfast as we needed to eat and get ready for the canoe trip we were going which left at 7am.
It was 14km to the river via the farm tracks which left from the lodge and went through the owners ranch to the river. You are reminded that the majority of the Pantanal is owned by farmers who rear cattle, sheep and water buffalo for meat - all the meat consumed at the Lodge comes from the farm. It is also the ranchers and people working with them who are preserving the wildlife of the Pantanal.....Araras Eco lodge is an excellent example of farmers/ranches working with nature to protect it rather than destroying it - there is a real feel of the two being in harmony. Proof in point was 4km down the track where we stopped to look at the project to save the hyacinth macaws - the ranch is working with an organisation that confiscates parrots and macaws from those who try to illegally trade or export them. Together they rehabilitate them and the release them back into the wild - recently they released 17. We should ban the sale of tropical birds for pets ....macaws are a good case in point as they mate for life and the whole act of catching them destroys that partnership and puts them under severe stress - even if it was acceptable no one buys 2 macaws at several thousand pounds each - so they lose their sole mate? Leave them in the wild where they belong. The project has also put up nest boxes in the trees macaws like to aid their rehabilitation.
One pair stays within the project as they have become so used to people they don't want to leave - she is balding and both of their feathers are a bit ragged - not the best specimens - but full of character !
We also went to look at the prize pantenero horses which the owner breeds and sells - they are a strong breed and increasingly in demand; they happily work in water all day long which is a necessity in the Pantanal - the best are also used in rodeo competitions - the business can be lucrative as the best horses can sell for £30-50k! That was a short but informative stop before continuing to the river and arriving at 0830 ish. John and I got into one canoe and Sergio the other. We started going upstream while the rest of the group went downstream. The good thing was we saw neotropical otters - smaller -
and a family of giant river otters - biggest. On the other hand for marital harmony we will not repeat the experience .....far better on the Zambezi when we had a guide each - on today's performance one or other of us wouldn't have survived the first day! 1130 we had lunch - a BBQ that had been prepared while we were out and them lay in hammocks for an hour or so before the return trip. After lunch one family went upstream in the canoes, where we had been in the morning and saw a tapir !! - the one thing that still eludes us - 'so near and yet so far' ---darn it! However around the canoe camp we saw a crab eating fox and some black tailed marmosets - which are endemic to the Pantanal.....they were another first -then on the way back in the truck we saw an armadillo - which really are very rarely seen - and much harder than a tapir apparently - so not a bad days viewing overall.
We got back at 2.30pm - John and I decided to have a shower and a slow afternoon were on the cards before going on the night safari after dinner. We did venture to a smaller tower at sunset but after 10 minutes were beaten back by pesky mosquitos - just as well the bugs here carry no diseases or we could be ill for ages!
The night safari was a joy - lovely and cool and a good digestif under clear starlight skies and a new moon. The finds of the night were a giant potoo - a big night jar, so well camouflaged he looks like a tree branch, and crab eating racoons.
Sadly our last night - John packed tonight including his nice new light t-shirt from the shop which was not put in a paper bag but a really neat small cotton bag which can be reused for travel things.....not sure exactly what yet though! As ever he is happier when the packing is done - mine will only take me 15 minutes in the morning and we have no tight schedules to make.....bless him he is already worried about the weight of the bags - defies logic really - all the shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, sunscreen, after sun and insect repellent has gone and been replaced by a couple of light tshirts - and more to the point we were under the limit when we came out- he just likes to worry!!
The photo today is of a cayman they often sit with their mouths open it is a good way to catch fish in the water - the downside is that leeches often find their way in - the black spot at the back of his mouth is the self same - which as soon as it has finished its meal will drop off then find another host ! Interesting what you learn when you are with a guide who knows his stuff - we could never have found out so quickly on our own....and probably would never have seen the black spot.