First Photos from Ecuadoran Amazon

Friends,
The upper Amazon river basin... Just...Too...big.  Too lush. Too varied. Too much.  Too wonderful.
Different from the Galapagos? You bet. Quick review...
Galapagos                          Amazon
Very few trees                    Many trees
No predators                      Many predators
Animals sun bathe             Animals hide
No rivers                            Many rivers
Little rain                           Rain forest  (Duh!)
No indigenous people        Ancient peoples
Fully protected nature        Very vulnerable resources

From Quito, Luke, Lauren, Sandy, Vance and I took the daily plane to the oil exploration outpost town of Coca, east of the Ecuadoran Andes. We joined a motorized canoe and headed down the Napo River tributary for 80 kilometers, dodging sandbanks, fishing nets, and the occasional oil-industry service barge until we entered an enormous nature sanctuary guarded by the Kichwa Añangu people.

Kichwa guides Ivan and Marin helped us hike to a smaller river and enter paddle canoes.  The guides and a professional naturalist, Milton, did the paddling and awed us with their ability to spot creatures among the trees. (Ivan and Milton, photo, right)

The Kichwa built by hand a breathtaking ecolodge on the shores of Anangu Lake.  It took them six years to bring in the materials by canoe, but it's 20 rooms and central lodge are gorgeous.  Their story of maintaining their identity in the face of modern developmental pressure is incredible and gives us hope for the forest's future.  (Not much hope, but hope.  I am a realist.)  We did not really rough it.  (This is not a Marriott at Disney.)

In canoe and on foot, Milton and Ivan led us daily to seek animals and explain indigenous ways. Vance examines the ants he's about to eat.
I chose the grubs.

So did Luke.

Animals we didn't eat include...

Giant River Otters (eating their own meals)

Anaconda (sunbathing its 17' long body in the tall grasses).  (We're so happy it eats only once every six months.)

Macaws and parrots by the hundreds...But only if you know where to find them!

But the stars of the show were the monkeys.  We found five species.  They are so hard to photograph as they leap through the trees.  Some preliminary photos follow.

Every day ends with us declaring that we've topped out.  It can't get better.  But every next day is better, as we adjust to the forest and learn how to see more.

We are overwhelmed.
Five days later we canoe out; Motor upriver; Fly back to Quito and try to figure out  why we'd ever left the Napo, the Kichwa Anagu and the Amazon.  They are endlessly wonderful.  We should all belong there.