Our frst two nights were spent just outside Quito at Hosterias San Jorge. |
Comfortable if a little cool at 9,000 feet. |
Hence the fireplace. (Which was never lit!) |
The main building. |
The view from our Balcony. |
Sparkling Violet Ear. |
Black Flowerpiercer. |
Crimson-mantled Woodpecker. |
Masked Flowerpiercer. |
Black-tailed Trainbearer. |
A map of the Napo showing "Coca" where we flew to and Sani Lodge. |
The Napo carries a lot of freight. |
We change our fast launch for some man power and it is raining. |
Sani Lodge on its lagoon. |
There is a boat dock for us. |
The welcoming bar. Always a good sign. |
Clean and tidy Chalet with all mod cons. |
Even a resident Frog. |
Next day we set out under Domingo power. |
The lagoon is fed by a small river. We press on. |
A Hoatzin. One of C's target birds. |
Capped Heron. |
Black Caiman. No trailing fingers over board. |
On into the Rain forest. No walking is possible. (No firm ground.) |
Lagoon. |
Into the unknown. To us at least. Domingo knows as he is from the Sani Tribe. |
We fnd a small dock and meet the Army Ants. |
There is now a trail of sorts lined with bright flowers. |
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Then we reach a large metal tower. |
Which we are invited to climb. |
Nearly to the top. |
For a great view over the Forest Canopy. |
We get close to Orchids up here. |
And birds. Cream-coloured Woodpecker. (One of my targets.) |
Chestnut Woodpecker. |
Cobalt-winged Parakeet. |
Opal-rumped Tanager. |
Gilded Barbet. |
Orange-winged Amazon Parrot. |
Mealy Amazons |
White-throated Toucan. |
Amazonian Trogon. |
Plum-throated Continga. |
Many-banded Aracari. |
Male Double-toothed Kite. |
Female Double-toothed Kite. |
Still paddling! |
A Whitewinged Swallow and some roosting Long-nosed Bats. |
Rufescent Tiger Heron. |
Water Hyacinths choked the waterways |
A Ladder-tailed Nightjar. |
A footpath into the Yasuni National Park. |
Onward and upward. |
To a Parrot lick. They need the clay as some nuts they eat are poisonous. |
They are mainly Cobalt-winged but some Orange-cheeked too. |
The slow exposure makes a impressionist picture. |
Scarlet Macaw. |
A fine Caterpillar. |
And a small frog in a hollow reed. |
Beaver-tailed Lizard. (Uracentron flaviceps.) |
Crested Owls. |
Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl. |
Brown Nunlet. |
Pied Plover. |
Blue Swallowtail. |
A small harmless snake. |
We meet up with Marielle, Tom and Peter in Coca. |
During a techncial stop E grabs what may be her last bite. |
Otobo supervises the loading of supplies as we head down Via Aucas. |
Our warning sign. |
A map showing approximately where we are going. |
We embark on two canoes with the instructions that plane will come for us in 8 days time. |
A stop for lunch by the river. Miles from anywhere and nowhere.. |
Well it beats a picnic in the park. |
Everyone still in good spirits. |
We make camp further downstream. This is our Restaurant. |
This is my room for the night. I left my shoes out but nobody cleaned them! |
This is our lunch stop on the second day. |
Blue Macaws watch us eat. |
White-throated Toucan. |
Our camp for the second night. |
We get ready to move off on our third morning in the Jungle. |
Marielle goes ahead with the 'supply boat.' We will drift slowly. |
Another picnic by the river. |
We are being observed. |
Domingo takes it easy. He is on foreign soil here. |
Laughing Falcon. |
Swallow-tailed Kite. |
Great Pottoo. |
Grey Hawk. |
Blue-crowned Trogon. Female. |
We arrive at our camp in Otobo's village. |
We opt for more shelter. Our promised bungalows have 'collapsed'. |
The 'Mess tent' where we take our meals for the next five days. |
Butterflies abound. Blue. |
Red. |
Metallic Green. |
Leaf Green. You name it. One will come along. |
We set off on a Jungle walk. |
Bridges are a bit rudimentary. |
Some more rudimentary than others. |
We had encouraged Domingo Gualinga, our guide at Sani, to come down with us. |
Begonia. |
Another pink one. |
Mr. Gullible, of Gullible's Travels, gets down to it. |
Parrots everywhere. |
Orange Cheeked. |
Cobalt-winged. |
Otobo's parents come by for Christmas lunch. |
Amazon Kingfisher. |
Great Black Hawk. |
Spider Monkeys. We saw, Howler and others but too far off. |
Carrying a small baby. |
A lunch stop. |
We are joined by Otobo's family from down river. |
Otobo proudly shows off his new born son.. |
One of his daughters. |
The other one. The man in fatigues is a cousin. |
We scramble up a bank to go exploring. |
Tom shows us a Poison Arrow Frog |
Red and Green Macaw. |
Stars and hero's. These two boys acted as E's personal assistants. |
When we returned to the canoe we found Otobo had cut steps for us. |
A great hearted man who deserves our thanks.. |
Blue and Yellow and Scarlet Macaws at the airstrip. |
Mr G at Check In. |
E at Security. |
The baggage carousel is broken. |
But we get airborne. We had two precationary landings on the way out. |
Banos Cathedral. We landed at Puyo and took a cab. |
Banos (Baths) on the Volcanic soil of the eastern Andes. |
Tungurauha (16,240) is erupting. The town is on 'evacuation alert.' |
We are now in Mindo in the high Andes. Access to our Lodge "El Monte". |
Our room. |
Lounge. |
A Pottoo in the garden. |
Orange-bellied Euphonia. |
White-capped Dipper in the river. |
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Many Orchids in the lush growth. |
The all have names no doubt. Enjoy. |
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Back on the trail with our guide. |
We visit a Butterfly Farm in the village. |
Again I have no idea of their names and to guess would mislead. |
Green. |
Red and black. |
Blue. |
Brown and white. |
Black and white Swallowtail? |
We find another target bird. Cock of the Rock. |
Golden-crowned Quetzal |
Rufous-crowned Mot Mot. |
Chestnut-mandibled Toucan. |
Crimson-rumped Toucanet. |
Sun Bittern. Worshiped by the Incas. |
Grey Agouti. |
Andean Red Squirrel. |
Land Crab. |
Lantern flower. |
Racket-tailed Puffleg. |
Collared Inca is much bigger. |
Blue-winged Mountain Tanagers. |
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We leave for a trip over the Andes via Papallacta pass. |
We are now at 14,000 feet. It is quite cool after the lowlands. |
This is a Many-striped Canastero. |
Tawny Ant-Pitta. |
Plain coloured Seedeater. (not very imaginative names.) |
A Long-tailed Weasel. Our guide Gabrielle had never seen one. |
Broad-winged Hawk. |
The improbable Sword-billed Hummingbird. |
Barred Becard. |
Another Sword bill at the feeder. |
Andean river. We found Torrent Ducks here. |
Fawn-breasted Brilliant. Tourmaline Sun Angel behind. |
Rufous-vented White-tip and Long-tailed Sylph. |
Long-tailed Sylph. San Isidro. |
Our room at Cabanas San Isidro. By far the nicest place we stayed. |
Day lounge. |
White-breasted Ant Pitta. |
Another of the very photogenic Long-tailed Sylphs. |
Red-eared Agouti. |
A Tyrranine Woodcreeper. |
Inca Jay |
Back over the Papallacta pass. |
Antisana (18,712') is also erupting. |
Green-crowned Brilliant and an Andean Emerald just arrivng. |
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird. |
Blue-tailed Emerald feeding. Advice sought on the one landing. |
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