A beautiful calm and relatively cool early morning opened our expedition today. We visited the river banks of the Ucayali River near a location known as Yanalpa. As the water levels of rivers and streams have been decreasing a lot in the last month we could visit a seasonal flooded forest known scientifically as “varzea”. Every year for just some few months areas adjacent to big rivers dry out allowing us to explore this interesting ecosystem that is usually under water. Plants have developed special adaptations to be able to survive most of the year submerged in water for long periods of time.
After breakfast, we had a talk about the primates of the area, one of my favorite subjects and an amusing demonstration on how to fold towels using origami techniques.
In the afternoon after enjoying a sand beach we explored the Dorado River. During this expedition, we had a lot of amazing sightings including the view of some spectacled caimans (Cayman cocodrilus) in the way back to the ship as the night was falling on the rainforest.
