Sailing along the Amazon River on board the Delfin III. Photo / Delfin Amazon Cruises
Messing about on the river takes to hedonistic new heights when the river is The Amazon and the wildlife comes in droves, writes Brett Atkinson.
On the Peruvian Amazon, no-one’s ever said “Should have gone to Specsavers”.
Minutes into our first early morning river excursion from the Delfin III, naturalist guide Ericson has somehow identified a colourful smudge high in the forest canopy as a scarlet macaw. Boat driver Omar knows exactly what to do, and our comfortable skiff is instantly turned in a leisurely arc to relocate for a better view of the vibrant bird. Iridescent kingfishers also swoop and soar, and above us, a squadron of wood storks – migrating south from the United States and Mexico as a harbinger of the impending dry season – are flying in a “V” formation. Elongated and drooping nests crafted by russet-backed oropendolas hang from nearby branches like rustic Christmas tree decorations. Constructed at the very end of the forest’s most delicate and slender boughs, they’re safely out of reach of even the most lightweight of predatory primates.
Complementing all this post-dawn action is a sloth – “quick, before it runs away” – jokes Ericson, and we’re soon parked right underneath one of nature’s most mindful and purposeful creatures. Hand over hand, it moves painstakingly slow across a branch, glancing down at the boat with a contented, almost stoned grin, happy to be warming its speckled torso in the tropical sunlight of a new dawn. A few trees along, there’s another sloth with nature’s most beatific face, equally languid and slow-moving. We’d been warned wildlife on the Amazon can sometimes be difficult to spot, but already, even before our first breakfast, it’s a two-sloth kind of day.
A journey on the Delfin III begins at Nauta, a dusty riverine town 90 minutes drive from sprawling Iquitos, a destination adorned with historic buildings from its late 19th-century heyday as a rubber boomtown, and the biggest city on the planet that can only be reached by boat or plane. Late afternoon sun streams into our spacious cabin, right on the waterline and equipped with floor-to-ceiling windows, and we’re soon cruising upstream with around 40 other passengers on teak-coloured waters through Peru’s Pacaya Samiria National Reserve.
Travelling near the end of the wet season, we’re experiencing the ultimate in high water levels – Ericson confirms a 10-metre difference between the high water and low water seasons – and this natural advantage means we’ll be able to negotiate further up the narrow creeks tracing sinuous detours away from the river’s main tributary. Opportunities for jungle and canopy walks are greater in the low water season, but we’re guaranteed excellent birdwatching, and spotting denizens of the reserve’s narrowest waterways, including caiman alligators, turtles and river dolphins.
Three things haunted my childhood TV viewing - quicksand, the Bermuda Triangle, and being devoured by a thrashing school of piranha. Finally in the Amazon, I’m now face to face with my potential nemesis, staring up at me as part of a table setting in the Delfin III’s dining room. Waiter Pier points out the desiccated fish’s almost comically small mouth – “they’ll only attack if you already have a wound” – and confirms that Amazonian locals enjoy them in a simple soup with onions, garlic and chilli. The Amazon’s most infamous fish doesn’t feature on the boat’s menus, but we’re treated to local flavours including ensalada de chonta – a salad of shaved heart of palm also known as “jungle spaghetti” – and roast plantain with a fiery dipping sauce of aji charapita, pea-sized jungle chillis. Versatile doncella catfish, freshly caught from the boat, are harnessed for skewers, robust steaks, and bowls of ceviche studded with wild green tomatoes. Between courses, the boat’s wait staff do their best to keep glasses topped up with Chilean and Argentinian wines, or dispense pisco sour cocktails from the Delfin III’s bar.
An afternoon skiff excursion on our second day segues from kayaking gently downstream and swimming in surprisingly cool waters to venturing further up a narrow blackwater creek. We’ve now detoured from the Rio Dorado (Golden River), and the combination of sunset and tannin-laced waters creates an ethereal aureate glow. Ericson and Omar carefully push aside trees and branches to stall the skiff in a clearing, and we’re given the task of fishing for piranha with rudimentary bamboo rods. Thirty minutes of fishing produces no results, and after an equatorial dusk rapidly descends, we travel back to the Delfin III in indigo darkness. Fishing bats flit in front of the boat, diving close to the skiff’s surging bow, while flocks of birds are flying the other way, decamping to the haven of the jungle for the night. Riding shotgun on the bow is Ericson, projecting a powerful searchlight in a 270-degree arc to spot baby caimans secreted in the tangles of tree roots lining the riverbank. Telltale reflections from their eyes produce more smooth detours by boat driver Omar for closer inspection.
In the Amazon, you often need to seek out wildlife, but on our third morning there’s simply no escaping an experience straight from Animal Planet. In a shimmering environment that resembles vibrant HDTV, our skiff cruises through the entrance of the Pacaya River, a protected part of Amazonia continuing for around 400km upstream. We’ve already spotted pink river dolphins exploring a more narrow nearby tributary, and now scores – actually make that hundreds - of snowy white great egrets are gathered along both sides of the river.
They take off in unison as we zip upstream, and for 30 minutes, the scene is unabated as hundreds of birds become thousands, and clouds of egrets bank away from the riverbank to soar in front of the boat. A few younger egrets feature a jaunty rear mullet of juvenile feathers. Also joining the avian fray are statuesque jabiru with a scarlet sash around their neck, and squat cormorants making hard work of getting airborne. Flapping their wings like crazy with their feet dragging in the water gets too tough for a few, and they bail out and dive headfirst back into the river.
On the skiff, awe and reverence combine in stunned silence for as we course through a scene from Sir David Attenborough’s highlights reel.
Omar hushes the skiff’s engine further up the Pacaya, and we’re drawn to a guttural simian opera emanating from the forest. Competing howler monkeys are whooping and hollering in a stand-off between two alpha males, a surprising reminder that all senses get a workout in one of the world’s greatest wilderness areas.
Finally departing back to the Delfin III, the skiff’s gentle wake fragments the river’s crystalline stillness like an Amazonian kaleidoscope.
GETTING THERE
Fly with LATAM from Auckland to Santiago in Chile and continue on their regional network via Lima to Iquitos. latam.com
DETAILS
For 5 days/4 nights cruises on the Delfin III, contact worldjourneys.co.nz. Prices start from NZ $7,740pp. High-water departures run from December to April, while May to September is the low-water season.
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