Post #15: Jungle Day 2 - Lago Condenado

February 4, 2011
Morning: riverboat ride, hike, canoe on Lago Condenado
Afternoon: free time
Night: caiman watching


After a hearty breakfast of eggs, ham, toast, fruit and coffee at 6:00 a.m. by candlelight, the five of us left our hiking boots home and donned knee-high rubber boots called Wellingtons, which the lodge provided, and climbed in our boat for a short trip down the Tambopata River.  Our destination was the trailhead leading to an old lake that's been filling up and is dying: Lago Condenado, which means "condemned lake."

We were to begin the "...morning's exploration by foot and paddle canoe on the lake system of Condenado, rich in bird and aquatic life. A family of Giant Otters live in the vicinity of the lake and are often observed. [we didn't see them.  They didn't get the email]. Birds abound especially Tiger-herons, Great Egrets, Wattled Jacanas, Hoatzin, the noisy Donacobius and many others."

NOTE Due to unpredictable weather, our program of activities for four days at the lodge was a modified version of the one posted on their site here.

Getting anywhere in this area is an adventure in itself, if you haven't noticed already.  We got in our boat and on the way down river saw more strange critters before getting to the mud-covered steps to the trailhead into the forest that eventually got us to the lake.

Ride on river to get to Condemned Lake
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Capybaras sighting

Capybaras are the largest rodents in the world.  They are vegetarians who prefer eating grass.  In these two photos you can barely see them due to their good camoflauge outfits.  The river is the same color because at this time of year the rain stirs up the mud and when it pours, mudslides let loose the earth which lands in the river, stirring it up and clouding it terracotta/brown.

Mother and child
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

We kept looking and saw she had a big family.
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

When we stopped the boat to unload and walk a trail through the forest to the lake, it was evident how high recent flooding had gotten.  Elvis and our boat driver had to shovel mud with canoe paddles to clear the way for us to walk up the steps.

Shoveling mud, much like shoveling snow.
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

We managed!
Charlene Edge climbs steps.
Photo by Hoyt Edge

Jungle floral decorations
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

We took the road less traveled - Trail 2
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Strange palm trees live in this area.  The one in the next photo is called a walking palm.   It drops new legs (roots) in front, moves a little, and a back leg or two die off.  Why?  It's looking for more sunlight.  This process continues so that in a year or so the tree has moved itself about one meter!  For more info, check here.



Elvis teaches us about the walking palm.
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge



Some type of beetle.
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

 Some trees send out roots called buttresses, like Notre Dame Cathedral's famous buttresses used for extra support of the building.

Buttress rooted tree
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Some strange critters
Photo of Hoyt and Charlene Edge

Walking woman
Charlene Edge
Photo by Hoyt Edge

Elvis demonstrates how to send emergency signal for help. 
Bang the canoe paddle on the huge root, people hear it for miles.
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

 Animals that live in this area include jaguars, ocelots, and tapirs.  Help!  Bang that tree!  A tapir is like a huge ant eater.  In this photo you see a hoof print about twice the size of that Canon camera lens lid.

Tracks of a tapir
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Insects are all over the place, of course.  Here's a sample.

Slug-like insect clinging to plant stem
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Elvis teased out a spider from its burrow using a slender stick.  It took a minute and then we saw what was down there...

Insert stick to coax spider
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

 In a flash there appeared a giant taranchula only a few feet from our feet.

Huge
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

What I call potato chip fungi
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Welcome sign
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

We reached the lake only to find a group of workers rescuing a river boat that had been sinking after the recent flooded river episode.  Would we have to wait until they were finished to get in the wet boat and ride out on the lake?


Which one is ours?
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge



Elvis motioned to us to get in the canoe.  Whew.
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

 Watch out for the piranhas living in the lake.  No worries, Elvis said.  They are only made to look bad in the movies.  We saw some near our boat and fed them crackers from our snack packs that Elvis passed us as we rode.  The fish were small, did not leap into the canoe or bite off our hands.

Riding on the dead lake.  Funny, there were some fish living in there, though.
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

From the canoe we saw a few birds and bats.

This photo shows a stinky bird in the middle of the picture, it's sort of blurry but the bird is brown.  Can you see it?  It's called stinky because apparently is it.

"Stinky" bird.  Its formal name is: hoatzin
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Elvis said these were long-nose bats hanging under a dead arching tree branch.
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

When we disembarked from the canoe, we walked through another stretch of forest where we saw humongous strangling fig trees.  What happens is the fig tree is actually a complex system of roots that grow around a host tree.  Over time, the host tree dies, rots, and crumbles to the ground, leaving a space where it once was.  The fig tree is hollow, then, with its tendril-like stalks forming an enchanting tree-shaped structure perfect for picture posing.

Looking up into the hollow tree
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Band of merry humanoids
Photo of Hoyt and Charlene Lamy Edge with friends

The second-honeymoon couple: Charlene and Hoyt Edge

The sky is up there somewhere
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

 Heading back to the boat the same way we'd climbed.  Lunch is waiting at the lodge.





Rubber boots and slippery mud covered steps = recipe for disaster. 
Charlene Edge in front of group climbing down.
Photo by Hoyt Edge

 Have you seen a white or speckled cayman (or caiman)?
Extra bonus: YouTube video about caimans in Venuzuela here.

After lunch, we zonked out on our mosquito net-covered beds and slept.  Later we drank beers in the bar at the lodge and listened to Elvis instruct us about the differences between alligators, white caymans, and crockodiles.  (Lions and tigers and bears, ohmy!  Oops, wrong country.  That's Africa.)  Anyway, we trooped back to the boat for a night excursion on the lake to see whether any caymans were swimming around. 


Caimans patrol the Tambopata River. They are smaller relatives of the crocodile. They are small whitish alligator types.  I think the Cayman Islands are named for them.  Maybe?  I'm guessing.  Anyway, according to Elvis, they are not interested in devouring tourists.  Gulp.


With only Elvis's searchlight swinging right and left to light up the shores for the boat driver so he could see where we were going, we motored gently down the river.  Elvis asked us not to shine our flashlights when we neared the riverbanks where the caimans might be.  When he thought he saw one, he turned on his searchlight for a few seconds to light up the area and sure enough, there was the beast.  We took some quick photos before the creature submerged and swam a little further away from us. 

Caiman floating in the river.  His head and snout look red in the camera flash.
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

We only saw one.  Then headed back to the lodge, done in by a busy jungle day.


Travel tip:  Step carefully wherever you go.  Not bad advice for traveling and for living.


Next post:   Jungle Day 3:  Rain, rain, go away.  Walk to Gallocunca stream near lodge.