In the jungle, the mighty jungle

It´s not all hacking paths with a machete and swotting mozzies in the Ecuadorian Amazon (although I can´t say I came away unscathed from the attacks of the little blood-suckers). There are such places as Sacha Lodge, which I was fortunate enough to visit with my parents, that are jungle oasi, palaces suspended above caiman and frog-filled swamps.

We flew into the oil town of Coca and were ferried down the vast, muddy-brown Napo River for about 2 hours (the perfect time for an on-river nap). Then we walked through a forest and into more canoes which finally ferried us across a pristine lake (which would later be our swimming pool) to the remote lodge. You know when you´re met with not only your very own pair of wellies for the next few days but also with a complimentary, appropriately green-coloured cocktail, that you have arrived somewhere special :) I´m sure we had two of the most informative, keen-eyed guides possible. They seemed to almost sense birds and animals miles away or so well camouflaged we would never have seen them ourselves- that´s why you have a guide, right? Our first adventure began the night we arrived. After supper we ventured outside the lodge to look for frogs, which then included a whole photography lesson for me on how to take good froggy pictures…

The next day we climbed a 30m tower above the tree canopy to look for birds. Equipped with a good telescope and two awesome guides, we managed to see, I kid you not, 100 species of birds in the four hours we were up there. For my birding parents, this was what it was all about. While fascinated and over-awed by it all, my greatest satisfaction that day came from swinging on jungle vines (call me Jane) and catching two pirhanas from the afore-mentioned, pristine, “swimming pool” lake J Don´t worry, supposedly they were “vegetarian” pirhanas, nevermind the bait they gave us for them was raw meat. Whatever, I went swimming everyday and I still have a complete set of fingers and toes.

One day, sitting on the swimming deck, contemplating my beautiful surroundings, I became aware of a very strange, rather unnerving noise in the distance. I may have thought it was a traumatized elephant had there been any in the vicinity. As there weren´t, I was forced to believe until told otherwise, that it was some terrible, roaring, three-headed monster. Luckily for us all, I was told otherwise and discovered the noise of the Howler Monkey, who really are pretty lazy and, while cute to look at, after staring at them for a while through a telescope and not observing any change in position, one is forced to return the telescope to the more excited birders in the group.

Another day we took a trip down the river to a clay lick, otherwise known as the singles bar for parrots. Sadly (or maybe gladly for all the pretty parrots) there weren´t many birds looking to impress or be impressed by others. When there were parrots up in the trees above, they were scared away by the most magnificent eagle (have to get name from the folks). Not a bad compromise really!

During our time in the jungle (which was surprising short with all we got in) we went on night hikes and canoe rides and to a butterfly farm. We even went anaconda hunting but found a much smaller, fat and lazy boa instead. We visited a local home where the 8 and 7 year old children were left to look after the younger children while mom took the older ones to the doctor. One of these kids, Damian, relieved me of my camera almost the moment I arrived and proceeded to fill up my memory card with the most wonderfully-captured moments and portraits. I think these are some of my most precious pictures so far.


In the jungle even the littlest bugs and plants are fascinating. Just being there is such an experience, I think it is my favourite place of visiting here so far.