THE DARIEN JUNGLE

                                     Boat Ride Through the Jungle

     In contrast to my trek into the jungle in Raratonga, in Panama I rode up the Sambu River through the Darien jungle in a cayuca (kai-u-coo), a local dug-out canoe.

     My small ship anchored two miles off the mouth of the Sambo river. Cruise ships with deep drafts are unable to reach this point because of the shallow water in the bay to reach the river, as a result most tourists miss this adventure. Plus the stopping point is Chunga, meaning black palm, is a small native village and  cannot handle large crowds.

    It was an early wakeup call and breakfast before loading the cayucas. The Pacific side of the Panama Canal has a 22-foot tide, so to transit the river one must go up river on the incoming tide and out on the ebbing  tide. At high tide there is a 22-feet of water in the river compared to low tide’s six inches!

    The Darien jungle is the boundary line between Columbia and Panama.  Much of the jungle is neither hospitable nor navigable. Choco is the name of a Columbian province as well as the name of a local Panamanian Indian tribe.

     It took over an hour and a half to leisurely navigate the 10-12 miles up the Sambu river through the Darien jungle. In the cool morning it was a most pleasant ride with birds serenading nearly all the way. Plentiful lush greenery grew on both sides of the 200-yard wide river. A few logs floated in the murky water.

      I heard toucans and parrots in the trees, but they were too high  in the canopy to be seen. But I did see pelicans, ibis, egrets, kingfishers, and herons. It was amazing that  bugs were not a problem, nor flies or mosquitoes either!

     The ride down the river a few hours later was a very hot one. Such visits are absolutely determined by the tides. It was a pleasant morning and an extremely interesting  visit which will follow when I talk about people.

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

                                       A Fabulous Experience
    In Quito for some reason there was a very long wait to obtain our boarding passes and we were grateful our guide took care of this matter for us while we sat in the smoke filled waiting room.

     The airport had three gates opening out onto the tarmac. Escorted to the proper gate, we  noted  a blinking neon sign saying ‘Cuenca’. We were headed to the Galapagos via Guayaquil. However, everyone else in the area was headed in our direction so we stood firm. Later we found out the sign had not been changed for three years!

    We stood in line at the gate for a long time. There seemed to be a problem with the plane and there was no reserve plane in sight. A toilet seat sat in the forward doorway for a good while, then suddenly disappeared back inside the plane.

     We landed in Quayaquil (why a keel) where we retrieved our luggage, walked a couple hundred yards and boarded another plane. No one knew why!

      The open-air airport on Baltra Island  was quaint and reminded me of my first arrival at the Honolulu airport in 1955---so many years ago!  One thing different was the long hour wait to get through customs. We could pay our $80 park fee in either American dollars or Ecuadorian Sucre. Knowing the park would not accept traveler’s checks, I had exchanged money the day before at the hotel in anticipation of this expense.  You can imagine the fistful of money I had to equal $160 when 1800 Sucre equaled a dollar. I handed the stack of bills to the park ranger and asked him to count it.

     The Galapagos Islands is an archipelago of volcano islands in the Pacific Ocean distributed on either side of  Ecuador. The Galápagos Islands and their surrounding waters form an Ecuadoran Province, a national park, and a biological marine reserve. They consist of 18 major  and 3 minor islands and many rock outcroppings and inlets. We had the pleasure of visiting nine of the islands: Baltra, Bartolomé, Santa Cruz or Darwin, Espanola or Hood, Fernandina, Tower, Isebela,   Floreana, and Plaza Island. It was a fabulous experience! 

Albatross mate for life. They return to Espanola each spring, find their mate and bare their young. In December they fly off in all different directions. Babies do not return for five years at which time they return to find a mate

On Floreana interestingly enough all the flowers on the island are either white or yellow because there is only one variety of bee to do all the pollinating

Flour Beach’s sand was snow white and a contrast to the brown sandy beach we landed on. Being a turtle breeding ground prevented any swimming at that beach.

Years ago sailors would leave addressed letters in a mailbox at Post Office Bay. They also would remove any letters addressed to their destination. When they arrived in port they would stamp and mail the letters. The custom continues today.

On Santa Cruz Island we stopped at the rim of a sink hole, Sitting quietly we listened to the songs of Galapagos doves and watched vermilion flycatchers.  Later as we walked downhill we stopped at a lava tunnel which I found a little spooky.

When I walked out on deck the next morning with my first cup of coffee I suddenly stopped short, mesmerized by the sight of two red footed boobies perched on the bowsprit.

Tower Island is nick-named the Islands of Birds or Bird Island for the millions of birds that call it home. We were lucky as it was mating season for the masked boobies, blue footed boobies, and frigate birds. We spent a good deal of time watching them and their mating dances.

Visit Posts: Iguanas 10-19-11     Tower Island 1-28-12     More about Galapagos  7-17-11

                               

COSTA RICA CONSERVATION

                                      Conservation and Wildlife

            In Los Chiles, Costa Rica we boarded a boat for a ride down the Rio Frio. The river borders the 24,600-acre Cano Negro Wildlife Refuge, which sits in the migratory flyway of hundreds of thousands of birds. It is a birder’s delight.

            Moving down the river was a slow process as the tree lined banks were full of birds and monkeys. We saw white face and Howler Monkeys, including a couple of Howler babies.

            White face monkeys will eat anything, but Howlers are vegetarians and eat early in the day because they need sunlight to digest their food. Their scrotum is white and that is how they thermo-regulate their bodies.

            The boat driver got us close to a tree where we could see tiny tiny bats spread out on the tree trunk. They looked like part of the bark. They weren’t more than 2-3 inches long and they were lined up vertically 6-7 in a row. We saw several kinds of lizards. The river eventually opens up into a shallow lagoon.

            The beautiful macaws live high in the forest canopy so we did not see any that day, but we saw numerous other birds and the guide and driver knew them all. I heard toucans in the jungles in Panama and Belize, but could not see them as both times they were high in the canopy. However, it was in another preserve in Costa Rica that I was most excited to finally see toucans.

            I had read and our guide confirmed that Costa Rica is one of the most ecologically aware countries in the world. In fact one quarter (26%) of its land has been set aside as national park or preserve; 13% land is National Parkland, and an additional 13% of the land is private reserve abiding by government agreements. These nature and biological preserves protect a vast array of animals and their habitats, and insures the survival of over 850 species of birds, 205 species of mammals, 376 kinds of reptiles and amphibians, and more than 9000 species of flowering plants, including 1200 varieties of orchids.

            Until 1970 there was hardly a protected area in the country. The country’s conservation efforts are even more remarkable considering that it is not a wealthy country, having limited resources. During the first years of the country’s park systems, conservationists raced against rampant deforestation to protect as much of the nation’s wild lands as possible. Infrastructure is still lacking, and many of the areas can only be reached on foot, or horseback.

            Out hotel in Chachagua was located in the depths of a rain forest in a private preserve.  We crossed a waterfall and walked through lush vegetation to our single cabin. Looking out our windows we could see nothing but lushness. The cabin was cozy, and each night I was lulled asleep by the sounds of the waterfall.

            The lodge had a resident green macaw that was a little on the cantankerous side. Its mate died a couple of years before, and since they mate for life, more than likely she’d be alone for the rest of her life. She flew about at will, but often perched on the dining room rail, always watchful for fallen crumbs.

Galapagos islands

Tower Island and the Birds

Tower Island in the Galapagos is nick-named the Islands of Birds or Bird Island for the millions of birds who call it home. We were lucky, as it was mating season for the masked boobies, blue footed boobies, and frigate birds.

We spent a great deal of time watching the frigate birds as their mating ritual is quite spectacular. The male inflates a pouch below his neck which looks like a huge red valentine to attract his mate. The female can sometimes be pretty choosy and dance around the male for some time before deciding this is the love of her life. After watching one couple for some time, when I left the female still hadn’t made up her mind but she was warming up a bit.

We hiked up Phillips Steps to a plateau. It was a fairly rugged climb and I was glad I was  in pretty good shape. The terrain on the top was rocky.

Boobies were mating all over the area. In addition storm petrels and swallow tail gulls were flying about. Boobies have an intricate mating ritual and they are a lot of fun to watch.

It’s interesting how certain animals inhabit certain islands in the Galapagos. That is nice for the visitor as one can concentrate on one or two animals at a time and not all of them at once. It was a new adventure, island and different animals each day. It was a fabulous trip!

 

Floreana no doubt was named because of its abundant flora. As we hiked, our guide  told us, “Interestingly enough you’ll notice all the flowers on the island are either white or yellow.  That is because only one variety of bee does all the pollinating.”

We hiked a sandy path through lush vegetation. Our destination was a brackish lagoon, home to over a 1000 flamingos. We were told, “You’ll notice all the birds are on the far side of the lagoon away from any trespassers. They don’t like anything taller than they are so you need to squat while you watch them.”    We spent a considerable time watching them.

Leaving the lagoon we hiked over some rather rough terrain to Flour Beach. It was flour

not flower. Why? The beach was a fine white powder-like sand. The beach is appropriately named. The snow white sand was quite a contrast to the brown sandy beach we landed on, yet we were on the same island. A turtle breeding ground,.prevented us from swimming at that beach.   The beach was also home to thousands of hermit crabs. It was fun to watch the little crabs scamper about and then disappear into a hole.

We went ashore at Post Office Bay. Years ago sailors would leave addressed letters in a mailbox there. They also would remove any letters addressed to their destination. When they arrived in port they would stamp and mail the letters they had taken. The custom continues today. We were encouraged to take any letters  addressed to our home town to mail them on our return home.

Every day in the Galapagos was a new adventure and each day seemed to be better than the day before. It is an unusual place and a unique vacation spot--real eco-tourism!

WITLESS BAY ECOLOGICAL PRESERVE

                                  Puffins on a Cold Day

It was a cold windy day in Newfoundland when we set sail for the Reserve. I was grateful my jacket had an attached hood!

Three islands make up the reserve where the largest sanctuary of Atlantic puffins is located. Approaching Green Island the good natured fellow on the mike warned, “If you look up, keep your mouth shut as the birds fly overhead. There are thousands of birds here and they do not discriminate when it comes to expelling that little white stuff!”

            He continued to describe, “Puffins are small birds, only about eight inches long, and most people are surprised by their size. They have orange feet and  beak that has   gray .triangle  that is bordered with  a white stripe.  Their white breast is topped with a black coat. They are good swimmers and divers. Some people think they are penguins, but they are in no way related. They can hold a dozen fish in their beak when feeding their young.”

            Puffins live in burrows and that tends to kill tree and other roots. All the guano doesn’t help either. They mate for life and both parents sit on the egg and take care of the chick. The chicks are taught to toilet close to the burrow entrance, keeping their living quarters clean. The parents abandon the chick after 40 days. A week later the chick wanders out of the burrow and fledges in the moonlight under the cover of night. Their wings beat 300 times a minute to keep them in the air. An adult puffin returns to the same burrow year after year to lay one egg.

            The island is barren several meters above the water, but green after that with a few straggly trees on the top that provide nesting areas for storm petrels.

            The narrator continued, “Murrens nest on the ledges of Green Island and all over barren Gull Island. Murrens have no nest; they just lay their eggs on the edge. The eggs are sort of triangular shaped so they don’t roll around like oval ones do. The birds also cement the egg to the rock with guano. They live in huge tight-packed colonies on coastal cliffs and on other off-shore islands.”  The sky was covered with these little birds as we approached Gull Island.

            A large colony of kittiwakes also lives in the reserve. The smallest of the gull family, they appear to ski on the water. They are often referred to as ticklers as a pair of them fly so close together it seems as if they are tickling each other.

            Three kinds of whales migrate through the area. The captain was determined to find whales for us. We saw several blows. He said, “Whale watching is 90 percent patience and 10 percent luck. This morning the whales are diving very deep and blowing only about every half hour or so. They can stay submerged 35-40 minutes.”

            Toward the end of our cruise a momma and her calf played near the bow of the boat. The narrator commented, “Humpback whales are very social. Their average length is 35-40 feet, and the rule of thumb is they weigh 1000 pounds for each foot of length, so these whales weigh 35,000-40,000 pounds. They make quite a splash!

            “Fin whales, the second largest whale, are also found in the area. Their head is the size of a VW bug! We haven’t seen any yet this year. Grey whales migrate through these waters. They move fast and straight and care nothing about socializing.”

It was worth the breezy, rather rough ride to see all the birds in their natural habitat and it was a thrill to watch momma whale and her calf play off our bow!