- Messages
- 172
- Location
- Mallorca/Spain
Uff---one week of "Selva" and the days passed by so quickly!
Iquitos is quite ugly ,but it has still a certain charm which captures you immediately.
First day: We got on to a boat to visit a butterfly farm close to Rio Nanay.... a 20 Minute ride out of the noisy town and we were in the middle of nowhere talking with Sr. Carlos about Morphos and Kallitheas, some of them are big as little birds!
Then I had a little dip in the Nanay to look for some fish but not much luck...well , it was the first day.
Second day: Brutal rain, even in "dry" season, is nothing what impresses "Loretanos"..we stayed most of the time at our hotel....no fishing today.
Third day: A clear morning and we were off early to Quistococha Resort , 16km south of the town.
The resort has a small beach(with bar) , a zoo, but more important, a really nice path in the lower jungle area close to Rio Itaya, with some very promising "Quebradas" to look for Apistos. We found some tiny one which appered to be A. cruzi., A.panduro and lots of Nannostomus trifasciatus. Then we had an excellent grilled Paiche with bananas and a beer in that beach bar!
Fourth day: After another heavy rainfall we started late to the "Monkey Island"30km north west of Iquitos on a sidearm of the Rio Ucayali.
Its a private protection project with 9 different species and a total of 45 monkeys from the area like Spider monkeys and "Guapo negros".
After an one hour hike around the whole Island with our guide Fausto he explaned the bureaucratic problems and the lack of official support they have and its shocking!
I took a quick dip in one of the remaining ponds, but besides some interesting Tetra with a huge big red eye , did not find anything.
Fifth day: Early up to face our biggest adventure : First a sketchy 45min bus trip in which we were almost killed because the driver flipped that thing almost over and then :
ALLPAHUAYO-MISHANA Reservation!! What a blast!!
Usually the agencies try to sell you here a ,at least, three day trip to Pacaya-Samiria, so this place is rather overlooked...what a mistake!
I could be there for weeks and wouldn`t be bored...the butterflies, sounds and smells are breathtaking. Certainly I will stay there for longer ,next time I visit Iquitos. Found two kinds of splash tetras, plecos, corys,Laetacaras, a strange looking fish I dont even know what it is and, of course, Apistogramma allpahuayo.
What a day !!
Last day...que piña!
Unfortunatelly I didn`t had a chance to visit Martin Mortenthaler and his Rio Momon farm so we headed hours before our flight back to the La Tahuampa farm of Carlos and Agustin Torres , which were referred to me by Julio Melgar (thanks a bunch for all the advises, Julio !!) and had a quick look at all kinds of interesting stingrays, huge plecos and beautiful Apistos , which some were from the Rio Tigre area.
Thanks to both of them to let me visit there wonderful place!
Then it was the time to say bye-bye and with the last daylight and another tropical rain shower, we went back to gray Lima.
What an adventure!
(photos coming soon...)
Iquitos is quite ugly ,but it has still a certain charm which captures you immediately.
First day: We got on to a boat to visit a butterfly farm close to Rio Nanay.... a 20 Minute ride out of the noisy town and we were in the middle of nowhere talking with Sr. Carlos about Morphos and Kallitheas, some of them are big as little birds!
Then I had a little dip in the Nanay to look for some fish but not much luck...well , it was the first day.
Second day: Brutal rain, even in "dry" season, is nothing what impresses "Loretanos"..we stayed most of the time at our hotel....no fishing today.
Third day: A clear morning and we were off early to Quistococha Resort , 16km south of the town.
The resort has a small beach(with bar) , a zoo, but more important, a really nice path in the lower jungle area close to Rio Itaya, with some very promising "Quebradas" to look for Apistos. We found some tiny one which appered to be A. cruzi., A.panduro and lots of Nannostomus trifasciatus. Then we had an excellent grilled Paiche with bananas and a beer in that beach bar!
Fourth day: After another heavy rainfall we started late to the "Monkey Island"30km north west of Iquitos on a sidearm of the Rio Ucayali.
Its a private protection project with 9 different species and a total of 45 monkeys from the area like Spider monkeys and "Guapo negros".
After an one hour hike around the whole Island with our guide Fausto he explaned the bureaucratic problems and the lack of official support they have and its shocking!
I took a quick dip in one of the remaining ponds, but besides some interesting Tetra with a huge big red eye , did not find anything.
Fifth day: Early up to face our biggest adventure : First a sketchy 45min bus trip in which we were almost killed because the driver flipped that thing almost over and then :
ALLPAHUAYO-MISHANA Reservation!! What a blast!!
Usually the agencies try to sell you here a ,at least, three day trip to Pacaya-Samiria, so this place is rather overlooked...what a mistake!
I could be there for weeks and wouldn`t be bored...the butterflies, sounds and smells are breathtaking. Certainly I will stay there for longer ,next time I visit Iquitos. Found two kinds of splash tetras, plecos, corys,Laetacaras, a strange looking fish I dont even know what it is and, of course, Apistogramma allpahuayo.
What a day !!
Last day...que piña!
Unfortunatelly I didn`t had a chance to visit Martin Mortenthaler and his Rio Momon farm so we headed hours before our flight back to the La Tahuampa farm of Carlos and Agustin Torres , which were referred to me by Julio Melgar (thanks a bunch for all the advises, Julio !!) and had a quick look at all kinds of interesting stingrays, huge plecos and beautiful Apistos , which some were from the Rio Tigre area.
Thanks to both of them to let me visit there wonderful place!
Then it was the time to say bye-bye and with the last daylight and another tropical rain shower, we went back to gray Lima.
What an adventure!
(photos coming soon...)
