Wild Wild Amazonia

We had been deliberately planning our Amazon trip and had to choose our trip in one of many countries that hosted the Amazon jungle and wilderness. After scrutinizing through the different offers we had, we came to the conclusion that we would be heading

After researching day and night, we found out that there are multiple scams surrounding this industry so we had to use our gut to decide on the experience we would choose. We were looking to go to the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve located in the region of Loreto, Peru and it spans an area of 20800 km2 which is a floodable forest in the northeastern region bordered by the Maranon and Ucayali rivers where there resides a thousand species of animals and 965 species of plants.

We almost fell into a trap of taking another tour which they wouldn’t be taking inside the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve where they would take us somewhere out and not inside. There have been many scams where they just take you somewhere in the middle of the jungle and leave you there by robbing you of all your money. We had very limited time but eventually ended up taking 3 days after we found out that a few companies were giving the real experience inside the national reserve which turned out to be one of the best decisions of our lives.

After paying over 600 dollars for one person, we secured our spot on the trip where we would be cruising through the river in a basic speed boat with all the amenities required for our trip, food, first aid, and fuel, all set up to endeavor on this adventure.

As we were sailing our boat through the river, we started moving deep inside the forest where there was no trace of urban life or even life. There were a few villages where the indigenous people lived. The climate changed drastically from time to time and it was sunny and rainy all of a sudden. It wasn’t a very pleasant experience, it was getting chilly and our motor broke down but we were there with our guides who handled the situation well, facing challenges and solving all the problems. I spotted my first dolphin then which made me forget everything and reminded me of the reason why we came here, for the wilderness and the adventure and so it goes.

We had no network, and no internet but still had a better connection with mother nature as we were fully enjoying the moment, as we waited to be stoked by another sighting we saw quite a few dolphins on our way traveling deep in the Pacaya-Samiria. We got the entry ticket at the entrance where we were greeted with a thousand mosquitos but we were fully equipped with our repellents. We were concerned about the Malaria and Yellow fever scare but had little to no worries as we thought the repellent would do the job after we read many went without measures and were okay.

As the color of the water changed from brown to black we knew we were far behind any human trace by now and had entered the Jungle of Mirrors. It was a very calm river that resonated perfectly with the forest, fully silent where every moment is special as we waited to witness the jungle speak with the reflections of the forest in the river, endangered birds flying around us, so many types of them, the Macaws, Kingfisher, Heron with the tropical flora and fauna. This jungle has a variety of species of plants and fruits that aren’t found anywhere else as this is the place of origin like Maracuya, Cocona, Caju, Pacay, Camu Camu, and more which we got to taste throughout our journey in Peru.

It was dark and we had reached our destination in our village after a long 10-hour trip through the river where when we just thought of laying back to relax, we were called to get ready for a night walk in the jungle. With our gumboots on, all of us were ready to go after finishing the dinner that they had prepared for us. It was quite an interesting walk where in the beginning, it was weird as it was a new experience, the way was filled with water and mud where we were looking out for snakes and spiders. On our way, we spotted a crab that was swimming in the flooded land where we were walking through, then we spotted a venomous snake and then, we spotted a mockingbird. It was getting far more exciting but we had to end the night as we had a big day the next day and exited through the village that was hosting us.

Actually, the village had built some cabins for the tourists and so, only a handful of the travel companies were allowed inside which made travel a luxury or you would have to come for a full camping experience. The cabins were clean and had mosquito nets, kitchen, and washrooms that made a lot of things very easy for us as inside the Amazon, we were living in luxury.

The next morning was an early day as we started cruising deeper in the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve where we hiked through the forest, chased the squirrel monkeys, and reached to see the oldest and largest tree of the Amazon where we also got to see the endangered giant otters reaching a dreamlike place with many river plants. The jungle was so dangerous that when I landed my hand on a tree, I got severely bitten by the Tarangana ant which is the most fatal ant in the world. My hand was fully swollen and the locals cracked me up with a story where they say that the unfaithful wives were tied in the tarangana tree to be predated by the ants.

The stories of the forest and the tribes kept us stunned all along the way when it was the second night when we had to camp by the river in the jungle. One of our guides threw his fishing net in the river and our tents were ready. At night, it was time for us to hunt for the Alligators. We cruised silently at night and saw many of them where we also caught a baby gator by the river. It was one heck of an experience. In the moonlight, with torches, we are looking out for the alligators. Well, the story goes on so, we had to go to our bed and we were relaxed and decided to sleep in as outside was full of mosquitos and the wilderness.

Early morning when we woke up the next day, we were greeted by a thrilling experience where in the fishing net that was placed last night, we had caught an Anaconda. It was trapped in there so we had to pull it out and it seemed that it gave up fighting and was at peace when we tried to approach it but we had to help the anaconda by cutting the net to set it free which we did after tremendous effort but who would have thought, we would actually fish an anaconda but here we were.

After this, we went to a different side of the river in the Ucayali to catch a glimpse of the sloths which we did as we got lucky then we went to see some tarantulas inside a certain plant where it resides. When we were heading back to our base to get our luggage, my wife Shivangini was throwing sugar in the river when dolphins were spotted and by surprise, we were greeted by many dolphins, pink and grey, where we were in the middle of the river and they were flying around us, with us. What a truly majestic experience it had been, seemed like a movie but it was a total success. We got to see everything we wanted to see and even more but I skipped some experiences like swimming in the black river with the piranhas and the anacondas. Well, this time we perhaps weren’t very adventurous after all or were we? Until my next adventure, let’s see!