Carla Harren

Personal notes:

We spend, if I remember correctly 3 times in the boot – bird watching and meeting with the monkeys etc. It was such a impressive journey that I cannot remember all the details but in much gratitude for this open space of discovery.

Bird watching in the morning via a boot ride along the  River.

Humming Bird – photograph taken via http://www.jungleexplorations.net

Capped Heron near Tahuayo Lodge – photo taken by http://www.amazoniaexplorations.

 Blue and Yellow Macaws near Tahuayo lodge

 Egrets near Tahuayo lodge

Termite nest near Tahuayo lodge

Butterflies that flew around the canoe

Blue Morpho Butterfly

At the certain area were the Amazon River meets the Tahuayo River we spotted dolphins. The pictures below were taken by Amazonia Expeditions on their website seeing it was too difficult to really catch a good photograph of them.

In the evening we also went out with the boot and spotted Monkeys. One of the monkeys was cared for by the Amazonia Expeditions team and is now mother. The guides Andy, Christian and Raphael make a special round to attract the monkeys.

There was also a kind of bear type in the tree that was difficult to spot but we were able to see it from a distance. I have taken some photographs from the website of Amazonia Expeditions for this.

Articles written by www.perujungle.com

A Birding Experience from our Main Lodge on the Tahuayo River

The Tahuayo River basin is one of the great experiences for birders in the upper Amazon basin. On excursions from our two lodges we have documented over 600 species of birds. But while the overall bird list is tempting, it doesn’t give an expectation for what an average day will yield in the way of a birding experience. So for four days plus one early morning of a couple of hours, our head birding guide Edson Galan treated staff biologist Andy Bicerra to a typical birding excursion, just from the main lodge.

A total of 174 different species of birds were seen on this mini birding experience make a link to the attached list}. Andy was very impressed by the skills of his colleague. He was amazed with Edson’s knowledge of birds. He said, “Edson is a walking, talking book of Amazonian birds. He is very patient and has eyes and ears that are remarkable in finding birds.” Andy made some notes of the GPS of Edson’s favorite birding spots and will be making a map in the future. At sometime in the future, when we can shake Edson and Andy free from their other duties (for the next several months Edson will be guiding and Andy will be working with a primatologist) we will also do a typical 4 day survey from the remote Research Center Lodge.

Paul Beaver, Ph.D.

President and Founder of Amazonia Expeditions

The Reintroduction of Woolly Monkeys into Nature

Dorilla and two siblings (Andrea and Steven) were small infants when they were confiscated from the illegal pet traffic in Belen floating market in Iquitos. At the time we were friends with the officer who confiscated them and he gave them to us to raise at our tourist lodge on the Tahuayo River. The visitors to the lodge loved to see these happy, affectionate little monkeys, but within a year they had grown to be large, strong and aggressively curious. One time Dorilla ripped the screen off the top off of the bathroom of a woman tourist and climbed down to sit on her lap while she was on the toilet.

At this point we knew we had to find an appropriate situation in the jungle for them.  We felt that they should not be introduced into a wild ranging woolly monkey troop. Lodge owner Dolly Arevalo Shapiama had an idea to form a collaboration with the people of the tiny village called San Pedro. San Pedro sits on a small tributary of the Tahuayo River, about 7-8 meters wide; on the other side of the river is a nice forest with many fruiting trees and legumes that form the diet of woolly monkeys. Dolly offered to pay the village a monthly stipend to make sure the woolly monkeys would not be hunted or otherwise harmed by people.

At first the monkeys were doing fine, but about a year later a Harpy Eagle killed Steven.  Dorilla and Andrea must have learned to be more cautious because they lived unharmed for several years thereafter, until Andrea succumbed to illness and died in 2011.  Then Dorilla was alone. She seemed very lonely as every time our boats passed by her home, en route to visit the poison dart frogs of Frog Valley, Dorilla would call us to stop, jump onto the boat, check all of our bags and backpacks for food, then present herself to be groomed by tourists on the boat. So at this time we started to make it a point to stop and interact with Dorilla every time we brought people to Frog Valley.

The woolly monkey Chepa was kept as a pet in the village of Esperanza, on the lower Tahuayo River.  The family has a child who is paralyzed as a result of polio.  As part of Dolly’s work with her Angels of the Amazon foundation, www.angelsoftheamazon.com Dolly provided special bed, chair and other facilities and services to help the child and his family. But Dolly never liked to see how the pet monkey was kept, always tied by a rope, that left open infectious wounds.  The monkey was always obviously in pain.  For 4 years, every time Dolly visited the home she would ask the mother to give her Chepa. The mother never agreed, saying that her stricken son loved his pet, until March of 2012, with the monkey appearing near death, she agreed.  Dolly took Chepa to a veterinarian in Iquitos who treated the infected wounds. After she had recovered, Chepa was brought to the main lodge to be raised as Dorilla was.  Although it was several years old, because of malnutrition and abuse, she was only the size of a baby woolly monkey.

We had planned to keep Chepa for several months, but she seemed either very afraid or very angry at the presence of people.  So we didn’t know what else to do except maybe introduce her to Dorilla in her forest home off the Blanco River.  Knowing that woolly monkeys may kill strange woolly monkeys we were very anxious about doing this, and ready to intervene.  Upon releasing Chepa into a tree by the river’s edge, Dorilla immediately climbed down to her.  Chepa looked terrified.  But Dorilla made soothing vocalizations, hugged her and comforted her. It was amazing to see.  After a few minutes Dorilla climbed down to the boat to get some bananas.  She called to Chepa, but the little female was too wary and kept her distance.  Then Dorilla took a banana up into the tree, peeled it and gave it to Chepa! Dorilla continued to bring Chepa her food on our visits, until about 3 weeks, at which time Chepa gained confidence to come to the boat on her own.

The people in all of the Tahuayo villages have come to know how much our tourists love the rescued monkeys on the Blanco River.  So a couple of months ago a man from the village of El Chino approached Dolly and said he had a relative in a village in another tributary system of the Amazon, who had a little male woolly monkey named Rocky.  He thought it would be nice if the two females had a male companion.  He acquired the monkey from his relative and gave to Dolly in August 2013.  We brought him to a veterinarian to make sure he had no disease or parasites to infect the others and then released him at the Rio Blanco site.  Both females immediately accepted him.

By 2016 Rocky had reached maturity and in May of 2016 we discovered that Dorilla had given birth. Thereafter when boats stopped Dorilla reacted aggressively and we felt there was a danger to tourists. In late May we captured Dorilla and her infant and transported them to our research center lodge,some 40 km distant from where she had been living. Under the watch of our staff biologists we released the monkeys near to a wild troop of woolly monkeys. Over the next month the wild monkeys accepted them into the troop. We have continued to see Dorilla and young with the wild troop from time to time.

Paul Beaver, Ph.D.

President and Founder of Amazonia Expeditions

Monday, June 19 – In the Amazon jungle lodge plus excursions.

Beginning of the Tzolkin Blue Wave 3.

Chant: Eb, Manik, Caban, Ix, MANIK

KIN 27 Blue Magnetic Hand, Light code 27:1:21 Crystal Rabbit Moon of Cooperation to initiate new creations in alignment with the Higher Goal and Divine Will to accomplish step by step the empowerment of touch, taking All at hand and embracing the creation of form and materials from where Divine Understanding comes from. Together with the Natural supportive flow of Divine Will to choose whatever you wish as we move onwards in the spiral to be in the Healing Open Space. To navigate the evolution of synchronizing within the Inner Shaman of Magical Timelessness.

Planets: Earth, Uranus, Asteroid Belt

Tuesday, June 20 – Solstice – Tahuayo Lodge plus excursions in the Amazon Jungle.

Personal note: In the evening we attuned and aligned to the Solstice via a small pond near the Tahuayo Lodge.

Chant: Chuen, Ahau, Etznab, Ben, LAMAT

KIN 27 Yellow Lunar Star, Light code 28:2:22 Crystal Rabbit Moon of Cooperation to work together and be honest by recognizing your limitations to overcome them and embrace them in the Harmony and the will to be in the beauty and elegance of Artistic Skills as a source of transformation. Together with the Natural supportive flow of Magical Playfulness and humor as we move onwards in the spiral to be in the Unconditional Love within Universal Consciousness challenged, strengthened and an opportunity of Insight that reflects the Cosmic Order of Divine Truth. Awaken in Presence to allow the hidden power to be revealed of courage, open space within the exploration of wakefulness.

Planets: Venus, Pluto, Neptune, Mars