New Zealand!

After two days solid travelling and with the loss of the 22nd December due to the time difference, we finally arrived in Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday the 23rd of December 2006. We were met at the airport by Alan and Cath, two friends from back home who moved out to New Zealand 6 months ago, it was really good to see a familiar face from back home!
Once back at their home we unloaded our bags and put a load in the washing machine, unfortunately Lee also managed to put his mobile phone in! Its funny he managed to keep everything dry and in working order for two months while in the hot and humid rainforest, even through the start of the wet season, then he arrives in New Zealand during their summer and washes his phone!!! Although the SIM still allows you to send text messages we cannot use his actual phone or access any numbers that were on the SIM, so we apologise to anyone who has sent Lee a text and not had a reply or had one saying "Hi, err who is this?" We will be checking the SIM on Rachael's phone but it may not be as regular. In Lee's defence, the reason he did not check that particular pocket was because he had a flea in his trousers that had been biting him all the way from Peru! Incidently he has not been bitten since!

Still wide awake despite the jet lag and time difference, Alan and Cath took us for a walk up Mount St John, the extinct volcano right behind their house! It was the strangest sensation, all around us we could hear and see birds that we see all the time at home, goldfinches, chaffinches, blackbirds! It was hard to think we were actually the other side of the world! Then in the midst of all these British birds popped up two Eastern Rosellas (type of parakeet) and a small bird called a Silvereye...ok so we are definately not at home! Walking back down we spotted a classic, native New Zealand bird the Tui and saw some Pohutukawa trees. Also called 'Christmas Tree' as at this time of year they bloom vivid red flowers.

By now Rachael was feeling extremely knackered, just heading for an hour or so kip, she woke up 7 hours later to Alan knocking on the door saying dinner was ready! Oops =0) Lee managed to stay awake a little longer, even went on a little tour around Auckland in Alans truck, until he too succumbed to sleep and slept the evening until dinner. Oh and yes, Thank you Cath for a delicious roast chicken dinner...yummiest food we've had in a long time!

Sunday CHRISTMAS EVE - the start of our big camping trip around North Island. First we popped into Auckland city centre to buy a few essentials...i.e. some flipflops! Oh yes, sorry they are called Jandals over here!
Back at the house we loaded up all our gear in the back of Al's huge truck and headed off south. The countryside around here is pretty cool, very similar to home with its rolling hills, occasionally more mountainous hills and large green fields, but then you would see a palm tree or a load of large ferns, or then pass through a gorge with steep rocky sides covered in more rainforest type vegetation. As we were driving along we managed to spot quite a few birds, particularly lots of Myna's and Australasian Harrier's.

Just after 4pm we arrived in Mount Maunganui, near Turannga in the western Bay of Plenty. Once we'd set up camp we headed to the beach, and what a beach! Miles of beautiful white sand, being lapped at by a gorgeous ocean that changed from dark blue to vivid turquoise. At the far end of the beach was the lump of rock from which the town gets it name, Mount Maunganui. The evening was beautiful, clear blue skies with only a few fluffy clouds and a balmy breeze...this was the New Zealand we had looked forward too. We even had our first paddle in the Pacific ocean, although it was rather nippy still!
Back at the campsite we cooked some dinner, Alan and Cath have definately got it all sorted, they even have a kitchen sink!!!

Monday CHRISTMAS DAY - Merry Christmas! Since we have been travelling for the last two months and having a strict weight limit to contend with, we were unable to really buy each other any christmas presents. Although we count the Jandals as presents we didn't have anything to actually open... Alan and Cath saved the day! They had very kindly bought us each a present to unwrap, which made our day! A couple of wonderful, traditional maori carvings were just the trick.

After presents had been opened we headed off to climb Mount Maunganui. The weather was improving, with the cloud cover gradually breaking to reveal a warm sun. The Mount was really cool, offering impressive views over the surrounding beaches and oceans. We had a wonderful encounter with a couple of Fantails, small birds that look a little like Long Tailed Tits back home.

Once down from the Mount it was time for Christmas dinner, this year a BBQ on the beach! Different from the usual roast turkey, but then this whole Christmas Day has been completely different from usual... the other side of the world from family and friends, relaxing on a beach with champagne, a hot, sunny day....and yes both Al and Lee got sunburnt!
Back at the camp we had a wonderful warm shower to wash away the suncream and sand. We are both still very much appreciating warm showers after two months of cold water!

Then in the evening we had a relaxing stroll around the bottom of Mount Maunganui to see if we could spot any Blue Penguins, we didn't but it was still a lovely walk. There we have it, Christmas was over for another year, as usual it went far too quickly, but we are both looking forward to spending next year with our family!

Tuesday BOXING DAY - Managed to ring friends and family this morning to wish them Merry Christmas, strange to think it was still Christmas back at home! Still getting our heads round the time difference here. In Peru we were 5 hours behind, now we are 13 hours ahead!
We packed up camp and headed further south along the coast. A gloriously sunny day, the scenery was stunning... blue and turquoise shimmering ocean, white sandy beaches, brilliant green forests and mountain ranges dotted with volcanoes!
Lunchtime we arrived in Whakatane and had a picnic by the harbour. Offshore we could see Whakaari or 'White Island', New Zealands most active volcano, although offshore we could still see smoke coming from the top. Unfortunately we'd missed the last trip to visit White Island and Whale Island (so called because of its shape). We continued on driving, inland this time towards Taupo, we stopped to take pictures of the wonderful lakes and mountains in the area and stopped to look round Fort Galatea, a historical reserve.
Finally we set up camp along the shores of Lake Rerewhakaaitu, one of the many small lakes in the Taupo - Rotorua area.

Wednesday - Headed off towards State Highway 5 between Rotorua and Taupo, a highly geothermically active region. First stop was Orakei Korako, the Hiden Valley. A short boat trip across Lake Ohakuri led to beautiful pink and white terraces of silica, geysers, soda fountains and mud pools. All over steam was billowing up frfom the ground, there were clear blue pools and blooms of orange algae. The walk ways led to Ruatapu Cave, a huge natural cavern with a pool of jade-green water at the bottom.
Did quite a bit of bird watching while by the lake and walking through the valley and saw Grey Teal, Grey Duck and Grey Warbler (do we sense a theme here!)

Next stop was Huka Falls, a spectacular part of the Waikato River that rushes through a narrow gorge and then plunges over the falls in a swirling mass of white and turquoise water. The colour of the river was stunning, a mix of ice blue and turquoise, and although it started to rain a little, it did not take anything away from the beauty of the falls.

After lunch we headed back along State Highway 5 and then turned off for Aratiatia Rapids, a rocky, narrow stretch of the Waikato River that had been blocked by a dam, however at various times through the day the gates are opened allowing water to rush through the rapids once again. We arrived 15 minutes before the gates were due to be opened again. On the lake behind the dam a few Black Swans and Grey Ducks had congregated. 4pm and the gates were opened - contrary to Rachael's idea of a little man hurriedly turning a crank to open the gates, its actually all automated! - It's extremely impressive to watch thousands of gallons of water rush through the gates and start to fill the rocky, river bed. As the water rises it rushes in down river, washing over the giant boulders and rocks creating white water rapids. Half an hour later and the gates are closed, the water level slowly drops and the waters calm.

We now headed back along the highway towards our campsite. First however we stopped at another set of mud pools, this one was much bigger than the ones at Orakei Korako, and were much more active. Steam billowed everywhere, making it look like a prehistoric swamp, the mud not only bubbles here, but spurts really high into the air!

Our final stop of this geothermically active day, was Kerosene Creek, a small river with lots of mini waterfalls and pools that is extremely hot! We went for a swim in the hot, mineral water. The setting was quite surreal, sat in a steaming , hot creek, surrounded by forest on what was an overcast and rather cool day. We didn't stay in too long, the water was so hot we could only stand it for a short while, we then headed back to our campsite for a cup of tea and rissotto for dinner.

Thursday - Warm, sausage butties for breakfast we then packed up and headed for Lake Taupo. By the time we reached Taupo at the top end of the lake the sun had broken through the cloud and it was promising to be a lovely, sunny day. We headed around the north end of the lake, towards Turangi and the Tongario National Park. The lake spread out before us - its New Zealands largest lake and was created by a huge volcanic eruption over 26,000 years ago that devastated the whole of North Island! Its waters are now calm and traquil, that amazing shade of bluey-green and its shores are white from thousands of crushed shells and bleached rock.

After lunch we headed down to a small place on the lake shore called Whanganui, that is well known for its excellent rock climbing (Alan and Cath are both keen climbers). We turned off down a very bumpy and dusty road, that descended towards the lake at a very steep angle, with numerous potholes and a sharp drop to the left we were all glad we were in Al's truck which coped very well with the terrain. The scenery was again stunning, with forested gorges and sheer cliffs leading to the blue lake beyond. Finally at the bottom we went to check out the area and for Al and Cath to investigate climbing. The small beach was beautiful, the only people around were other climbers and a community of Maori's. With the blue sky, turquoise water and white beach the setting was peaceful and tranquil.
Turned out to be too late to start climbing today, but the place was a little gem.

We drove back up that steep, bumpy road (Al was pleased to get some off roading done in his truck!) and then continued around the lake to Turangi, we camped just outside the town at a site that beautiful hot spa and mineral pools, a real treat.

Friday - Up and at early this morning, we were all off White Water Rafting on the Tongario River at 9am! The day was clear, sunny and very warm, the best day so far...

Once at the rafting centre we were kitted up...first swimming costume, then a fleece top, next all in one, sleeveless wetsuit, then a spray jacket, booties, life jacket and finally helmet phew!
We were then driven to the start point and given a quick introductory talk about the paddling commands and saftely instructions, then we were off in our inflatable raft downa 13km stretch of the Tongario River that has about numerous rapids ranging from grade 1 to 3.
I keep saying it but the scenery was beautiful, high steep sides covered in forest and huge boulders mixed with sheer cliffs. The sky was blue and cloudless, the water clear blue and off course the white, bubbling water of the rapids. It was excellent fun, paddling and then holding on as we bumped and splashed down the rapids! At one rapid Ben, our guide, got Lee and Alan to lean over the front of the raft, we all then moved forward one seat and paddled down the rapid. Needless to say Alan and Lee got soaked, but it was hilarious to see this wall of white water crash over them and then soak us sitting behind!

30 minutes towards the end we were able to go for a swim, we got the shock of the day.... the water was absolutely freezing! it knocked the breath out of you! The final rapid was the best of all, as we splashed and bumped our way down one of the other guides was on the shore taking photos of us! The trip was over all too soon, but we both thoroughly enjoyed it!

Rest of the day we headed back towards Auckland, first through the Tongario National Park to get a view of Mount Ruapehu, then on through King Country with its rolling hills that look like the spines of green monsters sleeping.
We stopped at Otorohanga and visited the Kiwi House, a native bird park. Here we got an upclose view of New Zealands native birds including the Brown Kiwi.

Arrived back in Auckland at about 7.30pm, ate a Hell's pizza and then crashed at Al and Cath's house for the night to recharge our batteries before heading up north for New Years...Bay of Islands, Ninety Mile Beach....here we come!

Saturday - 1 week in New Zealand...we have seen and done so much! Today we are heading up to Northlands for more fun and games, plus hopefully Dolphin Watching!!!!

Cusco - City of the Inkas

Monday, and we had one final, extra day in the Jungle after the cancellation of our flight to Cusco on Saturday. Started off with excellent early morning observation sessions, Lee was at HOB and Rachael up at Canopy. The highlight of the morning had to be a mixed flock of tanagers, dacnis's and cottingas (all small high canopy birds) that came through and which both of us managed to see, Rachael from high up and Lee looking from ground level up.
After a very tasty breakfast we were both clearing vegetation from around some of the animal enclosures, Lee worked on the parakeets and curosaw enclosures while Rachael cleared soome trails through Winney, the Tapir's, enclosure.
That afternoon Rachael had a very very quiet observation session at HOB, while Lee went on a walk. Since arriving at Taricaya Lee has constantly mentioned that there was one group of birds he would really like to see, a Trogan. We'd left on Friday thinking he had not managed this. However during this walk not only did Lee see a Trogan, but two different species and three individual birds! How Jammy is That! He also spotted two Saddlebacked Tamarins.
Back at the lodge, while waiting for Rachael to return from HOB, Lee was minding his own business outside our room when suddenly he heard a scream from inside staff Rachel's room, which is right next door. It turns out she had put her foot in her trainers only to find something in there...and that something turned out to be a TARANTULA! Rachel then promptly killed it with a flipflop, only for it to have mysteriously disappeared moments later when Lee went to show Rachael...spooky....

Tuesday and this time we were leaving Taricaya for real. No options of coming back if the flight was cancelled we had to get to Lima whether via Cusco or not. With some sad goodbyes we left for town and headed to the airport. Fortunately the flight was not cancelled this time and we soon arrived in Cusco, the City of the Incas.
With limited time to explore we headed to the main Plaza immediately, admiring the Inca stonework of the walls as we went. Next we decided to visit one of the nearby Inca ruins of Saqsaywaman. Once we were up there the cloudy skies cleared and the warm sunshine poured out of the blue sky, we were lucky enough to find a guide who spoke english and didn't cost a fortune to show us around the ruins of this Inca temple. The stonework of the whole area was stunning, with large blocks of stone fitting together perfectly with no gaps. To think this was all done without all our modern cutting and lifting tools and technology, we could only stand in awe.
With the sun setting and rain clouds building we walked back down to the city, with the red tile roofs unravelling before us like a wave rolling down the valley. Fortunately neither of us suffered very much with the altitude, only feeling a little breathless while walking up and down the steep, cobbled streets of Cusco.
We enjoyed a lovely evening meal with Maartje and then headed back to our gorgeous, spanish colonial hostal where for the first time in 2 months we slept with four blankets covering us!

Wednesday and the start of our epic journey to New Zealand! For the next three days we will spend nearly 25 hours flying and the rest of the time waiting in various airports, until finally on Saturday the 23rd of December we arrive in Auckland, New Zealand just in time for Christmas =0)

More mist netting activities this week

Here Pedro, Douglas (Chestnut fronted macaw), Molly and Lee process a Russet Backed Oropendola. This species usually stay well above the nets but this individual came a bit low. This bird was very strong and had lots of power in its beak and claws and a very bad attitude to boot.

This is a Hummingbird yet to be identified. There are so many species of hummingbird in this part of Peru that look very similar or the drawings in the books are not that brilliant make identifying these birds quite difficult, even for birds in the hand like this one.

Silver Beaked Tanagers are pretty common around our lodge but usually stick to open spaces or edges of rainforest. Luckly where we were mist netting this week was a small farm with plenty of these spaces.

A great photo of a butterfly that use the farm to suppliment their diet with salt from the soil. This individual was a bit bigger than the Hummingbird above.

Here Molly is getting ready to release the Solitary Black Cacique. She had very little experience with handling birds but by the end of the session she became very good at it.

Lee and Rachael hadn´t seen this speacies before landing in the nets due to its secretive habits on the edges of dense vegetation right at the back of the farm.

The Final Countdown...

Well here we are, our final week at Taricaya and the Peruvian Jungle....

Monday morning started off with an early herpetology walk for Lee, while Rachael went to New Farm to feed the guinea pigs, goats, sheep and donkeys. A very fruitful trip for Lee, as well as collecting 6 frogs he saw a large scorpion and a SCREAMING PIHA!! The same type of bird Rachael had seen last Friday! Keen to see one also he went hunting into the undergrowth when one started calling close by and managed to get a glimpse of it! Brilliant!
After breakfast Rachael was building the predoor to the new monkey enclosure while Lee headed to New Farm in order to administer deparasitising medicine to the animals, a simple enough task with the donkeys and goats as they are easy to catch, the goats usually "hide" in the barn and so can be easily cornered. The sheep on the other hand are a different matter... chasing them around a large field in long grass is pretty tiring and time consuming, until Lee resorted to rugby tackling them! Not only is this method very effective it is also very funny to watch, particularly when Lee disappears into the long grass, only to pop up with a sheep in his arms! Turns out he's very good at catching sheep this way, soon the method was adopted by the others and in no time all the sheep we caught, checked over and the medicine administrated!
In the afternoon it was Lee's turn to work on the predoor. Rachael headed to New Farm Platform with Pascal to do afternoon observations and while walking to the platform a large group of Squirrel Monkeys passed over the trail. Despite forgetting her binoculars (silly moo!) the telescope saved the day and the afternoon was still extremely enjoyable, the highlight being a Dusky Titi Monkey.

Tuesday saw the start of the exodus of volunteers, today Zander left and through the rest of the week five more will leave including us two at the end of the week! Its always sad when volunteers leave, particularly those who have been at Taricaya for a while, in Zanders case it was 3 months.
8am both Lee and Rachael joined two of the other volunteers and Pedro at New Farm to do the second round of deparisitising medicine. Again Lee proved his skills at catching sheep grabbing two in one go! This time we managed to heard the group into the barn and so the rest were much easier to catch. Once we had finished we set the mist nets up around the farm ready for the next couple of days.
On the way back to the lodge another group of around 30 Squirrel Monkeys passed across the trail and then hung around the lodge throughout lunch.
Afternoon activities was a trip to HOB for Rachael and the mighty Canopy Walk Way for Lee. A sticky, humid although overcast afternoon of us had really good observations. Although Lee was stung twice by a wasp and had sweat bees flying in his eyes, he still saw two new species of bird, a beautiul Blue and Yellow Macaw and 4 Red Howler Monkeys! It was quite quiet at HOB but a very worth while session for Rachael (promoted to member of staff again) who also saw a new species, a Zig Zag Heron. A very cool, small and brown stripey heron.

Wednesday morning we were up bright and early, at 4.30am, in order to go mist netting. We were not sure how well the session would go as this time we had decided ourselves where to place the nets. However it turned into a really really good session with 19 birds caught (the most in one session since we've been doing mist netting at Taricaya), 4 confirmed new species and 3 new hummingbird species we have yet to identify! The hummingbirds were particularly beautiful and very very small! A tricky customer came in the form of a Solitary Black Cacique, quite a large bird with strong, sharp talons and a strong, sharp bill that continually pecked at Lee as he abstracted it and measured it, but still it is a beautiful bird, silky black with an ivory bill.
That afternoon everyone was working on trying to remove a huge tree that had fallen onto the Ocelot enclosure. The idea was to attach a rope to the highest point of the tree, then try and pull it side ways away from the enclosure as Alex cut through the base where it had snapped. Unfortunately we didn´t really get far as the tree is wedged against another and we were all struggling with sore hands from pulling on the rope. We had to leave it as it got dark, but the group will return to the task at a later date but looks like they may not be able to stop it falling on the ocelot enclosure. (Ocelot was removed from the enclosure beforehand!)

Thursday, our final day of mist netting at Taricaya. While walking to New Farm at 5am we spotted 3 White Lipped Peccaries on the trail ahead! it was very exciting to see them while out walking and not sitting in a hide out of view. They paused ahead of us before dashing off into the undergrowth. As we arrived at the Farm we heard two seperate grous of Dusky Titi Monkeys and Rachael saw a Brown Agouti as it dashed off between the heliconia flowers.
Although it was quite sunny and a little windy we still had another really good session, this time 15 birds were caught, including a Ruddy Tailed Flycatcher which was a new species for us both. Bird of the session had to be a Russet Backed Oropendular, we see these large all the time at the farm but are rarely caught in mist nets as they usually fly too high and are slightly too big. Fortunately this one flew into the net as we were standing there and Lee was able to dash over and grab it before it flew off! If he thought the Solitary Black Cacique was painful to hold, it was nothing compared to the Oropendular! Similar build to the cacique but much larger we couldn't even fit it into a bird bag!
11am and we took the nets down for the final time, we've both really enjoyed the mist netting we have done over the last two months, its been our own little project and good fun showing other volunteers how to abstract birds as well as finding new species for us and for Taricaya!
After lunch Rachael was re-sewing the fish enclosure (it returns to haunt us!) while Lee headed back to New Farm to do observations at the Platform.

Friday, and so it came, our final day at Taricaya =0(
We had the privilage of chosing what we wanted to do this morning, both of us were unanimous in our decision to do early morning obs at New Farm Platform. It was a brilliant morning with all the regular birds and 4 new species for Rachael and 3 for Lee, bird of the morning had to be the Greater Kiskadee. This yellow and brown flycatcher seems quite indistinct from the other yellow and brown flycatcher, and believe me there are many of them! However its really distinctive and pretty cool call of "kis-ka-dee" confirms identification beyond doubt.
After lunch we both did lodge maintenance, feeding the animals, for the last time. First task was to find the hole in the monkey enclosure, where Antonia the large Spider Monkey and Billy, the White-fronted Capuchin, had escaped from again! This gave us the opportunity to have one final play with the monkeys including 'Heidi' the baby Spider Monkey!
This fixed we continued to feed the rest of the animals and say goodbye to them all.
Our final activity was an herpetology walk with Daniel in the afternoon, its a long walk round all four traps and its still very hot and humid here. Although we only caught 1 lizard in the traps it was a really good walk, we heard and caught very brief glimpses of a large group of Peccaries very close to our right off the trail. Was a little scary as these wild pigs can be very vicious and will charge and try to bite you! Luckily these simply hurried off deeper into the jungle. Next we saw a group of small monkeys high in the canopy, too high to identify them and they quickly moved away suggesting either tamarins or capuchins. We also heard Howler Monkeys calling and saw or heard numerous birds including 2 Spix's Guan.
And there we have it, our last day working in the Peruvian Jungle. Its been a brilliant two months and we just hope the rest of our travels are this good. Our last day at Taricaya... or so we thought.....!

Saturday, the day we fly to Cusco in order to visit this magical city of the Incas with its most famous of ruins, Machu Picchu. It was a sad farewell to everyone, we've made some really good friends and are very sad to leave but at the same time excited about the rest of our travels. Daniel was kind enough to see us off from the airport, and so at 12.00 we said our final farewell and headed into the departure lounge to wait to board the plane. We waited, and waited, and waited until finally an hour after the plane was supposed to leave it actually arrived. We were then told the flight to Cusco was cancelled due to bad weather! However our plans for Cusco we still alive if we could get on a flight tomorrow. So we headed out of the airport and back to town and to the LAN office to change the flight. Here we waited for another hour and a half (there were a lot of people heading to Cusco today) only to find out that all the flights to Cusco are fully booked until Tuesday! Our plans to see Machu Picchu disappeared as we had to settle for this flight, we now fly into Cusco on Tuesday afternoon and fly onto Lima on Wednesday morning. This will still give us a little time to see some of the Inca ruins around Cusco and the city itself.
We are both quite disappointed, but there is a silver lining to this tale... we get to spend two more days with our friends at Taricaya! And i'll tell you this, the look on their faces as one by one they saw us again was priceless!

So...we have one more final day back in the jungle and then on Tuesday we will start our long journey to New Zealand with a brief restbite in the Inca City...

There is lots of wildlife in the Amazon

This is a Puma. One of the wild large cats that can be found around the Amazon basin. The other is the Jaguar. This one is a captive animal at the zoo.

While doing a ringing session we caught this cool Olivaceous flatbill. Pretty cool with his little punk hairdo.

Also during our ringing session, Rachael abstracted this cracking bird from the mist net. Bluish fronted jacamar.

At the Zoo we also saw what I think is a black caimen at about 4m.

At the Clay lick we saw about 6 white lipped peccarys. Great animals but must be given respect as they can be a bit nasty if you catch them in the wrong mood.

In the Amazon one creature you have to see is a poison frog. You don´t really want to be kissing one of these. Hunters used to rub their blow darts on the back of these and it kills the prey much much faster than normal.

Here Come The Rain Drops!

Well, we are really and truly into the wet season here now. We´ve had tremedously heavy rainfall nearly every day, the creek has risen over the bridge and the river is running really fast and carrying lots of debris, and I don´t just mean small branches, there are whole trees floating down river too!!! With the rainy season the sounds in the jungle have subtly changed and increased in volume, we realised this is due to frogs! They have come to the creek and other water ways to breed and are constantly calling for mates, its a wonderful symphony of sounds...

Monday was a slow day for us, Lee and I headed back into town in order to check our flight directly to New Zealand had been sorted. Fortunately our travel agent had already sent us an email so there was no need to ring her, this meant we had the whole day free in town as we were waiting for Staurt to arrive back from Cusco on the plane. (He spends a week at Taricaya and a week in Cusco). Mid afternoon and the rain thundered down! It got so bad Staurt´s plane was diverted back to Cusco and didn´t arrive untill 4.30pm, by this time it was too late to head back to Taricaya and so we had a free nights stay in Peurto.

Early Tuesday morning we headed for the boat to go back to Taricaya, with us we brought a new animal for the release programme, a juvenile White Bellied Parrot. Arriving back at Taricaya at about 9.45am we helped some of the other volunteers feed the other animals at the lodge and then put some new branches in the enclosure where the new parrot would go.
That afternoon, after the heavy rains had done their bit, we both went to do observations, Lee was at New Farm Platform, while Rachael went to HOB. Lee saw numerous birds again, including a Double-toothed Kite, a new species for him! Although Rachael didn´t see as many types of birds she did spot a Gibba Toad-headed Turtle and a BLACK CAIMEN in the swamp below the HOB platform. This is the first time either opf us seen a Black Caimen (it turns out the Black Caimen we thought we had caught on the first caimen hunt we did was actually a young White, or Spectacled Caimen)
Arriving back at the lodge Rachael found Lee half way up a tree, cutting down a termites nest to feed to the young anteater! He is quite the Jungle Jim now!

Wednesday morning Lee headed to New Farm to help feed the animals there, rachael went on a walk with Alex and James. While carrying out duties at New Farm, Lee managed to catch a small toad and took it up to the platform to show Daniel (our reptile and amphibian expert) it turned out to be a young Cane Toad, but while he was there Daniel asked him to help identify a few birds they were struggling with. One turned to be a species Lee had never seen!
While Lee was busy helping people identify new birds at New Farm, Rachael had a really good walk: as well as seeing a tiny tiny hummingbird, called a Reddish Hermit, we spotted over 40 South American Coati´s in one tall tree! After the walk Rachael slipped across the river to Enrique´s in order to pick up a suprise for Lee.... =0)
After breakfast Lee went clearing trails further into the reserve, a while its not the most enjoyable of tasks he did manage to see some Brown Capuchin monkeys, which are a little more difficult to see on this side of the river.
Rachael was doing lodge maintenance, one her favourite jobs as you get to go in with all the animals, and this week she got to feed the jaguar as well. Once the animals were all fed the next task was to place some more branches in the Saddlebacked Tamarin enclosure to encourage them to keep off the floor, as is their natural behaviour. They are very inquisitive little chaps and kept coming over to investigate what she was doing, but they seemed to really enjoy the new array of branches. Next the same task needed to be done in the Ocelot enclosure, now going in here Rachael does not mind at all, the Ocelot is her favourite animal! In between hauling in and hammering large logs into place, she also gave the Ocelot lots of attention. The Ocelot is very friendly, chewing at Rachael´s clothes and playfully taking her hand in its mouth and jumping on her legs, biting but never breaking skin. (Some one will definately have to check Rachael´s luggage before she leaves!!!)
That afternoon Lee was at HOB, where he spotted a Fasciated Antskrike, which turned out to be a new species for Taricaya!! Rachael was working on the new monkey enclosure, today´s task was to start nailing the wire onto the roof. Climbing on the frame work and perching on the planks placed across the gaps, she felt like a monkey herself!
In the evening we all went on a frog hunt, Lee´s group saw 3 frog of which Lee was the only one that managed to catch one! Rachael was with Alex and Julie, and while Rachael spotted one frog which Alex managed to catch it promptly jumped straight back out of the bag and escaped! However the walk was still really good, both of us saw lots of tarantulas and Rachael´s group spotted 2 Caimen in the swamp.

Thursday morning it was Lee´s turn to do lodge maintenance and feed all the animals, they also placed some fresh sawdust down in the parakeet enclosure. Rachael was helping to carry large planks to New Farm in order to repair the fence around the goat field. Not as difficult as it sounds since we brought Nando the donkey down the trail to carry the planks there on his cart so we only had to carry them across the creek. While we were unloading we saw the resident family of Dusky Titi Monkeys that are hanging around New Farm, there are five members in the group including a mother and baby and one with a shortened tail, which is how we know its the same group we are seeing.
That afternoon Lee was once again promoted to a member of staff and took Rachael, James and Molly up to Canopy Walk Way for observations, the first time we both have been up at canopy doing observations together! Although it was quite quiet up there the sighting of the afternoon had to be the one Blue and Yellow Macaw that flew over, very good sighting and a beautiful bird!

Friday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEE!!!!
First task for the birthday boy was an early morning observation session at his faviourite platrform, New Farm. An excellent morning with 23 species of bird seen including a Masked Tityra, Lee´s 150th bird since arriving in Peru! (Rachael only has 3 to go to reach this =0)
Rachael was on another early morning walk, this time with Daniel and Liam, who had a specific place in mind he wanted to go. First we went to the bottom of the Canopy tree, its massive! Then Liam led us along a trail along a depression in the ground to a small glade in the forest. It was beautiful, though was caught Rachael´s eye was the hundreds of orange, black and yellow butterflies that were clinging to small white flowers. Out of the glade we followed the trail back towards the lodge, as we were walking we suddenly heard, very loudly and very close a Screaming Piha and so we stopped to see if we could find it... although always heard throughout the jungle Screaming Piha´s are notoriously difficult to see, even Nando (the guy who runs Taricaya) as only ever managed to spot 4. Daniel and Rachael headed off the trail to try and find the bird and after five minutes searching solidly...there it was, a small drab, grey flycatcher with the fantastic call (sounds a little like a wolf whistle), the Screaming Piha!
After breakfast both of us went with Daniel to move one of the reptile traps at New Farm to a new location. Once we had found a suitable new location, we dismantled the old trap, collected the buckets and rolled up the plastic sheeting. At the new site we rolled out the plastic, staked it to the ground and dug some new holes for the buckets.
Back at the lodge, after lunch, we both joined in with a game of football. It was really good fun particularly as half way through the heavens opened and it started to pour down! We were soaked but it was great fun!
Afternoon activity was cutting flowers, for both us, there were not too many to cut today as there is a large order coming in next week.
That evening Rachael suprised Lee with a birthday present, quite hard to buy one without him finding out! but she´d managed to slip over to Enriques and buy a really cool, tribal blow spear! Zander and Molly then brought out a suprise cake, which we all enjoyed with custard and chocolate flakes!!

Our final weekend in Peurto Maldonado was quite quiet, although we did manage to find somewhere else other than the pizza place to eat dinner...

Right so here we go, into our final week at Taricaya....

News on Fiji

Not sure if everyone has heard but the political situation in Fiji has taken a turn for the worse. A couple of weeks ago Mum mentioned she had heard, while in New Zealand, that there had been an attempted Coup. We checked it out online and found out that the military had made some demands that the President step down, which the President refused to do.

The advice at this time was against all non essential travel to Suva, this is the capital of the main island of Viti Levu and for travellers to be cautious while travelling in the rest of Fiji. Our plans were to fly into Nadi on Viti Levu, further along the coast from Suva and then to travel to some of the more remote islands called the Yasawas. We emailed the British High Commission in Fiji asking for their advice and decided to see how the situation would develop in the next week.

This Saturday we checked our emails and had recieved an emailing stating that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had issued advice against travel to the whole of Fiji for all but essential visits due to increasing tension between the government and military.
We have made the decision not to travel to Fiji this time, and our travel agent has sorted out the flights for us.

We still fly from LA to Fiji on the 21st of December, arriving in Nadi International Airport at 5.55am on the 23rd of December, but we now fly out of Nadi to Auckland at 7.10am on the 23rd of December, on the same plane. We should arrive in Auckland at 11.15am (local time) on the 23rd December 2006 and will hopefully be able to spend Christmas with our friends Alan and Cath.

We both just wanted to keep everyone informed and updated on these changes to our itinerary, tune in next Sunday for the usual weekly Blog from deep in the Peruvian Jungle!

Some 3500 photos later....

Here is lee swimming in the creek where all our drinking water comes from. Crystal clear eh. He is putting a fish encloser into the water again.

This is a photo of a squirrel monkey. Cute or what? He was just outside our bedroom. Brilliant!

A howler monkey at Lake Sandoval trying to figure out whats going on.

Me and rachael at Lake Sandoval after seeing the giant otters! Great!

Lee and Rachael with Douglas. Nice Chestnut fronted macaw, though can boss you around. In the background there is the river. Quite wide isn´t it.

This is one of our newest arrivals, a baby spider monkey. Very cute and loves to cling onto your side when walking. She eats milk, papaya and bananas at the moment.

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun!

Blimey! Another week has just flown by! We are now a month and a half into our stay and only have two weeks left! Eeek! The weeks seem to be flying by, we have been really busy but are still having a fabulous time.
The week started off in a very soggy fashion, we are now getting into the proper rainy season after an "Indian Summer" through November.

Monday morning it poured down! This meant early morning observations were cancelled, however Rachael was down for Farm Maintenace which still had to be done. Guinea pigs, goats, sheep and donkey´s still need tending when its raining! It was still a good morning, I really enjoy looking after all the animals, which today included catching baby guinea pigs and goats!
After breakfast Lee was on Lodge Maintenace, where you go around and feed all the animals. The list is growing with new arrivals including a baby spider monkey, a young anteater and some young Saddlebacked Tamarins. As its Monday he also gave some fresh meat to the Jaguar. Rachael was on trail clearing, a tough job clearing plants and trees from the trails as it gives you sore blisters...
That afternoon it poured down again, which meant again that afternoon observations were cancelled but again the animals at New Farm needed tending. This time all the volunteers headed there in the rain =0) Despite coats we were all soaked as we fed the animals and then fixed a fallen fence. And thus ended the soggiest day...

Tuesday was much more promising and turned into a fine day. While setting up mist nets we both saw a large group of Saddlebacked Tamarins and had a very close encounter with a Gray Brocket Deer. These are usually very secretive and shy animals, but while setting up the final nets James pointed behind us and there less than 12 meters from Rachael, who was at the furthest end of the net, was an adult deer. It stood for what seemed like an age staring at us as we stared at it, and then ran off in a blur...
In the afternoon Lee was promoted to a member of staff! as he took two other volunteers to one of the platforms for observations! Good on him! Rachael was up amongst the tree tops of Canopy Walk Way. Both of us saw a fair number of birds including some new species we had not seen yet.

Wednesday morning was bright and clear, we had an early start as we took two volunteers mist netting. Although it was a slow morning, only caught 7 birds compared to 10-13 birds in other sessions, the bird of the morning had to be a beautiful Bluish Fronted Jacamar. A lovely bird with a long bill and vibrant colours on its chest and head.
Lunchtime, and the heavens opened once again... its absolutely bucketed down, the heaviest rain we`ve had by far. The wind bent the mighty trees as if they were made of rubber, and the thunder...it rolled across the sky with a rumble that felt like the earth was moving! Then as quickly as it arrived the rain slowed and the thunder stopped. The staff decided to go ahead with afternoon observations so while Rachael headed to HOB and had quite a quiet session, Lee went to New Farm and despite the persistent drizzle saw a multitude of birds including a Eastern Wood Pewee! Rachael had a good giggle at that name!

Thursday morning and another early start for another mist netting session, we were not sure how well this morning was going to go since yesterday was so quiet. However today it was overcast, which is sometimes better as sun shining on the nets makes them much more visible. The morning turned out excellent, 16 birds caught and at one point we had 7 birds in one go! Birds of interest included 3 colour ringed birds. These birds have been caught in the past by Stuart (the staff member), small colour rings placed on their legs and we then recaught them! One of the birds, a White Chinned Woodcreeper, was the same bird we caught on our first mist netting session on one of the other trails! We know this because it had four yellows rings on its legs, showing that birds are using quite large areas of the jungle.
A reoccurring theme of the week, it started raining really hard as we walked back to the lodge, and we arrived very soggy but very pleased at the same time =0)
The rain cleared up again by the afternoon and this time it was Rachael´s turn to be promoted to staff member as she took two other volunteers to New Farm for observations! Good on her! With numerous species of birds and 5 Dusky Titi Monkeys, it was a great afternoon. Lee spent the afternoon back at the lodge helping to build a new monkey enclosure.
That evening despite us both being pretty tired, we joined the other volunteers on a night walk. You never know what you might see and it can be a little scary walking in the jungle at night with only a head torch to guide your way, but we really enjoy them. This time Lee saw a Opossum and Rachael a Mouse Opossum, plus spiders, moths, fireflies and leaf cutter ants, busily carrying their leaves along the trail.

Friday we got up early again and headed to a place called Anaconda Colpa, a clay lick at the edge of the reserve. Here there is an observation platform set up overlooking the pool and if you are quiet and lucky you can see a range of mammals as they come down to drink the water and eat the clay. It took over an hour to walk there but on the way we saw a large group of Saddlebacked Tamarins. Then, as we continued along the trail, we heard a very loud crack and turned to our left to see a huge branch come crashing down ontop of a tall thin tree. It was a little scary and a stark reminder that its not just the snakes, spiders and insects you have to be wary of when walking in the jungle!
We arrived at the platform just before 8am and settled in for a 7 hour stint =0) The clay lick is quiet most of the time and then all of a sudden there will be a flurry of activity, which makes the waiting all worth while. First we saw an Agouti come down for a drink, then two Spix Gauns (type of bird that looks a little like a turkey), we heard some Howler Monkeys pretty close behind us and then the best bit, we looked up to see a male Peccary (wild pig) at the pool! He hung around for a few minutes, then disappeared. Five minutes later there were 6 of them drinking from the pool and nibbling the clay. It was brilliant to see them behaving naturally as they had no idea we were there! In the distance we could hear more peccaries crashing and grunting through the undergrowth, any moment we expected the place to be over run with them! (Peccaries often travel in groups of between 50 and 100!).
It was at this point however that Rachael turned to her left to see a massive swarm of Army Ants coming up the steps and posts of the platform! This was a little concerning, army ants basically travel in huge groups, swarming prey, killing and then devouring it. If they attack a human, and you get too many bites, they can kill! It was when staff Rachel turned to see ants coming round behind us, pinning ud in on both sides, that we decided it was time to evacuate! We rushed over the ants, down the rickety steps and made a getaway along the trail. It was a little frustrating to have to leave just as the peccaries were turning up, knowing they would not be there when we went back, but we all preferred to get away from the ants!
An hour and forty minutes later, the ants had gone from the platform and we were able to return for the final 3 hours. We didn´t see the peccaries again, but we did see a large lizard called a Golden Tegu, and quite a few birds.

The return journey to the lodge was much quicker, only just over an hour, but again we saw Saddlebacked Tamarins, plus a Red Throated Caracara, Olive Oropendular, a small snake half way up a tree and a Tayra - kind of black, fluffy weasel.

All in all its been a very good but very tiring week! We´ve seen lots of new species particularly mammals and are both looking forward to the next week.