Abby's Amazing Asian Adventure: Jungle Fever

Maybe jungle fever is kind of like that disease that cats can give to crazy cat ladies to make them love cats so much. It certainly feels like the jungle gave us all some kind of crazy love for the jungle. We spent four days in Cuyabeno National Park at the Guacamayo Ecolodge. It took an overnight bus to Lago Agrio, then 2 hours by van and 2 hours by motorized long-canoe to finally arrive at our lodge. It felt deep in the jungle but still very comfortable. We had great meals, lovely accommodation and an experienced English speaking guide looking after us.

This is a bird's eye view of the Ecolodge (it was taken from the top of the bird viewing tower). The lodge was made up of a group of large huts with high roofs made out of palm leaves.

Things we did in the Jungle:

We spent lots of time boating up and down the rivers in long motorized canoes that held 14 people. This was the only way to get around but it was also a great way to see wildlife.

Every night we went to a special spot by a lake to watch the sunset

We also went swimming in the river at this sunset place. Our guide told us it was safe despite the caimans and piranhas that also swim in this river.

We went for a hikes in the jungle during the day to look at plants, bugs and monkeys

We went on a hike in the jungle at night to look for snakes and insects

We visited an indigenous village that is only accessible by boat

At this village we were taught how to make bread out of Yuca (it is the same as cassava as far as we can tell). In this picture two members of our tour are pulling the Yuca roots out of the ground.

We peeled the Yuca

We grated the Yuca

And then it was made into a flat bread over a fire

We visited a shaman and practiced using a blow gun

I got my face painted using a natural dye from a fruit

We went swimming in a waterfall. This waterfall we actually visited a couple of days before our official jungle tour. But it was still in the jungle, just outside of Puyo.

Things we saw in the jungle:

The amazon jungle is one of the most bio-diverse ecosystems in the world. In fact, the Ecuadorian amazon jungle is home to the most bio-diverse place in the world - Yasuni National Park. Unfortunately, Yasuni National park recently started being exploited for its oil and so the tour agency we booked with recommended that we visit Cuyabeno instead. If you’re interested in this issue check out this website (or others) for more information. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/16/ecuador-approves-yasuni-amazon-oil-drilling.

The amazing amount of biodiversity in the amazon rainforest means that we had the opportunity to see lots of different types of things while we were there. And boy did we ever see lots of neat things!

Here is a selection of the different types of things we say in the jungle:

Small things!

A tiny bat sleeping on a tree by the side of the river

This is called a pocket monkey. It is the smallest kind of monkey in the world. Its only 10cm long and can actually fit in a pocket.

Big things!

We visited this tree while we were at the village

This mostly eaten fish was found just downstream from our Ecolodge one morning

Cute things!

We saw 5 different kinds of monkeys but these night monkeys were the cutest ones

Gross things!

We found this scorpion spider on our night hike

And Matt was brave enough to hold it

He also pet this tarantula that he found in his bedroom

Well camouflaged things!

A leaf bug

Scary things!

We went our looking for caimans every night. It was easy to spot them because their eyes glowed red in the beam of a flashlight. We saw some that were about 3m long.

We saw jaguar paw prints while we were out hiking in the jungle

This is a small anaconda

Colourful things!

Dangerous things!

This innocent-looking caterpillar gave out guide a nasty sting. We also saw bullet ants. These are huge ants that have the most painful sting in the amazon.

Medicinal things!