Cristalino - Birds, Otters and Tapir

We go out in the boat with Gui again at first light to see what nature has to offer us today.

Great Black Hawk

Amazon Kingfisher

Tapir
With great excitement, Gui points out a tapir swimming along the bank.

We follow him as he continues along the shoreline until he eventually exits the water and disappears into the jungle.

My animal wish list for this trip is now complete: jaguar, giant river otter, capybara, agouti, armadillo, anteater, and tapir. I am a very happy bunny!

Pale Vented Pigeon

Long Nosed Bats

A very shy otter

Southern Rough Winged Swallow

Black Fronted Nunbird

White Bellied Parrot

Blue and yellow Macaw

Red Throated Piping Guan

Anhinga drying its wings

Beach
I never expected to see beautiful sandy beaches here in the Amazon - these have become exposed as a result of the dropping water level. The lodge arranges excursions to the beach for swimming and canoeing – having seen numerous caiman and the teeth of the otters, and knowing that there are piranhas in the river, I think I will give it a miss.

Cocoi Heron

Blue Grey Tanager

Southern Lapwing

Osprey

Pied Lapwing

Muscovy Ducks

Neotropic Cormorants

Another dragonfly lands briefly on the boat

Yellow Billed Tern

Black Caracara

Blue and Yellow Macaws

Greater Yellow Headed Vulture

White Throated Mango
The captain pulls up at a shrub on a small island, with a labyrinth of criss-crossing branches. I can see no sign of life. Gui uses his laser pointer to draw our eyes to a small green patch, well hidden inside the bush. A beautiful hummingbird on her nest.

“How on earth did you manage to spot that?” I ask Gui. He explains that he went out with a scientist last week, who had a heat-spotting device that helped them locate nests such as this.

Southern Rough Wing Swallow

Swallow Wing Puffbird

Striated Heron

Back to the lodge.

Gui has arranged for me to get a taxi (the luggage truck) back to the room again, while David takes the long route via the shop which is near the restaurant. I ran out of deodorant this morning, so am looking to replace it. The shop does not keep any in stock but Gui arranges for someone in town to nip out and buy one for me, and they will send it with this afternoon's boat carrying new guests.

My diarrhoea has returned with a vengeance (it has never really gone, but has been manageable until now), so instead of going to lunch, I take some Ciprofloxacin and go to bed for the afternoon.

Dinner
Feeling considerably better, I decide to brave some food this evening. Dinner is served as a buffet tonight, much to my disappointment. At least it means no-one will notice if I don't eat much.

The guava souffle for dessert is incredibly light and very nice indeed

While we are sitting at the table eating our dinner, the waiter comes over and plonks a deodorant in front of me. Great!

I message Gui to let him know it has arrived.

Goodnight from Cristalino and thank you to Undiscovered Destinations for arranging this trip.