At 5.30 the next morning I take the hotel's shuttle bus to the airport. AFter orienting mhyself I manage to find the right check-in area, and everything goes smoothly there and with security. The same airline has two flights to Coca at the same time from neighbouring gates, and one of them (mine) is delayed. This is supposed to be because of weather which seems a very odd reason given that the other flight does leave on time.
But the delay isn't long and we get into Coca by 8.30 or so. This is a small regional airport where everything is fairly informal. My luggage arrives, and then I get to the spot where all the lodges along the Napo river pick up their guests. Since they all carry signs finding the Sani guys is straightforward. We're distributed over a couple of taxis that takes us to the river. Once we're there we're told that we won't actually leave for three hours. The lodge manager offers to take us on a tour of Coca so that time might pass a bit more quickly. We wakl along the river, those who have to buy vital items (such as the guy who didn't have any cash nor any insect repellent) are guided through the process of dealing with that, and we stop at a tourist shop - but at least it's one where items are hand-crafted by indigenous women who make a bit of money selling their stuff in coca.
He then takes us to a cafeteria so that people can have something to drink or eat. Eventually it's time to go. There's a long narrow boat waiting for us. There are nine of us, plus Sani personnel. We\re told that wildlife watching along the main river isn't any good and that we'll just try to make it to the lodge as quickly as possible. Everybody gets a snack pack with a piece of fruit, some juice and a sandwich, and we set off.
The engine is quite loud making conversations difficult, so we just sit and watch as the boad speeds along. Soon after we leave the town of Coca there is forest along the shores, but there are still plenty of places where civilization has encroached, either in th form of what looks like individual houses, or oil company facilities. After around three hours we reach a landing stage where we get off.
We\re split into two groups now. A family with one single guest are introduced to their guide, and then the remaining couple and myself to ours. Everybody who stays at the lodge is assigned a guide for their stay, and Tropical Birding have ensured that mine is a birding guide. But there's a hitch: The couple is French, and he only speaks that language. His wife also speaks Spanish. My Spanish is non-existent, and my French very rudimentary, so communicating is going to be a problem. It also means that Carlos, our guide, has to say evyerhitng in Spanish and in English, and neither of those is his first language. He later told me that he found this extremely stressful and he only said the minimum possible.
The first group has set off along a boardwalk while we're still busy with introductions, and we follow them without hurrying. After fifteen minutes or so we get to a lagoon, and from their we move on by paddled canoes for another half hour or so before we reach the lodge.
We receive a glass of freshly pressed juice and are given our room numbers. We just drop off our stuff there since by now lunch is quite late and that is the next item on the agenda. Everything is connected by boardwalk, so even if there's a lot of rain it is possible to move between places without having to step onto the mud. Accommodatio is in two person wooden huts with canvas side each with theor own little bit of boardwalk connecting them to the main thoroughfare. It all looks quite nice for the middle of the rain forest, in particular since there's a proper bathrom included.
Lunch at 14.00 is very nice, a salad starter followed by pork with broccoli and more salad, followed by a fresh fruit salad. After that we get the introductory speech which explains how the place works. There are two open-sided roofed areas, one for meals and one known as `the bar' which are communal. It's explained ot us how to get laundry done (this is actually an option here), how to order and pay for drinks, when the generator is busy, and other such bits of important detail.
Sani Lodge is owned by a local tribe and is situated just outside of Yasuni National Park. The lodge gives the locals a reason to preserve the forest, and is an important source of employment for them. With the exception of the manager all the employees are locals, although they seem to be overwhelmingly male. The idea of qual opportunities hasn't made it all the way out here yet. Still, this seems to be just the kind of initiative that the world needs more of.
Carlos points out some birds on the fruit feeders, such as Masked Crimson Tanagers, Blue-grey Tanager, Scarlet-crowend Barbet, Purple Honeycreeper. The bird feeders are never quite so active again as it turns out, and I certainly regret not having my camear with me.
We're all provided with rubber boots, and then he suggests we reconvene at 1515 to do some birding, but just before that time it starts to rain. and rain. A few birds are actually visible from the shelter of the bar, and so for a while we look at those. Nothing too exciting here, a Hoatzin amd a Tropical Kingbird sitting in the rain. The lodge has a tame Greywinged Trumpeter that comes visiting, and we also see a Plumbeous Pigeon.
Eventually it stops at 16.00 and we go for a canoe ride around the lagoon. It's very relaxing to move in this way on the water, looking for birds. Carlos has an assistant for this but I missed his name that first day. Some White-winged Swallows are sitting on poles and branches near the lodge. an We find various herons, namely Capped, Striated, Cocoi, Rufescemt Tiger and Agami, which I've already seen in the Pantanal. A Ringed Kingfisher sits on a perch and where there is some tall grass we see some Smooth-billed Anis and a Black-capped Donacobious is nearby as well.
In the distance Carlos makes out a Green-backed Trogon, and a Slate-coloured Hawk flies over,as do Red-bellied Macaws and Cobalt-winged Parakeets - one certainly has to know the calls in order to identify these in the current conditions. Given how the earlier rain I find it remarkable that once we enter the forest there's very little water dripping on us from above. A White-eared Jacamar is another dsitant finding, and we also see a Squirrel Cuckoo. White-throated Toucan and Ivory-billed Aracari are two other nice birds which unfortunately are too distant to be photographed. In the forest we also see Russet-backed Oropendolas, a Violacous Jay and a Grey-capped Flycather.
The highlight of the day turns up right at the end as it is getting quite dusky: A pair of Amazonian Umbrellabirds flies over, causing considerable exceitement first among our guides, and then us. They land in a tree for a little while, just allowing a couple of photos before flying off, not to be seen again while we're here. That was lucky!
We are back at the lodge at 17.45, which gives us time for a shower before dinner. Very nice food once again - certainly being in the rain forest doesn't mean foughing it here at Sani!
At Sani each group has males with the guide at one table (but this doesn't include the auxiliary guide), and the idea is that one person looks after every participant for the whole stay. There are only three tables in action, so the lodge isn't that busy. Because of the language issues our table is fairly quiet, and the others are rather livelier. Carlos is ambitious in what he wants to show us and we agree on breakfast at 500 next morning.
Andrea
PS Thanks for all the flattering comments on those hummingbird photos!
Photographic opportunities were somewhat limited that first day, so I include some not very good ones for illustration.
Hoatzin in the rain
Tropical Kingbird ditto
White-winged Swallow
What's this?
Amazonian Umbrellabird
