A full day at Napo

Sunday February 15

We had a “lazy start” this morning: breakfast at 6:30 and the first activity (birdwatching from a tower) at 7:00. But about 6:45 the local family of giant river otters came out to fish along the shore, so that took priority over everything else!  Once we got to the tower we saw two kinds of monkeys and a number of bird species, including three kinds of macaws. Later in the morning we took a canoe ride up a different creek than yesterday’s, stopping to watch the otters again on the way.  We were treated with a sighting of five Red Howler monkeys, including a baby. 

In the afternoon we went out by canoe again. This time we took a short walk in the woods, to see Noisy (or Spix’s) Night Monkeys. While similarly cute, these are a different species to the Panamanian Night Monkeys we saw in the Darien. A Fer-de-lance (a highly venomous snake) was curled up along the trail to add to the excitement. We walked single file along the far edge of the trail, as this is not a snake you want to make nervous! 

We returned to the canoe and retraced our “steps” from yesterday afternoon along the main creek, spotting a two-toed sloth and some new birds. We were grateful for the strength of our canoe paddlers to get us home ahead of a thunderstorm. 

Pictured: Red Howler monkey family, juvenile Zigzag Heron, fer-de-lance, white-fronted capuchin monkey 

Made it to the Amazon

 February 14

For the first time ever (which means we are really lucky) our trip was a bit delayed by travel issues.

We flew to Quito on Friday February 13 without incident. On Saturday the 14th we were to fly 40 minutes to Coca, then board a motorized skiff for a two hour transit followed by another two  hours by canoe to get to our lodge. It was a lovely morning in Quito and our 9:00 am flight departed on time. However as we flew east across the Andes the clouds closed in.  

About halfway through our flight, we got a view of a very odd dark cloud towering well above the cloud cover. Based on its location, we believe it came from the current eruption of the Reventador volcano.  A later google search verified that the volcano did erupt Friday night.

As we neared Coca we had to abort the landing, as the  fog was too dense. We circled the Coca airport for about an hour and were unable to land. We flew back to Quito. We changed to a new plane about two hours later and took off again in the early afternoon.  This time we landed without incident. We were greeted at the Coca airport by a double file of police— it turns out that a famous Puerto Rican reggaeton band was on our plane, coming to help the celebration of Mardi Gras. 

We traveled two hours at high speed in motorized skiffs; this gave us a good appreciation of how wide and long the Napo River is, but didn’t allow for much wildlife viewing. Then we moved to canoes— these had space for 5-6 passengers and 3 paddlers. We were conveyed up a narrow twisting creek for about 4 miles to the lagoon in front of our lodge. This is the only way to get to the lodge, which means all the construction materials, appliances, everything to build the lodge had to be transported in the same way. We saw some wonderful birds and quite a few caimans in this last leg. 

Pictured: Hoatzin, our lodge from the lagoon, Black Caiman, Green-banded Urania (a diurnal moth)

Final day in Panama

 Thursday January 15

We transitioned north overnight to Punta Patino on the edge of the Gulf of San Miguel. In the 1980s the northeastern edge of the Darien was being stripped to create cattle ranches, many of them owned by wealthy families connected to Noriega. A conservation non-profit (ANCON) bought 70,000 acres in 1985 to create a private reserve. They have since protected other areas of Panama as well.

The tide swing in this area can be five feet or more; at low tide this morning the ship had to anchor more than 2 nautical miles out from shore. We went zodiac cruising around small rocky islands offshore. We were pleased to see a crab-eating raccoon scampering along the shore. They are  nocturnal species so to see one at 9am was a treat. We also stopped by some small fishing boats to admire the corvina and spiny lobsters they caught this morning. 

This afternoon we zodiac’d the 2+ miles to shore and walked trails in the reserve. We heard thunder as we landed, but the storm held off until we were returning to the ship. Riding in a zodiac into the teeth of the storm made us very grateful for our ponchos!

Pictured: crab-eating raccoon, fishing boats, roadside hawk, female crimson-crested woodpecker 

The Darien Gap

Wednesday January 14

Today we visited a village of the Embera people, an indigenous tribe of Amazonian descent. Most Embera live deep in the jungle along the rivers of the Darien Gap. This is the only Embera village near the coastline, founded to enable the children to have a government primary school. We took zodiacs to Playa Muerto (the beach of death)— so named because in stormy weather the landing is very difficult. Fortunately today was calm and beautiful! 

We enjoyed presentations from the village elders, the local band (named Hurricanes of the Pacific) and dancers. We also had a chance to view and purchase wonderful handcrafts— carvings, baskets, jewelry and other items. Afterwards our group split up to take walks of varying lengths. 

We opted for the “slowest group of the medium hike” so that we could take advantage of a great birding naturalist on the staff. We walked about 5 miles, much of it through the “farm fields” of the village. The villagers clear the understory of the forest but leave the large trees intact. They grown “robusto” coffee, bananas and their other crops in the shade of the trees. We crossed the Playa Muerto River several times (sometimes up to our knees). We saw Panamanian Night Monkeys and Geoffrey’s Tamarins, the two smallest monkeys in Panama. We also saw or heard over 30 species of birds, including two that were new to us. 

The “Darien Gap” is famous in human migration stories. It is literally a “gap in the Pan American highway system” of about 60 miles. The road was never finished because the Darien is an ethnographic and natural treasure. As a result, it is impassable in a car; to get around the gap you must ship your car between Panama and Colombia while you fly or take a ship to meet up with it. The Darien has had (for centuries) a reputation for being dangerous from every aspect— jungle, snakes, outlaws, diseases— but it covers the land connection from South America to Central America, which explains its importance in migration sagas.

Pictured: Panamanian Night Monkeys, Golden-headed Manakin, jumping Geoffrey’s tamarin, Blue-throated Goldentail (hummingbird), Embera man in traditional dress 

Pearl Islands day two

 Tuesday January 13

This morning we anchored at Isla Bayoneta, a bit further south in the Pearl Islands archipelago than yesterday. We took zodiac rides in the mangrove areas while others kayaked. The predominant species we saw were red mangrove, which expel salt from the water to a sacrificial leaf, allowing all the others to thrive. We also saw some black mangroves, which expel the salt to the leaf surfaces and tend to be larger and further back from the water’s edge. The tide was out so we got to see a few shore birds, Hudsonian Whimbrel, Ruddy Turnstone, and American Oystercatchers. There were very few boobies because they like to congregate in areas with cliffs rather than wooded areas. 

In the afternoon we moved north again to Isla Chapera for a second (and final) snorkeling opportunity. Chapera is known for its clear waters. Rough seas delayed and nearly cancelled our outing, but luckily winds died down and we were able to snorkel. The rough seas caused a lot of sand to be stirred up, reducing clarity and visibility a bit. We still had a good time and saw some interesting fish. 

Pictured: Hudsonian Whimbrel, Brown Pelican landing, triggerfish, needlefish 

Pearl Islands from above and below

January 12

This morning we anchored near the small northern islands of the Pearl Islands archipelago and explored several of the rocky outcrops by zodiac. We saw many seabirds, including male Magnificent Frigatebirds with their red throat sacks inflated. We’d seen Frigatebirds on several other trips but never the males in breeding colors. 

Frigatebirds have the highest wing-to-weight ratio of any bird, which enables them to stay aloft for so long. In fact, if a frigatebird lands in the water, they cannot fly away and they may die. This is a risk for younger birds who have not yet learned how to pluck food from the water’s surface without getting wet. We found a young frigatebird floundering in the water, and one of our naturalists leaned over the edge of the zodiac, scooped up the bird, and put him on a rock to dry his wings. She said the bird was incredibly light— we noticed that she was so skilled that the bird did not seem at all panicked. 

We also watched a peregrine falcon chase an osprey away, another rare behavior. 

This afternoon we went snorkeling from a sandy beach on another of the small islands. It is an area of “rock coral” that does not have vibrant color but still had many lovely fish. It was great to be in the water!

Pictured: male Magnificent Frigatebirds, Peregrine Falcon, colorful fish  

Gatun Lake and the rest of the canal

 Sunday January 11

We spent the day anchored in Gatun Lake near Barro Colorado Island. The island is the high point of land remaining after the Chagres River was dammed to create the lake. Many different species fled to the island as the water level rose, creating a mini Noah’s ark. The Smithsonian has a tropical research center on the island and some of our shipmates went for a walk there. We chose to travel in pangas down to Gamboa and walk in the Soberania National Park. Gamboa sits at the halfway point in the canal path and is home to the maintenance and dredging teams. At the time of the canal construction, 3500 people lived in Gamboa; the current population is closer to 500. We walked through secondary jungle/forest and while we did not see a lot of wildlife, we did see two new bird species, capuchin monkeys and a sloth. 

Any ship passing through the canal is reliant on the canal authority to give them their time slot for passing through the locks. Our original plan (yesterday) expected us to start on the second leg of the canal in the mid afternoon. This morning that shifted to after 7:30 pm. Then at lunchtime it moved to 5:30 pm. Credit to the National Geographic staff for arranging additional panga rides for the afternoon— we saw several different hawks, iguanas and three kinds of monkeys: howlers, capuchins and tamarins. 

We finally embarked towards the pacific side of the canal about 8pm. This meant that we did not get a good view of the famous “cut” through the continental divide, but the actual lock at Miraflores Lake was well-illuminated. We were again kept centered by small electric locomotives; in this case the lines from the ship to the locomotives were assisted by men in a rowboat. Apparently the rowboat approach has been the most reliable, but it was funny to see a rowboat amidst the much larger ships. At 10:30pm we had reached the Miraflores Lake and we did not stay up to watch the transit through the final two locks down to the level of the pacific. 

Pictured:  baby Mantled Howler monkey, White-faced Capuchin, Whooping Motmot